Sobriety Checkpoint in Howard County This Weekend

The Howard County Police will set up a sobriety checkpoint somewhere in the county this weekend, police said in a statement Wednesday. Police will be in marked and unmarked vehicles in a setting with lights and signage.

While the department did not say where the checkpoint would be, it did say what officers will be looking for:

• Driving under the influence of alcohol
• Failure to wear seat belts
• Lack of child safety seats

Police said the l after a derecho, or windstorm, ravaged Maryland.

Police periodically conduct checkpoints to raise awareness about safety. In Howard County, alcohol was involved in 25 percent of fatal crashes last year, according to the Howard County Police Department, which arrested 1,391 people for driving under the influence in 2011.

The checkpoint is partially funded by a grant from the Maryland Highway Safety Office and falls under the Checkpoint Strikeforce, a multi-state initiative to take impaired drivers off the roads.

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