You’re driving home one evening when you see that there is a DUI checkpoint ahead of you. You could be impaired or sober. Either way, you don’t want to go through the police checkpoint.
But are you allowed to avoid it? Or are the police going to arrest you for doing so?
You can avoid a checkpoint as long as you do so legally
You can avoid the checkpoint. The biggest question is just how you avoid it and whether or not that avoidance is legal.
For instance, if you arrive at the checkpoint and an officer approaches to talk to you, you cannot simply put the car in reverse and leave. By that point, you’re already at the checkpoint, and you need to follow instructions.
You also cannot do a traffic maneuver that’s against the law, such as pulling an illegal U-turn, to get away. If you do that, the police can definitely pull you over for that illegal driving tactic, and then they may give you a breath test anyway if they think you’re intoxicated.
What you can do is make a normal, legal turn, go in a different direction. If there’s a side street off to the right, just turn on your blinker and make a controlled turn down that street. The officers do not know where you are going or where you intended to turn, so there’s nothing wrong with this.
What if you end up facing drunk driving charges?
If things do not go the way you hoped and you wind up facing charges for impaired driving, you need to know what legal steps you can take to get the compensation you are due for your losses.
