Multiple Police Checkpoints Nab Intoxicated Drivers

All over the desert, police continue to crackdown on drunk drivers this holiday weekend.

During a sobriety checkpoint in Indian Wells, which beganSaturday night and ended Sunday morning, police screened more than 870 vehicles.

One driver was arrested for driving under the influence, while six others were arrested for driving without a valid license.

At another checkpoint in Indio, officers searched more than 500 vehicles. Police arrested one driver for driving under the influence, while twenty were cited for not carrying a valid license.

And on Highway 62 in Yucca Valley, 1,500 vehicles passed through a checkpoint that sawfourteen arrests, includingfour for driving under the influence.

State-wide, drunk driving arrests made by theCalifornia Highway Patrolare up compared to New Year’s weekend 2009.

Through the first 60-hour period of the weekend,the C.H.P.reported 1,252 drunk driving arrests. That’s up from 986 last year.

Traffic-related deaths have also spiked. The C.H.P.reported thirty so far this year, compared totwenty-one during the same time period in 2009.