Fairfax County Police announced they will be staging a sobriety checkpoint in the Mount Vernon area on Saturday, March 24, between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m.
In recent months, Fairfax County Police have stopped advertising where all of their sobriety checkpoints will be. Sometimes, they will give the public fair warning, other times they won't. When announcements are made, the Fairfax County Police will only publicize the district the checkpoint will be held in while refraining from publicizing the cross-streets. The reason for this is pretty simple: giving such a specific location for the checkpoint could force drunk drivers to simply detour around it. While we don't know the specific cross-streets, we do know that the checkpoint will last between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. A typical Fairfax County Police sobriety checkpoint will ensnare hundreds of cars. Drunk driving arrests are usually minimal.
A lot of people ask why we publicize these announcements. First of all, we're not the only outlets to cover this, and the Fairfax County Police Department even announced it themselves. We do not publish these checkpoint announcements to help drunk drivers to get away with their crimes. We publish them for two reasons: to warn sober drivers so they can avoid the checkpoint headaches and to hopefully get drunk drivers to realize the consequences for their actions.
We want drunk drivers to realize how incredibly idiotic it is to drink and get behind the wheel. We want them to understand that the chances of them getting caught are high and the punishments are even larger.
In Virginia, the blood alcohol limit is 0.08. The maximum penalty for a first-time drunk driving offense is a $2,500 fine, 12 months in jail, and a suspended driver’s license for 12 months. Second time offenses almost always include jail time. On top of that, DUIs cost thousands of dollars in legal fees, not to mention lost wages following a jail sentence or suspended license.
If you go out drinking, bring a designated driver or use one of the many apps out there to call a cab or ride service. It will always -- ALWAYS -- be cheaper than a DUI. That is a promise.
