DPS insurance checkpoints this Friday

With about 4,000 unlicensed vehicles on the highways of the CNMI, the Traffic Division of the Department of Public Safety will be zeroing on the problem by holding a couple of Mandatory Liability Auto Insurance checkpoints this Friday.

‘We will be conducting insurance checkpoints because our statistics from 2000-2008 indicate that approximately 4,000 vehicles are unregistered. We can just assume that if you have an unregistered vehicle out there, you probably have an uninsured vehicle,” said Traffic OIC Sgt. Tom Blas.

He said current regulations at Bureau of Motor Vehicles state that a person cannot register their vehicle unless it has insurance.

“For that matter alone, we can assume that those vehicles are uninsured. That’s a big number,” added Blas. “[Having no insurance] is a big burden for victims of car crashes. It usually turns out that the victim forks out the cost to fix his or her vehicle plus medical costs.”

Two Mandatory Liability Auto Insurance checkpoints are scheduled this Friday, April 4. The first will be at on Beach Road Susupe by Minatchom Atdao and will last from 10am to 11:15am.

The second MLAI checkpoints will be along Chalan Pale Arnold Road by the Army Reserve Center. It will start at about 3pm and will end at 4:15pm.

In addition to the MLAI checkpoints, traffic officers will also be conducting highway criminal interdictions, saturation patrols, aggressive driver interdictions, and laser activities.

Including Blas, eight officers are assigned under the Traffic division of DPS. The division also has four Kawasaki motorcycles, six Crown Victorias, and SUVs in its disposal.

DPS Traffic is mandated per year to conduct 36 CPS/OPCR, 24 DUI, and 24 insurance checkpoints, according to Blas.

For more information about Friday’s scheduled Traffic’s activities for this weekend, call Blas or officer Daniel Smith at 664-9085 (85).

Aside from CPS/OPCR, DUI, and insurance checkpoints, DPS also conducts checkpoints under its Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program, or MCSAP.

According to PO2 Joey Cruz MCSAP is a federal grant program that provides financial assistance to states to reduce the number and severity of crashes and hazardous materials incidents involving commercial motor vehicles.

The goal of the MCSAP is to reduce CMV-involved crashes, fatalities, and injuries through consistent, uniform, and effective CMV safety programs.