DUI Checkpoints on the Way—Via State Grant

The Fountain Valley Police Department will have another $15,430 to fight intoxicated driving.

The California Office of Traffic Safety has awarded the grant to the police, which will use it for anti-DUI enforcement and for public education.

"DUI checkpoints remain an important tool to enforce DUI laws and educate the public regarding the danger of impaired driving," said Chief Daniel S. Llorens. "When residents see Fountain Valley Police Officers working a checkpoint, they know we are using all the tools in our toolbox to keep drivers safe.”

Besides targeting drivers with DUI/driver's license checkpoints, the effort will educate the public on the dangers of impaired driving.

The department said that in 2010, 791 people were killed and more than 24,000 were injured in alcohol and drug-impaired crashes in California. In 2011, it said, 14 people were injured in Fountain Valley in such crashes.

The department said alcohol-involved crashes drop an average of 20 percent "when well-publicized checkpoints are conducted often enough."

The department considers checkpoints the most effective of the strategies contends that it results in a cost saving of $6 for every $1 spent.