The Santa Maria Police Department’s traffic bureau was busy on Nov. 15 and 16, conducting two Driving Under the Influence (DUI) checkpoints and a driver’s license checkpoint.
The first DUI checkpoint took place on Nov. 15, from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m., at the intersection of Main Street and Western Avenue, and later moved to the 300 block of South Broadway. According to the department, officers screened a total of 878 vehicles, making three field sobriety tests, two DUI arrests, and an arrest for an outstanding felony warrant. They issued 43 traffic citations and impounded 30 vehicles driven by unlicensed drivers.
On Nov. 16, the police conducted a second DUI checkpoint, along with a driver’s license saturation patrol from noon to 10 p.m. More than 20 police officers participated and made 246 traffic stops, resulting in 99 moving violation citations, 147 impounded vehicles, five warrant arrests, 17 field sobriety tests, and 10 DUI arrests.
This article appears in Nov 20-27, 2008.