FOUNTAIN VALLEY : Police to Conduct Sobriety Checkpoint

To create public awareness about the dangers of drinking and driving, the Police Department will conduct a sobriety checkpoint tonight at Warner Avenue and Los Jardines West.

The checkpoint will be conducted from 9:30 p.m. to 3 a.m.

Police Sgt. Larry Griswold said that since the department started conducting the checkpoints in October, 1992, 84 people have been arrested on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol.

Griswold also said that 12,900 motorists have driven through the checkpoints, which have been conducted at various locations in the city.

Of those motorists, 9,553 were stopped and given public education information by police officers. As a result of those stops, Griswold said, 182 people were given sobriety tests.

The maximum legal blood-alcohol level for adults is .08%, and in many of the motorists arrested the blood-alcohol content was at least .15%, almost twice the legal limit, Griswold said. He said motorists also have been cited on other charges, including possession of alcohol and drugs.

Griswold said that under a new state law, drivers under 21 with a blood-alcohol level of .01% or greater face a fine and a one-year suspension of their driver’s license.

“It is something minors need to know,” he said. “If they had anything to drink, they almost certainly are going to be over the limit allowed by law.”