Sustaining its promise to improve safety along Pacific Coast Highway, the city of Malibu is launching an anti-DUI program aimed at preventing deaths and injuries along its main thoroughfare, officials announced Monday.
The program, as well as additional enforcement measures to combat impaired driving, is possible through a recent $108,175 grant awarded to the city by the California Office of Traffic Safety.
"Public safety is our city's top priority and Pacific Coast Highway is Malibu's main street," Mayor Lou La Monte said. "It is crucial to educate and remind all citizens that one person's decision to drive under the influence can not only harm that individual, but also devastate an entire community."
The special DUI checkpoint grant helps reduce the number of deaths and injuries in Malibu caused by alcohol and other drug related collisions, officials said. The anti-DUI program will also provide public education on the dangers of impaired driving.
"DUI checkpoints have been an essential part of the phenomenal reduction in DUI deaths that we witnessed from 2006 to 2010 in California," said Christopher J. Murphy, director of the Office of Traffic Safety. "But since the tragedy of DUI accounts for nearly one third of traffic fatalities, Malibu needs the high visibility enforcement and public awareness that this grant will provide."
The funding for this program comes from the California Office of Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
