Bell : First in Series of Sobriety Checkpoints Slated Friday
The first in a yearlong series of sobriety checkpoints, where officers will be looking for drunk drivers and passing out literature, will be set up Friday night along a stretch of Atlantic Avenue in Bell.
Alcohol is the primary cause of 40% of the fatal accidents in Bell, said Sgt. Brad Hooper of the Bell Police Department, which was awarded a $325,000 grant from the state Department of Traffic Safety to set up the checkpoints.
Hooper said his department applied for the funds in 1991 after 14 people died in traffic accidents the previous year.
“We had more alcohol-related fatalities that year than we had homicides,” Hooper said. In 1992, he said, his department hopes to reduce that number with twice-monthly checkpoints along well-traveled streets.
Police will close one lane of Atlantic Avenue in the early evening. Hooper said a second checkpoint will be set up to give sobriety tests to drivers.
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