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# Summer checkpoints to make roads safer
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/summer-checkpoints-to-make-roads-safer/
- Published: 2003-06-30T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T02:26:26.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Crime, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Daily Press staff*

Santa Monica Police stopped more than 1,000 vehicles on Ocean Avenue on Friday night to check whether drivers were sober.

Between 8 p.m. and 1 a.m., police issued nine citations for various vehicle code violations, towed two vehicles and conducted one field sobriety test.

The sobriety checkpoint is part of the national program called, “You Drink, You Drive, You Lose” sponsored by the California office of Traffic Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The checkpoint, which was between Arizona Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard, was the first one this summer. Police expect to conduct at least two more in the upcoming months.

The goal of the program is to educate and bring awareness to the community, while at the same time detecting and removing drunk drivers from the roads.

Police determine where to conduct the checkpoints based on where accidents and DUI arrests have been made in the past.

Last year there were 311 DUI arrests in Santa Monica, up 27 percent from the previous year.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/063003-04_01.jpg)

Santa Monica Police officers talk to a motorist who was pulled over Friday night during a sobriety checkpoint. (Photo: Carolyn Sackariason/Daily Press)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 30, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/063003.pdf?ref=smdp.com)