California Highway Patrol officers are happy that they didn’t have to issue any citations at a DUI and driver’s license checkpoint over the weekend, a local official said Wednesday.
That’s the idea.
While hundreds of cars were screened Friday night at the checkpoint on The Old Road, north of Constitution Road, in Stevenson Ranch, and two drivers were given field sobriety tests, both passed, said Josh Greengard, spokesman for the Newhall-Area Office.
Greengard said that meant the checkpoint had worked as planned.
The federal grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that funds the checkpoints requires local agencies to advertise them, which is meant to serve two purposes: put safe-driving choices on the top of mind and offer a warning, according to officials.
“The advertisement got out pretty fast (on Wednesday),” Greengard said in a phone interview, adding that was the goal.
One of the ideas behind the checkpont was a deterrent to discourage the behavior in the first place, which is why officials announce the checkpoint, but not the location.
“We still screened 500 cars,” he added, “and we didn’t catch anyone driving under the influence.”
