County drunk-driving strategy does not work
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Sarah Longwell
Published: May 25, 2008
The sobriety checkpoint in Prince William County this Memorial Day weekend serves to funnel limited state and federal grant money away from measures that have proven to be most effective in combating drunk driving (“Police: DUI checkpoints in place this weekend,” May 23).
Because they are highly visible by design and publicized in advance, roadblocks are all too easily avoided by the chronic alcohol abusers who comprise the core of today’s drunk driving problem.
Conversely, the number of DUI arrests made by roving patrol programs is nearly 10 times the average number of DUIs made by checkpoint programs, according to testimony by a Pennsylvania
Department of Transportation official.
By focusing scarce law enforcement resources on roadblocks, the Prince William County Police Department will strip Virginia’s roadways of their most valuable tool for catching drunk drivers. Prince
William County residents and taxpayers would benefit from employing the most effective tactics to catch drunk drivers: roving police patrols.
SARAH LONGWELL
Managing Director
American Beverage Institute
Washington, D.C.
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Posted by ( raywilliams ) on May 27, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Chronic alcohol abusers must be pretty good at avoidance to become ‘chronic abusers’ in the first place. I agree with jVA. This is all about issuing a public message not to drink and drive.
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Posted by ( jVA ) on May 27, 2008 at 9:55 am
Don’t be an idiot. Chief Deane didn’t make up the idea of announcing checkpoints in advance. Most police departments across the country pre-announce checkpoints.
Checkpoints are mainly supposed to be a deterrent to keep people from getting on the road drunk in the first place. The idea being that you read in the paper “Police setting up roadblocks on Memorial Day”. Then you say, “Gee, the police are really serious this holiday. I’d better not even think about drinking and driving”.
Ms. Longwell is right that roving police patrols probably catch far more drunk drivers than checkpoints, announced or not. But she can’t really say how many people were deterred from drunk driving in the first place by a publicized checkpoint.
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Posted by ( Advocator ) on May 27, 2008 at 8:34 am
Only Chief Deane would come up with a cockamamie scheme that announces before-hand where the roadblocks are. He knows that everyone in a tightly knit community that communicates almost instantly with cell phones will get the word out fast, while someone who had two beers at his grandkids’ barbecue will be snared. Way to go, el Jefe Deane.
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