DUI Checkpoint Planned This Weekend In Milpitas

MILPITAS, CA – Police will conduct a DUI/driver license checkpoint this weekend in Milpitas, an effort to curb alcohol- and drug-impaired driving collisions and to reinforce the “DUI Doesn’t Just Mean Booze” effort from the Office of Traffic Safety.

"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," the Milpitas Police Department said. "Marijuana can also be impairing, especially in combination with alcohol or other drugs, and can result in a DUI. The deterrent effect of high-visibility enforcement using both DUI checkpoints and DUI saturation patrols has proven to lower the number of persons killed and injured in alcohol- or drug-impaired collisions."

The upcoming checkpoint will be Saturday, Sept. 1 at 8 p.m. to Sunday at 3:30 a.m. Great Mall Parkway and Highway 880, police said.

Research shows crashes involving impaired drivers are reduced by up to 20 percent when well-publicized proactive DUI operations are conducted routinely, the department said.

Over the past three years, Milpitas police investigated 42 DUI collisions that resulted in 55 injuries.

At the weekend checkpoint, officers will look for signs of alcohol and/or drug impairment, along with checking motorists for proper licensing, police said, adding that those who plan to drink should designate a sober driver before going out or find a safe way home via taxi, ride-share or public transportation.

Funding for this checkpoint was provided to the Milpitas department by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

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