In Wake of Shelley Lubben Boyfriend's Hit-and-Run, Porterville Announces DUI Checkpoint

DUI/Driver’s License Checkpoint Planned this Weekend

Porterville, CA – The Porterville Police Department Traffic Unit will be conducting a DUI/Driver’s License Checkpoint on November 17, 2017, at an undisclosed location within the city limits between the hours of 8:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. 

In recent years, California has seen a disturbing increase in drug-impaired driving crashes. On Nov. 7,  Joe Valley, the live-in boyfriend of disgraced anti-porn crusader Shelley Lubben, was arrested after he allegedly struck and killed a 51-year old cyclist on Balch Park Road after leaving a Porterville bar.

The Porterville Police Department supports the new effort from the Office of Traffic Safety that aims to educate all drivers that “DUI Doesn’t Just Mean Booze.” If you take prescription drugs, particularly those with a driving or operating machinery warning on the label, you might be impaired enough to get a DUI. 

Marijuana can also be impairing, especially in combination with alcohol or other drugs, and can result in a DUI.

The deterrent effect of High Visibility Enforcement using both DUI checkpoints and DUI Saturation Patrols has proven to lower the number of persons killed and injured in alcohol or drug impaired crashes. Research shows that crashes involving an impaired driver can be reduced by up to 20 percent when well-publicized proactive DUI operations are conducted routinely. 

DUI Checkpoints like this one are placed in locations based on collision statistics and frequency of DUI arrests, affording the greatest opportunity for achieving drunk and drugged driving deterrence.

In California, alcohol involved collisions led to 1,155 deaths and nearly 24,000 serious injuries in 2014 because someone failed to designate a sober driver. Over the course of the past three years Porterville PD officers have investigated 101 DUI collisions which have claimed 0 lives and resulted in another 50 injuries.

Officers will be looking for signs of alcohol and/or drug impairment, with officers checking drivers for proper licensing, delaying motorists only momentarily. When possible, specially trained officers will be available to evaluate those suspected of drug-impaired driving, which now accounts for a growing number of impaired driving crashes. 

Shelley Lubben and Joe Valley on the road.

The consequences of driving under the influence can be grave. Drivers caught driving impaired can expect the impact of a DUI arrest to include jail time, fines, fees, DUI classes, license suspensions and other expenses that can exceed $10,000 not to mention the embarrassment when friends and family find out.

There is also the human cost: The cyclist struck by Joe Valley's PT Cruiser died from his injuries. The criminal complaint filed Nov. 9 by the Tulare County district attorney charges Valley with felony hit-and-run driving resulting in death or serious bodily injury to another person, as well as the 'serious felony' gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

According to innumerable sources, as well as her ex husband's on-the-record affidavit, area resident Shelley Lubben is a heavy daily drinker with a marijuana card who takes an obscene amount of prescription pills, and other pharmaceuticals she acquired in Mexico.

Drug related crashes

Studies of California drivers have shown that 30 percent of drivers in fatal crashes had one or more drugs in their systems. A study of active drivers showed more tested positive for drugs that may impair driving (14 percent) than did for alcohol (7.3 percent). Of the drugs, marijuana was most prevalent, at 7.4 percent, slightly more than alcohol. Everyone should be mindful that if you’re taking medication – whether prescription or over-the-counter – drinking even small amounts of alcohol can greatly intensify the impairment affects. 

Drivers are encouraged to download the Designated Driver VIP, or “DDVIP,” free mobile app for Android or iPhone. The DDVIP app helps find nearby bars and restaurants that feature free incentives for the designated sober driver, from free non-alcoholic drinks to free appetizers and more. The feature-packed app even has social media tie-ins and even a tab for the non-DD to call Uber, Lyft or Curb.

Funding for this checkpoint is provided to Porterville Police Department by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, reminding everyone to ‘Report Drunk Driver – Call 9-1-1.