Police to hold DUI checkpoint

The Laguna Beach Police Department will be conducting a DUI checkpoint to stop and arrest alcohol- and drug-impaired drivers this weekend, according to a news release.

Officers will patrol areas with high frequencies of past DUI collisions and/or arrests beginning at 7 p.m. Saturday through 3 a.m. Sunday.

After falling dramatically for five straight years in California, figures for 2012 showed an increase to 802 deaths because someone failed to designate a sober driver, the release said.

“Over the course of the past three years in Laguna Beach, DUI collisions have claimed one life and resulted in 37 injury crashes harming 52 of our friends and neighbors,” said Lt. Jeff Calvert said in the release.

DUI can impact the economy in addition to the pain and suffering of those immediately affected. Conservatively, a fatality has a $1.4 million impact, an injury $70,000, and a crash that only damages property averages nearly $9,000.

A grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, helps fund the checkpoints.

Police urge the public to report drunk drivers by calling 911.

—Bryce Alderton

Twitter: @AldertonBryce