There are three DUI checkpoints scheduled in Orange County tonight. From earliest to latest:
-Mission Viejo, at a location unspecified by the Orange County Sheriff’s DUI Enforcement Team, 7 p.m.-3 a.m.
-Anaheim, at the intersection of Lincoln and Monterey, according to that city’s police department, 8 p.m.-3 a.m.
-Newport Beach, at a location unspecified by the Newport Beach Police Department, 8 p.m.-3 a.m.
In each operation, officers will be checking for signs of intoxicated drivers or improper licensing.
Motorists are advised that some cops have special training to detect drugged drivers, and that being under the influence of medication—even if prescribed by a doctor—carries the same penalties (arrest, fines, court dates, jail, etc.) as being boozed or on illegal substances behind the wheel.
“Marijuana can also be impairing, especially in combination with alcohol or other drugs, and can result in a DUI,” warns the state Office of Traffic Safety, which points to a study of active drivers that reportedly found more tested positive for cannabis (7.4 percent) than alcohol (7.3 percent).
The police and sheriff’s departments each receive separate grants to conduct checkpoints from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.