The Gilroy Police Department has been awarded a new traffic safety grant for an anti-DUI program aimed at preventing deaths and injuries on roadways. While we know Gilroy is a long drive from where we are, the implications of this grant may affect all of California.
According to the Gilroy Patch (http://gilroy.patch.com/articles/gilroy-pd-given-27k-for-dui-checkpoints), the $27,050 grant was awarded to the City of Gilroy by the California Office of Traffic Safety.
The grant will be used to establish DUI/driver’s license checkpoints, which will target impaired driving offenders. In addition, the checkpoints will educate the public on the dangers of impaired driving. This means that a DUI crackdown is on the horizon for Gilroy. The purpose of these checkpoints is to decrease the amount of deaths due to DUI incidents, but it could lead to drivers being targeted unfairly.
Crashes involving alcohol drop by an average of 20 percent when well-publicized checkpoints are conducted often enough. Checkpoints have also proven to be very effective and cost-efficient. Depending on the effect that the checkpoints have in Gilroy, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration may consider granting funding to other cities across California.
“‘DUI checkpoints have been an essential part of the phenomenal reduction in DUI deaths that we witnessed from 2006 to 2010 in California,” said Christopher J. Murphy, Director of the Office of Traffic Safety.
This program’s funding comes from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
If you are planning on driving through Gilroy, be on the lookout for DUI checkpoints. Additionally, be aware that checkpoints are a possibility for other cities in California as well, including Riverside.
If you feel as though you were mistreated in a DUI checkpoint, call Greenberg, Greenberg & Kenyon, APLC at our Riverside office location at (951) 274-0003.