If you plan on going out and having too much of a fun time this weekend, make sure you have a designated driver. Not just because there are TONS of DUI checkpoints planned for the Los Angeles area in the next couple of weeks, but because it’s a responsible thing to do. Either way, officers will be located at Sunset Boulevard and Sutherland in Echo Park on Saturday, August 20 from 8:00 pm to 2:00 am to keep intoxicated drivers off the road.

The crackdown is dubbed the “Avoid the 100” – meaning, avoid the 100 local police agencies involved in the checkpoints. They’ll be deploying DUI Driver’s License Checkpoints, Multi Agency DUI Task Force operations and local Roving DUI patrols during the 18 day Summer/Labor Day campaign. They won’t just be in Echo Park on Saturday, and many other checkpoints are planned throughout Los Angeles tonight through September 4.

But what do you care – you live in Echo Park and just walk to the nearest bar instead of driving… right?

While they’ll be checking for driver’s licenses, in March this year the LAPD changed the rules regarding impounding cars of unlicensed drivers – a rule that immigrants rights advocates have said unlawfully targeted undocumented immigrants. According to an article in the LA Times:

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said that police would be required to try to contact the registered owner of a vehicle stopped at a checkpoint. If the owner is licensed and can arrive in a reasonable amount of time, the car will not be impounded. If the owner is unlicensed, but a licensed driver is in the car, that person may be permitted to take it.

The article continues: The Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley found that of all the cars impounded during a three month period in 2009, 55% were impounded for unlicensed drivers, versus 14% impounded for an actual DUI and criminal warrants.

Be safe!

h/t LA Now