AGOURA HILLS/CALABASAS : Deputies to Set Up Sobriety Checkpoints
In an effort to help reverse a summertime increase in drunk-driving incidents, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies plan to set up sobriety checkpoints tonight in Agoura Hills and Calabasas.
Checks will be conducted between 6 p.m. tonight and 2 a.m. Saturday, first in Calabasas and then in Agoura Hills, said Deputy Hugh Wahler of the sheriff’s Lost Hills/Malibu Station. The locations of the checkpoints, which will be moved once within each city, were not disclosed.
Wahler said the Lost Hills/Malibu station plans to use checkpoints twice a month through the end of the year, due to an apparent increase in the number of drunk drivers on the road. “Every time we set one of these up, we’re checking at least five to 10 drivers,” Wahler said. “At least half of those go to jail. And those numbers are definitely higher during the summer.”
The maximum penalty for a first-time drunk-driving offense is a $1,000 fine, six months in prison and a six-month suspension of the driver’s license.
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