It's DUI checkpoint weekend again.
YAY!
* Costa Mesa Police Department conducts one, where they will also be doing drivers license checks, from 8 tonight to 2 a.m. Saturday at Bear and Baker streets.
* Garden Grove Police Department will also be checking for drunks and unlicensed drivers from 9 p.m. Saturday to 3 a.m. Sunday at Westminster Avenue and Enterprise Drive.
* Cypress Police Department runs its own from 7 p.m. Saturday to 2 a.m. Sunday on Valley View at Phyllis Drive.
As usual, all three department operations are funded by a grant from the California
Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
“We will be talking to drivers, making sure they are not impaired,
arresting those who are, and getting the word out that impaired driving
and driving without a proper license is not acceptable in Costa Mesa,” vowed police Sgt. David Makiyama.
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Garden Grove police say such checkpoints generally result in five to
eight driving under the influence arrests and too many citations to
count.
Perhaps more important than catching offenders, Cypress police say, is raising public awareness about the dangers of DUI.
Makiyama also offered these tips to avoid DUI's:
* Plan a safe way home before festivities begin;
* Before drinking, designate a sober driver and give that person your keys;
* If you're impaired, use a taxi, call a sober friend or family member,
or use public transportation so you are sure to get home safely;
* If you happen to see a drunk driver on the road, don't hesitate to call 911.
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.