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October 31
1923 - Newhall Chamber of Commerce petitions state to pave Spruce Street (now Main); it happens three years later [story]
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The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Santa Clarita Station will be conducting a DUI/Driver’s License Checkpoint on Friday June 20th, 2014, in the City of Santa Clarita between the hours of 6 p.m. and 2 a.m.

The deterrent effect of DUI checkpoints is a proven resource in reducing the number of persons killed and injured in alcohol or drug involved crashes. Research shows that crashes involving alcohol drop by an average of 20 percent when well-publicized checkpoints are conducted often enough.

File photo by Carol Ohler

File photo by Carol Ohler

Deputies will be contacting drivers passing through the checkpoint for signs of alcohol and/or drug impairment.  Deputies will also check drivers for proper licensing and will strive to delay motorists only momentarily.  When possible, specially trained officers will be available to evaluate those suspected of drug-impaired driving.  Drivers caught driving impaired can expect jail, license suspension, and insurance increases, as well as fines, fees, DUI classes, other expenses that can exceed $10,000.

In 2011, nearly 10,000 people were killed nationally in motor vehicle traffic crashes that involved at least one driver or motorcycle rider with a blood alcohol concentration of .08% or higher. In California, this deadly crime led to 774 deaths because someone failed to designate a sober driver. “Over the course of the past three years, DUI collisions have claimed 49 lives and resulted in 893 injury crashes harming 1,113 of our friends and neighbors,” said Sgt. Joseph Jakl of the Risk Management Bureau.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), checkpoints have provided the most effective documented results of any of the DUI enforcement strategies, while also yielding considerable cost savings of $6 for every $1 spent.  Based on collision statistics and frequency of DUI arrests, DUI Checkpoints are placed in locations that have the greatest opportunity for achieving drunk and drugged driving deterrence.  Locations are chosen with safety considerations for the officers and the public.

Funding for these operations is provided to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety http://www.ots.ca.gov/ through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration http://www.nhtsa.gov/, reminding everyone to continue to work together to bring an end to these tragedies.

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78 Comments

  1. Carol Ohler says:

    Use my photo…it’s much better.

  2. Douglas Arms says:

    Nazi, Gastapo tactics to condition the sheeple of the SCV. How sad it is that people voluntarily give their rights away for the false illusion of safety…

  3. Think again Douglas Arms.That one drunk driver they pull off the road that night. Could just be saving one of your own family members life!

  4. i dont like when the sheriff takes cars or trucks…. its descrimination,, just the tiket and thas it..

  5. How is it discrimination Francisco Salazar? If they broke the law…. whoever “they are,” shouldn’t be driving in our community.

  6. Here Douglas Arms. You obvious have never had someone you love or even care about be killed by a drunk driver. Consider yourself lucky

  7. Douglas Arms says:

    As you can see, the sheeple have been conditioned well here in the SCV. They take away our 4th amendment tonight and maybe our 2nd tomorrow. Way to go people.

  8. Watch what u say scv open forum blocked me if they don’t like your comments

  9. Where at I need the Cross Street So I can avoid them

  10. The way I see it, there should be checkpoints without warnings.

  11. Remember to refuse consent to any searches. While they may catch some drunk drivers, the majority of the people arrested or cited will be for minor violations and expired licenses.

  12. Sick to death of hearing people complain about their rights being violated. Driving is a privilege, not a “right”. You don’t have a right to drive under the influence, just like you don’t have a right to drive without a license or expired registration. If you don’t like checkpoints, don’t drive.

    • Douglas Arms says:

      If you don’t like rights and liberty you should probably move out of the USA. This country is the way it is because of people like you. Thanks

      • Jerry says:

        You talk about rights and liberties, did you serve in the armed forces to protect these rights and liberties? I doubt that you have. I have served for 14 years in the US Army. If you did serve you would not be telling any US citizen to leave the USA. I would ask you to say thank you to those who serve and protect your freedom to think the you do. Those of us who have served in the armed forces serve for people like Michelle Thompson, and yes yourself. Members of the armed forces deal with much worse than a moment of delay to keep you safe. This country is the way it because of people like you as well.

    • Ryan Orona says:

      I guess it would be ok if we come in your garage then to make sure you aren’t doing anything in there Michele. Ya know because driving is a privilege and your garage is intended to store one of those cars you have no right to drive.

    • Your analogy makes absolutely no sense, but then I’ve learned not to expect much. The car being in my garage isn’t posing a threat to anyone else. But my car being on a public roadway can be a threat, so if I was unlicensed, drunk, high or uninsured I would hope they’d take it off the road.

    • Israel Sosa says:

      I know of some unlicensed drivers that are far superior drivers on the road than that of some licensed idiots. Don’t be so quick to judge.

    • I am not judging unlicensed drivers’ driving skills. Yes, there are plenty of licensed idiots, and licensed drivers who really need to have their licenses revoked. But unlicensed drivers – good or bad – cause us to have to pay more for insurance.

  13. Warning people defeats the purpose. Just set it up and the people U turning are the drunk ones, usually

    • Checkpoints are not meant to be entrapments, they’re meant to deter people from drinking and driving. Entrapping people does no good as the drunk driver is already on the road. It’s about raising awareness in hopes that people will make plans for a designated driver or a cab ahead of time.

  14. Kurt Buck says:

    Papers please… Your papers are not in order…

  15. Shane Weeks says:

    Funny because in the post like this when I brought up the question about the constitutionality of a drivers license check point SCVTV told me no one cares. Looks like a few care to me. Let me restate that I am not against DUI check points, just the driver’s license check point.

  16. Tos On Drums says:

    29 sheep and counting!

  17. Shane Weeks says:

    It’s not about driving being a right or privilege. It’s about if a police officer can pull you over without probable cause.

  18. They don’t harass you. They simply have you stop for one second. If your good your fine if not then your not. Big deal. If it saves just one life it’s worth it.

  19. Austin Lee says:

    Michele Thompson you are and idiot

  20. Anyone ever noticed any correspondence fron the federal government is addressed to your name in all CAPITAL LETTERS? Name on drivers license, passport, dmv, etc… Theres more to this than you realize!!!!

  21. John Fortman says:

    1. If they don’t warn people it has zero deterrent value.
    2. This is an ineffective means of removing drunk drivers from the road.

  22. Ryan Orona says:

    This is not about deaths, it’s about fines and statistics. Real enforcement would be done legally. This is entrapment. Please post all illegal checkpoints to the sites out there that publicize them.

  23. Mike Dowler says:

    Getting behind the wheel after drinking is insane. If any of you have lost a loved one as a result of drunk driving, you know full well how painful that is.

  24. Just call 260 CABS.
    661 style

  25. Ray Johnson says:

    Wow we have nothing like that in the state of Oregon. But I still remember the setups back then in so cal. Gggrrrrrrr

  26. Well I dont drink…so I do try to avoid checkpoints if possible…mainly it depends on where your goin…like is a certain store gonna close…is your movie about to start…dinner reservations….concerts…airports…you dont always have time to stop in a long line of cars…so you can just be waved on…

  27. I think that most people who are against this are drinkers because if they weren’t they wouldn’t care.

  28. DL Thompson says:

    If it saves one life, then good idea

  29. Patently untrue Theresa and really a programmed response. Look at the statistics. They rarely catch a drunk driver yet use all there resources for these little “exercises”. It’s a waste of resources, a violation of everyone’s rights and a waste of time. I rarely drink and a certainly don’t drive even on one glass. I avoid them like the plague.

  30. Justin McNab says:

    I’m all for checking for people under the influence, and even more for checking if people have a drivers license!!!! Don’t drive if you don’t have a license! It’ll really help in Newhall!!!!!!

  31. Why do people have to be so UGLY? Isn’t it possible to have different opinions without becoming immature jerks!?! Bottom line…DRIVE CAREFUL.

  32. Ben Harding says:

    These checkpoints are pointless the first person that passed through just sends out a mass text and FB messages telling where they are located and then all the drinkers just take the long way home making them that much more unsafe .. Sadly we will never stop every drunk driver no matter what we choose to do these are just excuses to invade privacy on the name of “checkpoints.”

  33. Dave Raines says:

    DUI Checkpoints vs. DUI Patrols – two different tactics with two different expected outcomes.

    Patrols are meant to catch active drunks, get them off the streets and prosecute them. Checkpoints are highly visible, highly publicized events meant to deter drinking and driving in the first place.

    Patrols have little deterrent value, but high enforcement value. Checkpoints have been shown to have the potential to lower DUI fatality rates by up to 20 percent by virtue of their deterrence. People go through them, drive past them, hear about them via multiple grapevines and get the ongoing impression that drunk driving is dangerous, socially unacceptable, and that law enforcement is actively looking for it.

    They are both good tactics and both should be in the arsenal of DUI combating tactics, along with others. In terms of catching drunks, nothing beats patrols. In terms of saving lives, nothing beats checkpoints.

  34. Dave Raines says:

    When people complain about checkpoints, calling them Nazi tactics, they are forgetting one thing. When those regimes “asked for papers,” that meant show me your state-issued internal passport that often said who you were, what job you had, where you were allowed to travel too, what restrictions on your movements had been placed on you, what religion you were. If you were someplace you weren’t supposed to be, you got arrested. At DUI checkpoints, they ask for your drivers license, which you must have to operate the vehicle you are driving. And they check to see if you show signs of impairment. That is vastly different than Nazi “show me your papers,” shows a lack of understanding of history as well as demeans what the people of Germany and Europe went through.

  35. Dave Raines says:

    The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that sobriety checkpoints meet the Fourth Amendment standard of “reasonable search and seizure.” The Court is, by force of Article III of the Constitution itself, the final arbiter and interpreter of the Constitution. We may not agree with what they rule. But what they rule is law until reinterpreted by a later court. We can whine, but they win, not because of a left or right wing conspiracy, but because the Constitution itself says so. In addition, court rulings over the last 20 years have put more and more restrictions on checkpoints, leaving them less obtrusive and more transparent, with less chance of abuse.

    Plus, ever since that ruling, subsequent rulings have made the operating of DUI checkpoints more and more restricted, with more and more regulations. So, rather than “they will come for your guns next, sheeple!” it is actually headed in the other direction.

    I know, reality and facts bite, huh?

  36. I don’t drink, I usually just take the long way home.

  37. Sophie Sidky says:

    The level of entitlement in this city is strong.

    These checkpoints are completely legal. They announce them, and you can see them from a good distance away. Don’t like them? Find a way around.

    Consider this, though: Why are you complaining about something designed to keep you safe, if you’re completely sure you’re not breaking any laws?

    • Tos On Drums says:

      ” Why are you complaining about something designed to keep you safe” gotta liberal logic……so Im guessing your ok if the cops can just walk into any house looking for any legal activity???? “Why are you complaining about something designed to keep you safe?”

    • Sophie Sidky says:

      “Liberal logic.” Thank you for the assumption. Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m an independent. If that’s “liberal logic,” then okay then. Still not sure what politics have to do with this.

      As for your home, obviously, they can’t. It’s protected by the 4th, and nothing is in plain sight. They can’t barge in without a warrant or your permission. They have no proof, no probable cause, and not nearly enough manpower.

      Cars are different. Last I checked, I could very easily peek into my neighbour’s car and see his fancy-schmancy iPhone sitting in his cup holder whenever leaves it out. It’s in plain sight. Same concept for police. If they can see anything hinting at illegal activity, they’ll question it and charge you, so don’t carry that open beer can, or recreational marijuana, or heroin, in your car for all to see, or of course they’re gonna get you.

      As for “minor violations,” like expired registration, they’ll pull you over for that, too. Had a family member experience that. It’s a slap on the wrist. Not exactly a big deal. I’ve gotten a parking ticket for missing a front plate, also not a big deal. It’s not difficult to keep up to date with your paperwork. Learn to monitor your stuff, like you would with the money in your bank.

      tl;dr — If you’re not doing anything wrong, “why are you complaining about something designed to keep you [and the community] safe?” It’s a few minutes of your precious time. Either suck it up or find an alternate route.

    • Tos On Drums says:

      not an assumption, your thought process is absolutely liberal regardless what you claim to be and are you saying the 4th amendment only applies to your home????? So young, so naive, but not surprised.

  38. All those people calling others sheeple and idiots and talking about our rights being infringed upon, what about my right to safe roads, free of unlicensed, drunk, or otherwise incompetent and unsafe drivers? What do you have to say about that right? Or does that right not matter to you as long as you don’t have to be inconvenienced? By the way, no one is going to search your car or subject you to the breathalyzer without probable cause. As far as asking for your license and registration, I’m pretty sure you signed some sort of a consent form when you received the privileges associated with holding a driver’s license. If you don’t agree with such a consent, you may elect to forego this privilege, surrender your license and use your legs instead of a vehicle capable of causing deadly harm, if not operated according to regulations.

  39. Tony Follett says:

    That’s the point of beautification projects. Islands in the middle of the road where you can’t u turn to go aroind. So you are forced to go through. Driving is a necessity and a way of life.

  40. Tony Follett says:

    That’s the point of beautification projects. Islands in the middle of the road where you can’t u turn to go aroind. So you are forced to go through. Driving is a necessity and a way of life.

  41. Trisha Mauck says:

    I agree with checkpoints.. they keep me safe and my kids and grandkids and other ppl who have family and wish to see them.i work for a tow yrd and I c alot of dui accident and the dui driver is alive and k but the ppl/person they hit r in the hospital or dead.. grow up its the law Dont Drink And Drive

  42. If they really wanted to catch drunk drivers they check point out of tilted kilt… Or Taco Bell at 2 am. Let’s. be. real.

  43. Dave Boone says:

    I love unwarranted searches

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