Full Notification

The Fairfield Police Department Traffic Unit will be operating a DUI / Driver's License Checkpoint on Friday, August 16th at an undisclosed location within the city limits between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. DUI Checkpoints like this one are placed in locations based on collision statistics and frequency of DUI arrests, affording the greatest opportunity for achieving drunk and drugged driving deterrence. Locations are chosen with safety considerations for the officers and the public. 

The deterrent effect of High Visibility Enforcement using both DUI checkpoints and DUI Saturation Patrols has proven to lower the number of persons killed and injured in alcohol or drug impaired crashes. Research shows that crashes involving an impaired driver can be reduced by up to 20 percent when well-publicized proactive DUI operations are conducted routinely.
 
In recent years, California has seen a disturbing increase in drug-impaired driving crashes. Fairfield supports the efforts from the Office of Traffic Safety that aims to educate all drivers that “DUI Doesn’t Just Mean Booze.” If you take prescription drugs, particularly those with a driving or operating machinery warning on the label, you might be impaired enough to get a DUI. Marijuana can also be impairing, especially in combination with alcohol or other drugs, and can result in a DUI. Everyone should be mindful that if you’re taking medication – whether prescription or over-the-counter – drinking even small amounts of alcohol can greatly intensify the impairment affects.

In California, alcohol involved collisions led to 1,020 deaths and over 20,000 serious injuries in 2017 because someone failed to designate a sober driver. Over the course of the past three years (2016-2019) Fairfield PD officers have investigated 521 DUI collisions which have claimed 6 lives and resulted in 212 injured people.

Officers will be looking for signs of alcohol and/or drug impairment, with officers checking drivers for proper licensing, delaying motorists only momentarily. When possible, specially trained officers will be available to evaluate those suspected of drug-impaired driving, which now accounts for a growing number of impaired driving crashes.

Drivers caught driving impaired can expect the impact of a DUI arrest to include jail time, fines, fees, DUI classes, license suspensions and other expenses that can exceed $10,000 not to mention the embarrassment when friends and family find out.
 
Please designate a driver or call for a ride. If you see someone driving you believe to be under the influence, call 911.