The Los Angeles Police Department is ramping up its crackdown on drunk driving this Thanksgiving weekend, staging several DUI checkpoints throughout the city in an effort to curb alcohol-fueled road calamities. According to the LAPD Newsroom, a checkpoint will be set up on Osborne Street and Laurel Canyon Boulevard on Wednesday, followed by a checkpoint at Imperial Highway and Main Street on Saturday, not to mention a subsequent one at Pacific Avenue and 10th Street on Sunday.
In a stark reminder to revelers, the LAPD stated that the selected locations for these checkpoints were strategically chosen based on data trends of impaired driving-related crashes and arrests. The intent is not just to apprehend but also to consciously educate drivers on the dangers they impose on themselves and others when they decide to irresponsibly get behind the wheel after knocking back a few. "The primary purpose of DUI checkpoints is to promote public safety by taking suspected impaired drivers off the road," said the LAPD.
The LAPD didn't shy away from warning that impairment doesn't come exclusively from alcoholic spirits. Prescriptions and over-the-counter drugs can equally dull the senses and reflexes required to steer a two-ton hunk of steel and glass. Let's not forget that while California has given a nod to medicinal and recreational marijuana, toking up before or while driving remains a dangerous offense. "Impaired driving is not just from alcohol," the LAPD cautioned, broadening the scope of substance-related transgressions.
The threat of a DUI carries more than just the weight of culpability; it carries an anchor of financial burden. Those charged with a DUI, according to the LAPD Newsroom, can expect to unfairly unravel an average of $13,500 in fines and penalties, in addition to dealing with the inconvenience of a suspended license.
