AVOID The 12 Plans DUI Checkpoint for Flower Festival

Lompoc - JUNE 24th, 2010

The Flower Festival in Lompoc is an 88-year-old tradition, but the extra Avoid the 12 DUI enforcement at the event is of much more recent vintage.

The countywide anti-DUI crackdown will hold a sobriety checkpoint on Saturday, June 26 from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. The location within the city will be announced just before it begins.

Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s deputies and police from Santa Maria, Allan Hancock College, Guadalupe, the State Parks system, Lompoc and UCSB still staff the checkpoint, said Deputy Win Smith, campaign coordinator.

“Whether suspects are arrested at the checkpoint or on the street, a DUI conviction can cost you a surprisingly large amount of money. It can be $7,000 or more for all the expenses, never mind that your insurance premiums can go through the roof,” Smith commented.

The checkpoint will be a run-up to the three-day Independence Day crackdown, which will feature another checkpoint in Santa Barbara along with maximum freeway enforcement by the Santa Barbara, Buellton and Santa Maria squads of the California Highway Patrol.

Avoid the 12 is funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.