While sobriety checkpoints in Las Vegas are mainly there to promote responsible driving and to prevent lethal accidents, it still helps to understand your rights whenever you have to pass through them.
Sobriety checkpoints need not scare or worry you, and if you heed the following tips, you can make sure that your rights are protected while driving through them. Of course, it will turn out bad if the driver is found to be driving under the influence.
1. Be informed.
Knowing what to expect from a DUI checkpoint will vastly increase your understanding of what you need to do in them. Traffic officials and law enforcement officers follow certain protocols whenever they make a sobriety check. Typically, officers will be looking inside your vehicle to check if you have open alcohol containers. If they think that you’re intoxicated, they may ask you to step out to do a few sobriety tests. Knowing this beforehand will allow you to prepare yourself through a DUI checkpoint.
2. Check the checkpoint.
Las Vegas Checkpoints are legal areas where police can stop motorists without any probable cause. However, they need to follow requirements as to how the DUI checkpoint was set up, or else it would be invalid. These include signage standards, flashing lights and warning signs that would be clearly notify drivers of the checkpoint. Furthermore, they usually need to give public notice in advance, usually hours before, that a checkpoint will be set up at a particular place in Las Vegas, along with how long it will be there.
3. Plan your route.
Police officials will only usually announce DUI checkpoints during the holidays or on special occasions. If you manage to hear of these, you can plan where you’ll be driving so you can lower your inconvenience associated with stopping through these sobriety checkpoints.
As long as you understand how DUI checkpoints work, you can make sure that your rights are protected while driving this holiday season. Informing yourself is one sure way of avoiding criminal charges that might occur if you are not aware of the legalities of these Las Vegas checkpoints.
Contact a DUI defense attorney for a legal counsel.