|
DUI Attorney Directory
| DUI Checkpoints |
|
Free Alerts
|
Free DWI Sobriety
DUI Checkpoint Alerts.
|
|
You Report
|
Report a Checkpoint
to us and get
Three Free Months!
|
|
Tell a Friend
|
| Tell your friends by email about DUIBlock.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
Checkpoint
News and
OVI / DWI / DUI News
FREE
DUI CHECKPOINT ALERTS |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
DUI News Site News |
|
|
|
In response to: DWI Checkpoint Alert Site Is Shameless
|
DUIBlock.com Monday, July 13,
2009 By
Jeff Rudd, CEO of AlertMedia, Inc.
The following is in response to an article printed in the Albuquerque Journal, Thursday, July 09, 2009 By Charlie Eisenhood “DWI Checkpoint Alert Site Is Shameless”.
DUIBlock.com does not encourage or endorse driving while impaired and strongly agrees that advanced notification of DUI Checkpoints remind everyone to think twice before driving impaired. In the U.S. Supreme Court decision, known as the DUI exception to the Constitution, where Chief Justice Rehnquist stated that “Advance publicity is necessary to reduce the intrusiveness of the checkpoint and increase its deterrent effect.” We believe that Justice Rehnquist put much consideration on the effect in his decision and it should be followed to the rule of the law.
The concept of DUIBlock.com came from a Law Enforcement officer text messaging a friend alerting him of a sobriety checkpoint in progress. The only difference in our service is that the technology has changed in the distribution of information. This allows us to provide the information to everyone and not only to a privileged few.
Driving impaired is an issue in our society and as a free nation we need to start programs that address the problem through education and information, not fear. Think of the possibilities of spending a small portion of the millions spent on checkpoints and focusing on designated driver programs. We are not going to stop drinking completely, but we may be able to save someone from hurting the innocent or themselves and their family.
Mr. Eisenhood, in the Albuquerque Journal, quoted facts from a seven year old 2002 report on the effectiveness of DUI roadblocks. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) stated in June 2009 that “data suggest that sobriety checkpoints in combination with publicity can be effective in reducing crashes. However, sobriety checkpoint programs have not achieved a significant general deterrence effect when examined in terms of program awareness, self-reported behavior change, and perception of increased likelihood of being stopped by the police and arrested. There is a need to improve general deterrence so that enforcement programs can be more effective and the crash reduction effects sustained. There is a need to improve the visibility of enforcement programs.” DUIBlock.com's main mission is to increase the visibility of DUI Checkpoints creating the deterrent effect as outlined by Chief Justice Rehnquist.
DUIBlock.com, after providing checkpoint information for one year at no cost to it's subscribers, has recently started charging for its service, as we have incurred more expenses than originally expected. “Capitalism at its purest” as stated in Mr. Eisenhoods’ article, is the billions being made through the prosecution of DUI cases currently clogging our court systems and jails. Also consider the lives being ruined for drinking one or two drinks, who are charged through zero tolerance, not because they are impaired. It is time to work towards reducing the number of people who drive intoxicated through education, instead of prosecution.
Please be responsible, know your limits and don’t drive impaired.
|
|
|
DWI Checkpoint Alert Site Is Shameless
|
Albuquerque Journal Thursday,
July 09, 2009 By
Charlie Eisenhood
Journal crime reporter TJ Wilham wrote a startling piece for today's paper about people using text messages to avoid DWI checkpoints.
Some of the article focused on a Web site, DUIBlock.com, that receives tips on checkpoint locations from subscribers (and some police departments that advertise them) and sends alerts out, via text and/or email, to all its subscribers. Here's more from TJ's article:
[Site co-founder Jeff] Rudd said he views his service as a deterrent to drunken driving that can also save lives.
"By us putting out the messages, we are taking a person who may be drunk off the streets and convincing them to call a cab," Rudd said. "When they get that message, they think twice about getting in a car."
So Rudd is trying to convince us that people are paying about five dollars a month to be convinced not to drink and drive. Huh.
Now, I have to admit, DUIBlock.com is capitalism at its purest- a company offering a demanded service that is unavailable. They're probably doing well - the site has 2,000 subscribers across the country.
But don't they feel guilty? They're enabling people to drive drunk and put lives at risk.
In 2002, a government study of DWI checkpoint effectiveness showed that "sobriety checkpoints consistently reduced alcohol-related crashes, typically by about 20%. The results were similar regardless of how the checkpoints were conducted, and results were similar for short-term 'blitzes' or when checkpoints were used continuously for several years. This suggests that the effectiveness of checkpoints does not diminish over time" (emphasis added).
Yet, Albuquerque's arrests per checkpoint have dropped ~50% since 2004 when text message warnings became popular (mostly person to person, not DUIBlock to person). In '04, ABQ police averaged up to 35 arrests per checkpoint. This year, they are only averaging 15-20 arrests.
|
|
|
Mass Texting Allows Drivers To Bypass Roadblocks Albuquerque
|
Albuquerque Journal Thursday,
July 09, 2009 By
T.J. Wilham
... At least two Internet companies send out text messages on the locations of DWI checkpoints for a monthly fee.
One of the sites, DUIblock.com, launched its service in August. It receives locations from subscribers and some police departments. (Some law enforcement agencies advertise their checkpoint locations.)
The site, which is owned by Sarasota, Fla.-based Alert Media, Inc., offers a free month's subscription to anyone who provides a location of a checkpoint.
The Web site has 2,000 subscribers nationwide.
Co-founder Jeff Rudd said they have a "few" subscribers in New Mexico. Rudd came up with the idea for a text alert system when he was at a bar and heard one of the patrons announce the location of a checkpoint. The patron had a friend on a police department who sent her a text message.
Rudd said he views his service as a deterrent to drunken driving that can also save lives.
"By us putting out the messages, we are taking a person who may be drunk off the streets and convincing them to call a cab," Rudd said. "When they get that message, they think twice about getting in a car."
... (except from story. click on headline for the full story)
|
|
|
DUI checkpoint stops 1,131 vehicles
|
Gainesville Sun Monday,
July 06, 2009 By
Karen Voyles
A DUI checkpoint over the holiday weekend resulted in 10 people being arrested and more than 100 drivers being issued traffic citations.
The Florida Highway Patrol arranged for the checkpoint to be set up in the 2500 block of Southwest 13th Street in Gainesville between 10 p. m. Friday until 2 a.m. Saturday. FHP Lt. Pat Riordan said that during that time, 1,131 vehicles were checked.
Agencies working with FHP on the checkpoint included the Motor Carrier Compliance division of the Florida Department of Transportation, Alachua County Sheriff's Office and police departments from Alachua, Gainesville, High Springs and Waldo.
"We conduct these checkpoints to enforce and to educate," Riordan said. "It's a way for us to bring the public's attention to things like faulty equipment they need to fix as well as being a way for us to get people out from behind the wheel who do not belong there."
Although no one was arrested for DUI, FHP said the following actions were taken during the checkpoint:
--Two arrested on outstanding warrants.
-- Seven arrested on felony charges, including six on drug-related charges.
-- One arrested for misdemeanor drugs.
-- 104 traffic citations issued.
-- 10 faulty equipment warnings were issued.
-- 10 warnings were issued.
|
|
|
Free Random DUI Alert Listings are
back online!
|
DUIBlock.com
6/24/2009
In the past we have offered Free Random DUI Checkpoint Alerts randomly in the
news section of our site... We had to disable these temporarily while
upgrading our site. These alerts are back up!
CLICK
HERE FOR SOME FREE RANDOM DUI CHECKPOINT ALERTS
|
|
|
Free Random DUI Alert Listings will be
back soon.
|
DUIBlock.com
6/22/2009
In the past we have offered Free DUI Checkpoint Alerts randomly in the
news section of our site... We have temporarily suspended this service
while we work to upgrade our website.
We plan to have the free random
DUI Checkpoint listings back up as soon as possible.
|
|
Checkpoints
would save lives
Letter
to the Editor
The Dallas Morning News, Inc. 6:00 PM Fri, Jun 05,
2009
Another legislative session has come
and gone, and our state still does not have a sobriety checkpoint law,
which would give our law enforcement agencies another tool to get
drunken drivers off our streets.
State Sen. John Carona
worked hard and was able to get SB 298 passed in the Senate. Although it
was a watered-down bill, it was sent to the House for review and
approval. But it died before it ever reached the House floor for a vote.
The federal Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention have determined that states with such
laws have experienced a 20 percent decrease in DWI deaths.
We had two more deaths
this past Monday night on the Dallas North Tollway that were caused by a
suspected drunken driver. Our citizens need to demand that a checkpoint
law be passed by the next legislative session.
Don Lee, Dallas
|
|
Little
legislative will for tougher OWI laws
WRN News
Wednesday, June 3, 2009, 11:52 AM
by John Colbert, WIBA
A key legislator says "political
will" is lacking on some efforts to get tough with drunk driving in
Wisconsin. State lawmakers are expected to crack down on drunk drivers
this session, but some proposals are not going to make it, according to
Assembly Public Safety Committee Chairman Tony
Staskunas (D-West Allis).
"Right now I don't
see the political will . . . to criminalize OWI one," says
Staskunis, refiring to efforts to make first-time OWI a crime rather
than a civil penalty. Wisconsin is the only state in the country where
that's not a crime, but Staskunis says local governments and district
attorneys have said they don't have the resources to criminally
prosecute first time drunk drivers.
Staskunis also sees
little chance for legislative approval of sobriety checkpoints,
something Governor Jim Doyle has requested. "Law enforcement can do
very effective things right now with saturation patrols," says
Staskunis. "They know where the drunk drivers are driving, and they
also know the times they drive and the days they drive. Milwaukee County
I know has done some very effective things with saturation patrols, and
so frankly I'm not even sold on the need for sobriety checkpoints."
Staskunas does expect
legislators will pass a tougher law on repeat OWI offenders.
|
|
|
|
