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HARRISBURG, Pa. - The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has listened to the wishes of the people, according to the Pennsylvania Driving Under the Influence (PA DUI) Association. Noting that 88 percent of Pennsylvanians favor sobriety checkpoints, the nonprofit organization commends this week's state Supreme Court decision to uphold their constitutionality. In response to the ruling, the PA DUI Association intends to keep working as part of the state task force on impaired driving - Team DUI - to maintain aggressive checkpoint activity across Pennsylvania.
"We're encouraged by the renewed support from our state Supreme Court because it's proven that checkpoints provide Pennsylvanians with an added layer of protection from DUI deaths and injuries," explains Stephen Erni, executive director of the PA DUI Association. "This positive ruling allows the continued use of checkpoints both as a successful method of apprehension for impaired drivers and as a deterrent for would-be DUI offenders."
Although checkpoints are just one of many different methods used to apprehend drunk drivers, they are instrumental in educating large numbers of people about DUI and instilling a sense of fear about the consequences of driving under the influence. A valuable tool in the war against DUI, checkpoints have recently come under fire in Pennsylvania as an intrusion of privacy. "The new legal decision indicates that the need for protection offered by checkpoints surpasses any perception of personal inconvenience," says Erni.
Sobriety checkpoints are being aggressively implemented by Team DUI - a consortium of state and local law enforcement agencies, PennDOT, the PA DUI Association, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration - as part of a federal pilot project.
The Pennsylvania Driving Under the Influence Association is a professional organization working to address the DUI problem in all of its many stages, from prevention to enforcement, up to and including adjudication and rehabilitation. The nonprofit organization has 1,300 members and has been in operation since 1979. For more information call 1-800-62PADUI or visit the Web site at www.padui.org.
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