DUI Checkpoint planned in Atwater

A DUI and driver’s license checkpoint will be held at an undisclosed location in Atwater on Friday.

According to an Atwater Police Department news release, the checkpoint will be conducted by the department’s traffic unit within city limits.

Atwater police announced the checkpoint to the public Monday.

In 2013, a total of 10,076 people nationwide were killed in crashes involving a drunken driver, Merced County law enforcement reported late last year.

In December 2013 alone, there were 733 people killed in crashes involving at least one driver or motorcycle operator with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 or higher. Twenty-three of those deaths occurred on Christmas Day. California was witness to 98 deaths and another 1,852 injured in alcohol-involved collisions in December 2013.

Recent statistics released by law enforcement showed 30 percent of drivers in fatal crashes had one or more drugs in their systems.

Funding for the checkpoint is provided to the Police Department by a California Office of Traffic Safety grant through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

This story was originally published March 21, 2016 at 6:00 PM with the headline "DUI Checkpoint planned in Atwater."