While there is an economic benefit for strapped cities, it comes at a cost to taxpayers. That money came from federal taxpayers through the California Office of Traffic Safety, which contracts with the University of California, Berkeley, to help distribute the money. While the checkpoints do catch some drunken drivers, the police manning them are also leaving sober but unlicensed drivers, like Bernardino, on the side of the road, with no hope of regaining their vehicle for at least a month.
Once vehicles are impounded, California law requires towing companies to hold them for 30 days. Unlicensed motorists rarely challenge the impoundments. Often the owners lack the money to recover their cars. Perry Shusta, vice president of the California Tow Truck Association and owner of Arrowhead Towing in Antioch, said two-thirds or more of the impounded vehicles were never reclaimed and were sold at lien sales.
The Investigative Reporting Program reviewed hundreds of pages of city financial records and police reports, and analyzed data from sobriety checkpoints during the past two years. The data revealed that police departments across the state are seizing a growing number of vehicles from unlicensed drivers. In the last fiscal year, the police seized approximately 24, such cars at sobriety checkpoints, up from 17, in and 15, in Law enforcement officials say demographics play no role in determining where the police establish checkpoints.
But records show that cities where Hispanics make up a majority of the population are seizing cars at three times the rate of cities with small minority populations. Sobriety checkpoints typically take place on major thoroughfares near highways. On average, officers seize seven cars for each drunken-driving arrest, state data show. The disparity is far greater in some cities. San Rafael averaged almost 15 impoundments for each drunken-driving arrest in the last fiscal year, and the police in Oakland seized 11 cars for every drunken driver who was caught.
And in Montebello, state records show, checkpoints netted up to 60 impoundments for every drunken driver apprehended. Research by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that motorists driving with a suspended or revoked license cause collisions at a higher rate than licensed drivers.
The seizures appear to defy a federal appellate court ruling that the police cannot impound a car solely because the driver is unlicensed. Gasparac said the ruling might clear the matter. The San Francisco Police Department is not waiting for a ruling; it recently altered its impoundment policy to allow unlicensed motorists 20 minutes to find a legal driver to move their car from the scene.
The community-based program targets teens that are in the last few months of their senior year in high school: during prom, graduation, and other end-of-the-year activities.
This trailer contains an automobile involved in a fatal traffic collision, in which the driver was killed by a person driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. During specific weeks usually after summer, holiday and spring breaks , an increased emphasis is put on enforcing traffic laws around school zones. Motorcycles officers patrol in the morning and afternoon hours. The emphasis is to protect children as they go to and from school and to encourage safe driving so that children and adults who choose to walk or bike, can do so in a traffic-safe environment.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser for a better user experience. Many of the services provided by the main lobby can be accessed online or by telephone.
Generally, the officer must have probable cause. However, one exception involves the use of sobriety checkpoints to stop drivers to check whether they may be under the influence. California regularly makes use of sobriety checkpoints. Also known as DUI checkpoints , there are thousands taking place each year across the state.
The U. Checkpoints are rationally related to that interest. During a DUI checkpoint stop, officers can briefly stop all vehicles or use a non-discretionary system for stopping vehicles.
0コメント