DUI checkpoints begin tonight (Friday) in San Diego County for New Year's holiday period

SAN DIEGO (Wire Service) - Starting tonight, Friday, Dec. 28, San Diego County police departments plan to stage checkpoints to catch holiday revelers who choose to drink and drive under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

By publicizing the enforcement and education efforts, police believe motorists could be deterred from drunken or drugged driving.

The Escondido Police Department will conduct a checkpoint later today, EPD Lt. Tom Albergo said.

Seven people were killed and 234 were injured in drunken driving crashes in Escondido over the past three years, according to Albergo.

"DUI checkpoints have been an essential part of the phenomenal reduction in DUI deaths that we witnessed since 2006 in California,'' Christopher J. Murphy, Director of the California Office of Traffic Safety, said. "But since the tragedy of DUI accounts for nearly one-third of traffic fatalities, Escondido needs the high visibility enforcement and public awareness that checkpoints provide.''

The police departments have said the checkpoints will be at undisclosed locations throughout the county.