Imagine that you are driving to work, and come around the bend to see that traffic has slowed to a crawl. As you gaze ahead, you see police and bright orange signs announcing a “sobriety checkpoint” or “safety checkpoint.” These are DUI checkpoints were law enforcement will carefully evaluate drivers to make sure that they are not driving under the influence. The checkpoints are set up for accountability in order to show men and women that DUIs are taken seriously.
If you are caught up in line for a DUI, your first thought may be to flee. Whether or not you are guilty of the crime, you might not have time to wait at the checkpoint, and may know a faster way to your destination. Maybe you are late for work or are maybe you do have a beer in the car and don’t want to it be discovered. Police are required to warn drivers of their checkpoint by placing signs farther up the road. It is not illegal for you to U-turn and head the other way if there is a legal way to detour on the road.
The police cannot pursue you for turning around before the stop, as long as the U-turn is lawful and legal. If you are stuck and feel like you missed your chance to turn around, then you will need to drive through the checkpoint. Police are required to submit a checkpoint plan to the department before they conduct the stops, and must have a methodical, mathematical plan for how they are to stop people. For example, say a police officer submits a plan saying that he will stop every eighth car that drives through the stop.
If a teen drives through with glazed eyes but he is the fifth car in, and does not show any blatant signs of intoxication such as violating traffic laws, then he cannot be pulled over. If police divert from their plan, then they can be prosecuted for their actions. Also, if no plan was filed with the police department, then the checkpoint is considered invalid and anyone arrested at the checkpoint will be released whether or not they were guilty of drinking and driving.
If you are one of the cars that are chosen for questioning, the police are only permitted to ask you a few questions to confirm whether or not you look inebriated. Comply to their requests if they ask for your drivers’ license, registration, or insurance. If they ask for anything else, you do not need to answer them, because of your rights under the 4th Amendment concerning search and seizure. In most states, you can politely say that you don’t wish to answer the police’s questions, and they will have to let you go if they don’t observe signs of intoxication.
The most common question you will encounter at a DUI checkpoint is “have you had anything to drink tonight?” If you are asked this, chances are that you don’t have to answer. You can respectfully say that you would prefer not to answer any personal questions. Remember that if you are over the age of 18, then it is not illegal to drive with alcohol in your system. Rather, it is illegal to drive with a BAC over 0.08 percent.
If you have a lower BAC than 0.08 because you had a cocktail or a beer at a friend’s house, then you cannot be prosecuted unless you are an underage drinker. If you are driving a commercial vehicle, then you can have up to 0.04 percent BAC. In the end, stay respectful but do not offer the police more information than they needed at a DUI checkpoint. If you are able to detour from the check point before driving through, you have permission to do so and will not be charged with fleeing police officer. Talk to a DUI attorney today if you need more information about DUI checkpoints and how to handle a checkpoint arrest.