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Thanksgiving DUI Checkpoints. What You Should Know!

Thanksgiving holiday season is often associated with turkey, eating festive dishes, and having fun with family. For law enforcement, this, as well as other holidays, is often associated with an increase in the number of DUI arrests and other cases involving impaired driving. Los Angeles DUI and Criminal Defense Attorney will help defend your Los Angeles DUI protection.  During the holidays, there is an increase in DUI accidents and traffic-related fatalities. According to statistics, the number of car accidents during the Thanksgiving celebration days is almost the same as the number of accidents throughout the year despite this being a day when there are a lot fewer cars on the road. The reason the number of accidents stays the same is an increase in drunk driving during this and many other holidays.  As with any holiday, alcohol or drug use increases dramatically and as a result, drunk driving on Thanksgiving increases, creating danger to the drunk drivers, their passengers, pedestrians, and other motorists.

Despite people not driving to work on this day, many people travel to visit family, with the Automobile Club of Southern California predicting that more than 3.5 million travelers are going out of town this year. It is the highest number of motorists for Thanksgiving since 2007.

To combat drunk driving, among other things, LAPD and other law enforcement will set up DUI checkpoints throughout the city to pull over drunk drivers.  The checkpoints’ purpose is to deter impaired drivers and not to “catch DUI drivers” as explained in the case of Ingersoll v. Palmer.  The checkpoints are also known as “sobriety checkpoints”.

Because the law requires that the DUI checkpoints are not set up to arrest Los Angeles DUI drivers but to discourage the drivers from driving when they are under the influence, the police at a checkpoint can not pull over people at random but have to set a neutral system, for example, examine every 4th driver.  Once the police pull over a car, police will question and observe the motorists.  If DUI enforcement police officers notice any symptoms of impairment, they will ask the driver to pull over and exit the car to submit to field sobriety tests (FSTs).  The checkpoints allow the police to detect other violations, such as, for example, drivers who drive on a suspended license, drivers who have warrants for their arrest, or other violations.  The government relied on statistics to justify checkpoints by claiming that DUI checkpoints prevent 1 out of 10 fatal accidents.

DUI checkpoint legality was challenged in the court in the 1987 case of Ingressol v. Palmer and was approved by the Supreme Court.   Because the Supreme Court approved DUI Checkpoints, they are legal in California as well as many other states.  Thus, under the Supreme Court guidance, a checkpoint stop is an exception from the traditional way for police to justify a stop of a vehicle, known as a reasonable suspicion, which is derived from the probable clause language in the U. S. Constitution. The U. S. Supreme Court, when discussing DUI checkpoints, specifically allowed it, making an exception to the reasonable suspicion requirement because the risks of alcohol-intoxicated driving are more important than the privacy concerns.  Thus, police officers don’t need probable cause to establish a checkpoint. National Highway Safety Transportation Board now lists rules for the police to ensure a valid checkpoint. One of the most important rules is that the police must announce the roadblocks beforehand. The police sites often give notices of checkpoints on their website or Facebook page, other social media or sites specifically listing checkpoints, such as, roadblock.org  or duiblock.com.

The most common questions for DUI checkpoints are:

1. Shall I stop at a checkpoint? If you are passing the checkpoint and a police officer asks you to pull over, you must obey and stop. Running away may cause serious consequences and penalties.
2. Can I turn aside and not drive through the checkpoint? Legally, you can turn away from a checkpoint, and this is one of the defenses. The police however is often aware of drivers who wants to avoid driving into the checkpoint and try to pull them over for minor traffic violations.  A far better way to avoid being stopped at a checkpoint is to find an alternative route beforehand by checking police or other public announcement websites to see the location of current DUI checkpoints.
3. Shall I submit to the field sobriety tests? No, the tests are voluntary and even if the police suspect drinking, the tests will rarely help you.
4. Shall I answer police questions? Just like the field sobriety tests, the police questions are voluntary and you have the right to refuse all questioning. Many people will be hesitant to refuse to talk to police because of the potential to create a confrontation.

Here are some common guidelines on how to avoid getting in trouble during Thanksgiving Day

• Don’t get behind the wheel if you consume alcohol and if you do, make sure you did not consume above the legal norm of 0.08% BAC.
• Don’t drive if you are tired, fatigued, or drowsy. Driving in such states is linked by research to danger and is similar to driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. According to some research, if you did not sleep for 18 hours, it is equivalent to your blood alcohol content of 0.05% BAC. With so many cars on the roads during the holiday you need to be extra alert.
• Always wear a seatbelt, and make sure all your passengers do the same. Don’t start the engine until you make sure everyone is buckled in.
• Don’t talk over the phone while in the car without using a hands-free method, such as Bluetooth.
• If drinking is on your Thanksgiving list, make sure you know how to get around using alternative means of transportation or have a designated driver.
• Check your car for any issue that will cause police to pull you over. Make sure all lights, tires, and windscreen wipers are operational.
• Try not to drive early in the morning or late at night. This is the most dangerous time because most DUI-related accidents occur at these hours.
• Check the weather conditions, and try to avoid driving if the weather conditions are extreme.
• Keep away from aggressive drivers and drive carefully. Don’t speed up or drive aggressively yourself.

California Office of Traffic Safety marked days from November 23 to 27 as “Thanksgiving Holiday Travel” in their yearly event calendar. These 5 days are considered to be the Maximum Enforcement Period for California Highway Patrol.

Remember, there will be sobriety checkpoints during these days and a lot more police DUI traffic officers who will try to stop suspicious or drunk drivers.

 Call us at  (818) 921 7744  to receive your free professional DUI case evaluation.  We handle Los Angeles DUI cases, Orange County DUI cases, and any other nearby counties.  We also will help defend other criminal cases in Los Angeles. 

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