HoCo Police Planning Sobriety Checkpoint

Howard County Police will be on the streets this weekend conducting a sobriety checkpoint, according to a statement released Monday. 

For obvious reasons, police will not say ahead of time where the checkpoint will be, but you’ll know it when you see it: lights, signage, and uniformed officers will signal the checkpoint. In addition, according to the release, there will be officers in marked and unmarked cars on the road.

The aim of the checkpoint is to keep roads safe by taking impaired drivers off the road. Officers will also check for other violations including safety belt and child safety seat violations 

According to police, 30 percent of the fatal collisions in 2012 were alcohol-related while 1,174 citations were issued for driving under the influence. Police do several checkpoints a year, in partnership with Maryland State Police and with help from the Citizens Advisory Council and Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Checkpoints are part of the Checkpoint Strikeforce campaign, described on its website as “A highly focused, zero tolerance, continuous, state-to-state effort to bust drunk drivers and bust them good.”