Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, December 28, 1993 TAG: 9312280047
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The traffic checkpoints are part of an effort that started in mid-November, when a $30,000 grant from the Department of Motor Vehicles allowed city police to put extra officers on the streets.
The grant allows officers to voluntarily work overtime to stop drunken drivers.
Since November, the effort has led to about 50 DUI arrests "above and beyond" those made by officers on regular patrols, according to Lt. Ramey Bower of the Roanoke Police Department's traffic bureau.
So far, the extra manpower has been in the form of special patrol officers designated throughout the city to look specifically for drunken drivers.
Thursday will be the first time this season that police have set up sobriety checkpoints, Bower said.
Thursday's checkpoints - planned for 10th Street Northwest and Franklin Road Southwest - will be conducted by about 18 officers.
Signs will notify motorists of the upcoming checkpoints, and all traffic will be required to stop briefly. Each motorist will be asked to present his or her operator's license and registration to the officer.
If police suspect the driver is intoxicated, he or she will be asked to pull over to a designated area, where officers will conduct sobriety field tests.
Although police have announced approximate locations for Thursday's checkpoints, they are keeping the location for the New Year's Eve checkpoints a secret.
The DMV grant, the largest of its kind for a Roanoke Valley police agency, came after four people died in two accidents involving drunken driving this year on Webber Highway.
Authorities hope the checkpoints will encourage people to have a designated driver or call a cab if they have been drinking.
"We want them to know that we'll be out there," Bower said.
by CNB