Valley Sobriety Check on Friday
Here's a statistic that is saddening. There have been over 130 collisions involving an intoxicated driver this year. And that's only for the West Valley Division that covers neighborhoods like Canoga Park and West Hills. That's only one police division out of six in the San Fernando Valley. Throughout the Valley, there have been over 550 DUI related crashes.
Not only does West Valley have the highest number of DUI related collisions for the Valley, it also has highest number of hit and runs. Get ready for this number. There have been 991 hit and runs as of June 28. Valleywide, the number is shocking: 4,025 hit and runs for the first six months of the year (and Valley Traffic is just one of four traffic divisions in the city)
To that end, the Valley Traffic Division of the LAPD is running one of their Sobriety Check Points on Friday night between Desoto and Canoga Avenues on Sherman Way.
So what's going on in the West Valley? Why does this suburban like neighborhood of Los Angeles have some of the highest statistics? "It's got the huge wide streets, which is almost like raceways, which causes people to speed, which causes accidents," explained Sergeant Robert Kirk of the Valley Traffic Division.
The DUI checkpoints are funded by a state grant and there will be four more in the Valley by September 30.
Photo by BarelyFitz via Flickr