DUI Roadblocks & Checkpoints

DUI Roadblocks & Checkpoints

Did you and a bunch of your friends go out and have a great night on the town, only to be scared when you see a bunch of flashing lights down the road. What does this mean? Most likely you have just entered a DUI roadblock or a checkpoint set up by local or state authorities. The orlando DUI checkpoints and roadblocks are a legal way in which police can test for people who are out driving when they should not be.

Orlando DUI Checkpoints

• A DUI checkpoint is where all traffic going through a section of the road are filtered down to stop near a police official. The drivers are asked questions and then the police can determine if they have been out drinking and should not be behind the wheel or if they are safe to proceed on. Checkpoints are common during peak drinking holidays, such as New Year’s Eve or even regional holidays, like Mardi Gras. Checkpoints can also be set up outside of stadiums of concert halls where a large concert just got out.

What they are looking for at Orlando DUI Checkpoints

• The checkpoints are looking for people who have had too much to drink and should not be behind the wheel. People arrested during the DUI checkpoints are treated like anyone else who is arrested or pulled over for a DUI. Their first offense, second offense or any other related offenses will all be handled with the same amount of care like if they were to be pulled over in front of an officer.

• When the police officer suspects someone of being over the limit or having been drinking, they will ask them to pull over to another part of the road where more tests will be administered. The driver might be asked to step out of the vehicle and a field sobriety test will be administered. There will still need to be the twenty minutes of observation required before a person can submit to a breath test by police.

• The results are then read and the person is either read their rights or they are let go if they are under the limit for drinking. For people who are over the limit, they are arrested and taken to the jail for processing. For people who refuse a breathalyzer test, they are automatically arrested and taken to the jail, where they will be given additional charges if they are suspected to be drunk.

• Since the police know they will have a roadblock set up, they will take extra care to have their machines calibrated properly. It will be harder for a DUI lawyer to have the case thrown out on those facts, but there will still be plenty of other areas where they can investigate and make sure the test and arrest was handled in a legal manner. Since there are so many people being processed, there are many lawyers who claim it is illegal and trapping people in to submitting to a test, therefore allowing the judge to throw out the cases and the results of certain Orlando DUI Checkpoints.