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If you're going out this weekend to drink, don't drive. There are several no-good, very-bad possible consequences, and one of them could be running into a DUI checkpoint or the saturation patrols that will be out in full force this Memorial Day weekend.
The California Highway will begin its "maximum enforcement period" all across the state starting at 6 pm tonight until the stroke of midnight on Monday, according to City News Service. The Los Angeles Police Department's Olympic Station got a head-start last night at 6 pm.
FRIDAY NIGHT
A checkpoint will be operating on Vermont Avenue between Pico Boulevard and 12th Street in the Pico-Union district starting at 7 pm tonight until 3 am tomorrow.
Another checkpoint will be operating on Manchester Avenue between Hoover and Figueroa streets in South Los Angeles starting at about 8 p.m. tonight.
SATURDAY NIGHT
A checkpoint will be operating at Sherman Way between Sepulveda Boulevard and Orion Avenue in North Hollywood Van Nuys beginning at 8 pm.
SUNDAY NIGHT
Officers assigned to the Hollenbeck Station will begin a saturation
patrol on the city's Eastside about 8 p.m. Sunday.
Now before you get up on your high horse and lecture us about how we're promoting drunk driving, check out this interview that we did with LAPD Chief Beck back in 2010. He told LAist, "People having foresight aren't the ones who are committing this crime. People who are thinking ahead aren't the ones that this checkpoint is likely to catch. I think that the publicity surrounding these things is so important that if you give a couple of locations, that's fine." The state claims that well-publicized DUI checkpoints can actually cut down on drunk-driving 20 percent.
And yes, we do know there's a dark side to these random checks. At least in Los Angeles, unlicensed drivers caught at the checkpoints will be allowed to hand the keys over to a licensed driver or pick up their car at an impound lot the next day.
