Saturation Checkpoints in Mandan This Past Weekend - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Saturation Checkpoints in Mandan This Past Weekend

The North Dakota Highway Patrol is working to lower the percentage of fatal crashes that involve alcohol through Saturation checkpoints. While slowing you down for a brief moment they could save a life.

A Sobriety check south of mandan yesterday was a quick stop for most people as the Highway Patrol was working hard to deter the thought of drinking and driving.
"Our goal here it's the risk of apprehension to make people think twice about drinking and driving to make them more aware of the hazards of drinking and driving make them more aware of that so they can make them more aware of that so they can make the right decision and get a designated driver." If you ever go through these checkpoints this is what you can expect. "We hand them some information "nat" explain to them why they're being stopped "nat" just ask them if they've been drinking "nat" and than of course try to get an evaluation of that driver. They do a quick evaluation and if they detect an odor or something else they'll go ahead and pull them off to the side and do some tests." For the two hour window that the check is in place they aren't necessarily trying to make an arrest but reduce the 50% of fatal accidents that happen because of alcohol. "Our goal is to reduce accidents specifically alcohol related crashes. These areas aren't designed to arrest a lot of people for drinking and driving." While that may be true it can still happen. "Very Rarely we don't get 1 or 2 dui drivers at a checkpoint." When going out --there is one thing people should consider every time because at in the moment of having a drink or two your mind may not know what to do. "That's the first thing that goes is your judgement. So you might not be aware that you're under the influence so it's always best to plan ahead and have a designated driver."

The highway patrol chose to do the checkpoints this weekend because of the coming 4th of July holiday and other events happening around the Bismarck/Mandan area.