As discussed in the previous post, the holiday season is a time for numerous parties and celebrations, but the other side of the coin is that the holiday season is a time for increased enforcement of DUI and traffic laws. December is National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month (3D Month), a time when safety and health organizations around the country step up their campaigns for preventing drunk driving and law enforcement steps up patrols.
The CDC reports on the 3D Month page on their website that one way law enforcement and public health and safety organizations try to prevent alcohol-related crashes is to set up sobriety checkpoints. According to the CDC, sobriety checkpoints have been shown to reduce fatal car crashes involving alcohol by around 20 percent.
The CDC provides links on their website to an Impaired Driving Fact Sheet, which includes a link to the study by the Task Force on Community Preventive Services that concluded that sobriety checkpoints reduced alcohol-related crashes. These DUI checkpoints are traffic stops where law enforcement officers check drivers systematically for impairment from alcohol or drugs. According to the CDC, the purpose of the checkpoints is to deter people from driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs by raising people’s “perceived risk of arrest.”