Alcohol Industry Group Calls for End to Sobriety Checkpoints

The American Beverage Institute (ABI) says that sobriety checkpoints represent needless harassment of holiday shoppers and should be dismantled, CBS News reported Nov. 24.

“Statistics show that the average drunk driver in a fatal car crash was driving at a blood alcohol level more than twice the legal limit. Rather than targeting this dangerous population, sobriety checkpoints inconvenience all driving adults,” said the ABI, an industry trade group, in urging police to discontinue the practice.

ABI said that few people stopped at sobriety checkpoints are arrested, and that roving patrols are more effective at spotting drunk drivers. But Mothers Against Drunk Driving say the checkpoints provide a deterrent to drunk driving.