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California’s DUI deaths last year reached their lowest level since 1952, and they went through the largest annual decrease in 14 years, according to data released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. A total of 791 people were killed in DUI crashes on California roadways last year, compared with 950 in 2009. There were 792 deaths in 1952, but data was recorded differently then.

Safety officials credit a record number of DUI checkpoints conducted in 2010 as partly responsible for the sharp reduction in DUI deaths. The Office of Traffic Safety allocated $16.8 million in federal funds to law enforcement agencies to conduct 2,553 DUI checkpoints in 2010, up from the $11.7 million allocated to 1,740 checkpoints in 2009.

According to federal officials, checkpoints have provided the most effective results of any of the DUI enforcement strategies, and 88 percent of Californians surveyed report they support the use of checkpoints.

Other factors at work: Mothers Against Drunk Driving has campaigned for harsher laws since its inception in 1980; Caltrans runs messages on electronic freeway signs urging motorists to call 911; and Alameda County is one of four counties in the state with a pilot program requiring DUI offenders to fit their cars with interlock ignitions so they can’t drink and drive.
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Mothers Against Drunk Driving is speaking out against a pending bill that would restrict the ability of officers to enforce certain laws during sobriety checkpoints.

According to the advocacy group, Assembly Bill 1389 condones driving without a valid driver’s license by preventing law enforcement from enforcing current laws meant to protect people on roadways, such as whether the motorist has a valid driver’s license and vehicle registration, as well as checking for outstanding warrants or probation violations.

“If lawmakers want to change the licensing requirements to operate legally on California roadways, do it without compromising law enforcement’s ability to enforce DUI laws,” said Mary Klotzbach, public policy liaison for MADD California.

In 2009, DMV reported that there were 170,622 convictions for driving without a license in California. Of these convictions, 43,598 were for operating illegally on a suspended license due to a previous DUI.

“Sobriety checkpoints are one of the most critical tools available for law enforcement to deter drunk driving,” Klotzbach said. “Sobriety checkpoints send a message that if a motorist chooses to drive drunk, he or she will get caught.”
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DUI checkpoints are making too much money and not doing enough to stop drunken driving, according to some lawmakers in California.

Those  lawmakers pushed legislation — bills AB-1389 and AB-353 — that aims to curb the millions of dollars that are made off the cars that are impounded at DUI checkpoints.

10News learned police are impounding more cars from sober drivers than drunken drivers at sobriety checkpoints, which earn tens of millions of dollars for California cities and law enforcement agencies.

A recent audit of state police agencies that receive grant money to run checkpoints found a discrepancy between the number of cars that are impounded and number of drivers arrested on suspicion of drunken driving.
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Former Assembly Republican leader Martin Garrick was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of drunken driving after allegedly speeding through a downtown neighborhood in a state-owned car.

The incident occurred hours after the Legislature approved an ill-fated state budget, which was vetoed Thursday morning by Gov. Jerry Brown.

Garrick, 58, a married father of four grown children, released a written statement apologizing for his “lapse of judgment.” He was alone and headed home when the arrest occurred, he said.

“I apologize to my family for the embarrassment I have caused them, and I hope they will forgive me for my actions,” Garrick said.

“I also apologize to my constituents. They have the right to hold their elected representative to a high standard, and I regret that it was one I failed to meet last night.”

Test results to pinpoint the level of alcohol in Garrick’s system were pending Thursday, but the Solana Beach legislator accepted responsibility for misbehavior and called his arrest a “stark wake-up call.”

“I will never drink and drive again,” he said.
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A Santa Rosa assemblyman is pushing a bill that would set rules for how police run DUI/license checkpoints, particularly targeting the impoundment of vehicles and being more specific about where the checkpoints will be.

But the bill is generating some waves in the state’s law enforcement community.

Assemblyman Michael Allen, a Democrat, said he was approached by social action committees from local churches about the fear Latinos have at the checkpoints and the possible impoundment of their cars for not having licenses. He said he did some research and found police around the state were inconsistent in their checkpoint policies and some were using checkpoints to generate income for their cities.

As a result, he said, he introduced Assembly Bill 1389 to impose uniform regulations for the checkpoints. U.S. Supreme Court and California Supreme Court rulings now generally govern how checkpoints work.

A key element of the bill, which earlier this month passed the Assembly Transportation Committee 11-3 and now goes to the full Assembly, would be to change the law covering impoundment of cars at checkpoints.

Now, state law allows a police officer to immediately arrest a driver and impound her/her car if the driver doesn’t have a driver’s license or is driving with a suspended or invalid license. Allen’s bill would forbid police from impounding cars, except in very limited cases, such as the car was used to commit a crime or contains evidence of a crime.

Instead of impoundment, an officer under Allen’s bill would have to allow the driver to turn the car over to a friend, relative, neighbor or someone else with a valid license; allow the driver to park the car in a safe place for a licensed driver to come; or permit the officer “to readily and lawfully remove the vehicle to a place that does not impede traffic or threaten public safety.” If none of these can be achieved, then the bill allows the car to be impounded.
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But it might as well have been called the Year of Taking Your Car. Because, while the number of DUI checkpoints in fiscal 2010 was double that of 2009, there were six cars impounded for every one DUI arrest, according to California Watch.

It also reports there were 1,050 of the state-funded checkpoints during the holidays alone (Christmas, New Year’s, the Super Bowl, St. Patrick’s Day and Labor Day), doubling the number in fiscal 2009.

Some have accused the LAPD of setting up checkpoints in immigrant-heavy areas where finding unlicensed drivers and taking their cars because they’re not allowed to drive them home is like shooting fish in a barrel.

The department recently changed its policy, however, allowing accessible friends and family members with licenses to drive the cars of the unlicensed home.

The DUI checkpoint — often conducted with federal funds as well — has been a bonanza for other law agencies statewide. California Watch:

Vehicle seizures totaled 17,419 last fiscal year. An investigation by California Watch and the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley found most of the motorists losing their cars at the operations were sober, unlicensed illegal immigrants.
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Eight months after it was enacted, what was supposed to be a tough measure against drunken driving is having little effect in four test counties, including Sacramento.

The law requires anyone convicted of drunken driving to get an ignition interlock device, commonly known by the Breathalyzer brand name, installed on his or her car for at least five months.

The device, requiring the driver to blow into a tube, does not allow the car to start if the driver’s breath shows the presence of alcohol.

As of late February, however, Department of Motor Vehicles data indicate only one out of 10 of those convicted of drunken driving since July has had a device installed.

In Sacramento County, the percentage was slightly higher, 12 percent.

In total, there have been 13,288 people convicted of DUI in the four counties – Sacramento, Los Angeles, Alameda and Tulare – since the law went into effect. Yet, state officials have confirmation of only 1,335 drivers who have had interlock devices placed on their vehicles.

DMV officials contend it is too early to assess the program. They say some people convicted of DUI lose their license for months as part of their sentencing, so would not have registered yet for the interlock devices.
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A Riverside County lawmaker introduced legislation today that would make a DUI conviction part of a person’s permanent criminal record, instead of wiping out the convictions after a decade as currently done.

“Unfortunately, everyone has been impacted by the harmful act of a drunk driver in some way,” said Sen. Bill Emmerson, R-Hemet. “Current DUI penalties are not strict enough for repeat offenders, and this bill would change that.”

Under Emmerson’s SB 780, a single misdemeanor DUI conviction would be
counted against an offender for life. Existing law provides a 10-year “washout” period, at the end of which a DUI is deleted from a person’s record as long as he or she hasn’t been convicted of a second DUI in the interim.

A DUI offense that occurs after the washout is treated as a first-time conviction under current law.

SB 780 would also make a person eligible for felony prosecution if he or she commits a third non-injury DUI offense, regardless of when. Existing law requires four non-injury DUI convictions in 10 years before felony punishment can be sought.

The senator’s bill would lastly mandate a five-year sentence-enhancing allegation for any offender who flees the scene of a deadly collision they caused.

“Driving under the influence is a serious crime that requires serious consequences,” Emmerson said. “SB 780 will strengthen these penalties to reflect the severity of the crime.”

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