California Office of Traffic Safety Funds Efforts to Crack Down on Drunk Driving Accidents

This year will be the Year of the Checkpoint, according to the Ventura County Star. The year 2010 is the year that California is ready to get serious and crack down hard on those who choose to drive while under the influence. This year, over 2,500 check points will be implemented thanks to funds provided by California Office of Traffic Safety. This means that there will be 47% more checkpoints than last year.

California currently has more checkpoints in place than any other state in the country. Last year from December through the January 3rd, 250 sobriety checkpoints were conducted by 148 law enforcement agencies across the state at a cost of $8 million. This funding was $5 million more than 2008, and it is apparent that deaths caused by drunk driving have declined since 2006, when the state began increasing funding for these checkpoints. Officials with the Office of Traffic Safety have seen a definite downward trend in the number of drunk driving accidents.

This year, how much funding an area gets will be based upon the need for checkpoints in that area. In 2008, Oxnard had 197 fatalities caused by driving while intoxicated. They were ranked number one out of 55 cities that were analyzed for DUI accident rates, and therefore receive more funding for checkpoints. This year, Oxnard will be conducting 16 sobriety checkpoints with the $357,000 grant it is due to decrease drunk driving. These efforts combined with a dozen saturation patrols will go through September of this year.

It seems that simply trying to educate the public about the dangers of drunk driving is not as effective as we would like. California drunk driving accident lawyers realize that using sobriety checkpoints seem to deter people from driving drunk. By combining education efforts with sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols, the success rate of combating drunk driving may be much higher.

Across the country, a 7 percent decline in drunk driving accidents has been noted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Accidents related to driving while drunk have dropped by 9 percent in California. This recent success should be attributed to law enforcement agencies, who try to make sure our streets are safer for the public by pulling over motorists they suspect are intoxicated.

There have also been raised efforts to stop teens from driving while drinking. They are more likely to get behind the wheel after consuming alcohol, and the California Highway Patrol often targets teen motorists. Other local law enforcement agencies often partner with the CHP to conduct awareness campaigns so that teens can be more educated on the dangers of driving while under the influence.

Still, there are too many fatalities related to driving under the influence in California. Last year, over 1,000 people died in drunk driving accidents. This is still unacceptable.

The Reeves Law Group has offices across California and is dedicated to representing personal injury victims, including victims of drunk driving accidents. Please contact us for a free consultation at (800) 644-8000.