DUI / Drunk Driving Checkpoints May Not Be Effective

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According to a recent editorial (5/27/10) in the Los Angeles Daily News by Sarah Longwell, managing director of the American Beverage Institute in Washington, D.C. it may be time to rethink the usage of DUI / Drunk Driving checkpoints. Ms. Longwell states that it is not unusual for an all-night checkpoint to stop 1,000 drivers and make only one or two – frequently zero – drunk driving arrests.

She also states that speeding has now replaced drunk driving as the No. 1 cause of fatalities on the highway. Finally, Ms. Longwell questions why local governments pour money into costly and ineffective checkpoints while ignoring serious other threats to public safety such as texting and falling asleep while driving.