Mesa police are thinking that the word has gotten out about the dangers and legal ramifications of driving under the influence.
This past Labor Day weekend there were 21 people that were arrested at a sobriety checkpoint on the access road to Salt River recreation areas and some lakes that are nearby. There were less people arrested on Monday compared to the number of arrests last year.
On Monday there were about 1,620 cars that went through the checkpoint. Most drivers were arrested for a DUI but there were some impaired by both alcohol and drug consumption.
Statewide the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety implemented their Labor Day Weekend Holiday DUI Task Force covering the streets with police and checkpoints. Sgt. Ed Wessing said that “We’d like to think that being out here acts a deterrent for people who were thinking about driving impaired.”
There have been about 643 DUI arrests since the program began on August 15th, 2008. 187 of these arrests were people that had a blood alcohol level of 0.15 or above. The legal blood alcohol limit in Arizona is 0.08. 55 of the arrests were people with prior DUIs and 55 citations were given to people under the legal drinking age.
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