State announces 2010 as 'Year of the Checkpoint'

SACRAMENTO - Just in time for the upcoming holiday travel season, state traffic safety officials continued to tighten their firm grip on drunk drivers last week by declaring 2010 as ‘Year of the Checkpoint’ and announcing a record $8 million in grant funding to 148 law enforcement agencies for DUI checkpoints – up from $5 million in 2009.

The California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) will fund more than 2,500 sobriety checkpoints in 2010, a 47 percent increase over the 1,700 conducted this year, more than 250 of which will take place between December 18 and January 3 as part of the December DU...