VENTURA : Police to Help Study Sobriety Program

The Ventura Police Department will take part in a nationwide study to determine the effectiveness of sobriety checkpoints, police officials said.

As part of the project, the department will get a trailer outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment that detects drunkenness, said Patrick Horton, chairman of a community committee that will help publicize the program.

Ventura police will station the trailer at various points throughout the city for a period of nine months, Horton said.

At the same time, the Sobriety Checkpoint Program Committee will make people aware that police have the new equipment and inform them about the dangers of driving drunk, he said.

“The study will look at people’s concerns that these (sobriety checkpoint machines) are out there, and if that is a deterrent” for them to drive after drinking, Horton said.

Ventura residents will be randomly polled on their views by Anacapa Sciences Inc., the Santa Barbara-based research firm that is conducting the study in Ventura and five other areas in California.

The project is funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a federal agency, Horton said.

The goal is not to catch drunk drivers, but to prevent motorists from getting behind the wheel after taking a drink, Horton said.

Members of the Sobriety Checkpoint Program Committee, which includes officials from Allstate Insurance Co., the California Highway Patrol and Mothers Against Drunk Driving, will kick off the program at a 10 a.m. news conference Thursday.

They will be joined by members of the Ventura Police Department and Ventura Mayor Greg Carson.