Chances are, if you have been out after dark on a Friday or Saturday night and in the vicinity of a popular nightclub, you have seen a police checkpoint. They generally are fairly obvious with bright lights and police vehicles. The point of these stops are to test for the sobriety of drivers on the road. Recently, more drivers are going through the checkpoints and then warning other drivers of a checkpoint ahead, most verbally but some go so far as to create signs and stand at corners. If you watch the driver’s reactions to the information, several of them turn and go the other direction, preventing a potential DUI charge. Did they do the right thing?
Are Checkpoints Even Legal?
While yes, an officer does need to have sufficient cause to stop a driver, the state of Illinois has determined that the dangers of drunk driving outweigh the intrusion of sobriety checkpoint. In other words, yes, in the state of Illinois, sobriety checkpoints, roadblocks, or mobile checkpoints are legal. However, the location of the checkpoint must be completely random and temporary. Officers are able to briefly interview the driver, at which point, if the driver is displaying suspicious behavior, the officer is entitled to conduct a field sobriety test. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), these checkpoints potentially can prevent up to one in 10 DUI related deaths.
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