One suspected drunk driver was arrested, 17 citations were issued and seven vehicles were towed at a DUI/driver’s license checkpoint that ended Saturday morning in Vista, according to sheriff’s deputies.
The checkpoint was set up from 7 p.m. Friday until 2 a.m. Saturday in the 600 block of North Santa Fe Avenue and 1,069 vehicles drove through, according to Sgt. Hernan Gonzalez.
“In recent years, California has seen a disturbing increase in drug-impaired driving crashes,” Gonzalez said. “The San Diego Sheriff’s Department supports the new effort from the Office of Traffic Safety that aims to educate all drivers that `DUI Doesn’t Just Mean Booze.”
Studies of California drivers have shown that 30 percent of drivers in fatal crashes had one or more drugs in their system.
“If you take prescription drugs, particularly those with a driving or operating machinery warning on the label, you might be impaired enough to get a DUI,” Gonzalez said. “Marijuana can also be impairing, especially in combination with alcohol or other drugs, and can result in a DUI.”
Of the vehicles that drove through the checkpoint, 623 were sent to a primary screening, while 39 were sent to a secondary inspection. Four sobriety tests were conducted, resulting in the single DUI arrest, according to deputies.
Ten drivers were cited for driving without a license and six were cited for driving on a suspended or revoked license.
“The San Diego Sheriff’s Department will be conducting other DUI/driver’s license checkpoints or DUI saturation patrols periodically in our ongoing commitment to lowering deaths and injuries upon our streets and highways,” Gonzalez said.
The checkpoint was funded by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
— City News Service
