You may be driving when you see a sobriety checkpoint on the road somewhere ahead of you. This is different than a normal DUI stop, where the police already have reasonable suspicion and pull you over. At the checkpoint, all drivers have to identify themselves to officers, whether they have shown signs of impairment or not. Some may be stopped and given breath tests or field sobriety tests, though not all.
As a result, you may not want to drive through the checkpoint. This doesn’t mean that you are impaired or that you’ve had any alcohol. You may just want to avoid an interaction with the police. Are you allowed to avoid the checkpoint once you have seen it, or do you have to continue through it?
You can legally avoid it
It is not illegal to avoid a sobriety checkpoint. The police can’t force you to go through it. You certainly can turn down a different road and drive off in a different direction. For all the officers at the checkpoint know, that was your plan the entire time.
But the key is to make sure that you don’t make any mistakes while avoiding the checkpoint. If you turn without using your blinker, the police may pull you over. If you execute an illegal U-turn and start driving in the other direction, then they may pull you over. These types of driving mistakes make you appear guilty and give the officers reasonable suspicion for a traffic stop.
What are your legal options?
Have you already been arrested, either during a traffic stop or at a checkpoint? If so, you need to know about all the defense options you have.
