How Could Dui Checkpoints Prevent Fatal And Injury Car Accidents?

Last November, an unlicensed and intoxicated driver struck a family in a Santa Ana street and fled the scene. After consuming four buckets of beer with a friend at a local bar, 23-year-old Angel Alberto Cruz Perez crashed his SUV into a young mother who was carrying her 1-year-old daughter and holding the hand of her 2-year-old son as the group crossed the street. The impact knocked the woman, who was still holding her daughter, to the ground and pulled the boy under the vehicle. Although the mother and daughter were not seriously injured, the boy suffered major trauma and died on the way to a local hospital. With the help of witnesses, police apprehended Perez, charging the unlicensed driver on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and felony hit-and-run.
Unlicensed drivers were 4.9 times more likely to be involved in a deadly accident than licensed drivers, 3.7 times more likely to drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and 4.4 times more likely to flee the scene of a crash, according to Unlicensed to Kill, a study released by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety in 2000. Subsequent similar studies in 2003 and 2008 produced similar findings. In the latter study, the agency reported that unlicensed, invalid, and unknown status drivers accounted for 28.8 percent of the 18,504 fatal crashes that occurred in California from 2001 to 2005.

In many cities, DUI checkpoints catch more unlicensed drivers than drunken ones, according to a study by the Investigative Reporting Program at the University of California, Berkeley. Although the study focused more on the impact of impounding the vehicles of unlicensed drivers, it also indicated the frequency with which such drivers were apprehended. In San Rafael, 15 vehicles were impounded for every 1 DUI; in Oakland, the ratio was 11 to 1; and in Montebello, there were up to 60 impoundments for every DUI.

While California recently enacted legislation to prevent unlicensed drivers from loosing their vehicles for 30 days due to impoundment, hopefully, the state will continue to penalize unlicensed drivers caught at DUI checkpoints. As the car accident the recently occurred in Orange County illustrates, unlicensed drivers contribute significantly to traffic fatalities and injuries, explains a lawyer.

By: Larry Drexel

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Larry Drexel is a Public Relations manager. To obtain free, informative books or articles, or to find a qualified California Injury Lawyer, he suggests visiting Orange County car accident lawyer