The Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station’s Traffic Unit will be conducting a Driving Under the Influence checkpoint tonight at an undisclosed location within the city limits between the hours of 6 p.m. and 2 a.m. tomorrow.

DUI checkpoints are a proven enforcement tool effective in reducing the number of persons killed and injured in alcohol involved crashes, as well as being an valuable means for heightening awareness of the dangers of impaired driving.

Don’t miss a thing. Get breaking news alerts delivered right to your inbox

Officers will be checking drivers through the checkpoint for signs of alcohol and or drug impairments. Officers will strive to impact motorists only momentarily. If officers suspect that a driver has been drinking or is impaired, they will conduct a field sobriety test. If you fail, expect jail, vehicle storage fees, license suspension, insurance rate increases, along with fines, fees, DUI classes, other expenses that can exceed $10,000.

“Over the course of the past three years, DUI collisions have claimed 3 lives and resulted in 150 injury crashes harming 208 of our friends and neighbors,” said Sgt Rich Cohen of the Santa Clarita Sheriff’s Station.

Statewide, overall traffic deaths declined by 23 percent, from 3,995 in 2007 to 3,081 in 2009. Total traffic fatalities are at their lowest levels in six decades, when the federal government began compiling figures. According to federal statistics, DUI deaths declined by 16 percent, from 1,132 in 2007 to 950 in 2009. Alcohol impaired deaths still make up the largest category of overall vehicle fatalities in 2009, with 31 percent of all deaths caused by a drunk or impaired driver.

“Everyone in California should be heartened with these figures,” said Christopher J. Murphy, Director of the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS). “But as encouraging as this is, we can’t let up on the efforts to encourage and support traffic safety. You can help make your community safe; if you see a Drunk Driver – Call 9-1-1.”

Funding for this and other DUI checkpoints are provided to the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station and the City of Santa Clarita by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, targeting those who still don’t heed the message to designate a sober driver.