SUBJECT: May 22, 2015 Sobriety Checkpoint
RELEASE NUMBER: 2015-NR-030
CONTACT: Lt. Noah Robinson
AUTHORITY: Sheriff Dave Wedding
The Evansville-Vanderburgh County Traffic Safety Partnership will conduct a sobriety checkpoint this Friday evening, May 22, 2015 from 11:30 pm until 3:00 am. Law enforcement officers from the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office, Evansville Police Department and Indiana State Police will join together to conduct this checkpoint.
The location for Friday’s checkpoint was chosen based on local traffic collision data. Analysis of data captured since the beginning of April indicated that several geographical areas within Vanderburgh County accounted for a disproportionately high number of reported hit and run crashes. The upcoming checkpoint will be located within one of those areas. Hit and run crashes are often the result of impaired drivers who try to avoid arrest by fleeing the scene.
Sheriff Dave Wedding stated, “Since April of this year, 22 crashes reported to local law enforcement were found to have involved an impaired driver. During this same time period, over 180 hit and run crashes occurred. These statistics clearly demonstrate the very real hazard impaired motorists continue to represent in our community.”
The Evansville-Vanderburgh County Traffic Safety Partnership conducts sobriety checkpoints in an effort to detect and deter impaired drivers (thereby reducing the occurrence of alcohol and drug related traffic crashes).
Funding for local sobriety checkpoint operations is provided by the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute (ICJI) through a grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
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