Lobbyists Urge Government to End DUI Checkpoints
November 24, 2009
Washington - A lobbyist group is calling on the federal government to end the sobriety checkpoint which aims to take drunk drivers off the road, saying that this program “only result to inconvenience to majority of drivers.
In a press release, the American Beverage Institute (ABI), a group which represents restaurant and alcohol producers in the US, said that DUI checkpoint is not effective in reducing drunk driving.
Citing its own statistics, ABI argued that sobriety checkpoints in California had only arrested 1 percent of drunk drivers last year.
In response to this statement, several safety groups said ABI failed to mention that drunk driving kills at least 15,000 Americans every year, making this one of the biggest safety issues in the US.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), an advocacy group, said that checkpoints are important since “almost all convicted drunk drivers have driven their cars at an average of 87 times before their first arrest.”
The advocacy group also said that checkpoints do only target alcohol-impaired drivers but also carjackers, and people with suspended license, illegal drugs, and weapons.