Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Metro plans sobriety checkpoint overnight Friday

Checkpoint scheduled

Motorists traveling Friday night on a portion of Blue Diamond Road should expect to be stopped by police operating a sobriety checkpoint.

Metro Police’s traffic bureau will be conducting the checkpoint from 7 p.m. Friday until 3 a.m. Saturday on Blue Diamond west of Decatur Boulevard, said Metro Detective Scott Lang. All vehicles will be stopped, and officers will ask drivers if they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

If officers have any reason to be suspect the driver is impaired, they will administer a standard sobriety test, Lang said. Drivers found to have a blood alcohol concentration above the legal limit will be arrested for driving under the influence.

Officers will also be traveling along Blue Diamond Road in search of traffic violations as part of the nighttime operation, he said.

In 2010, alcohol-impaired driving accounted for 10,228 U.S. fatalities and nearly one in three highway deaths, according to a Metro news release issued Tuesday. Those 10,000-plus deaths in a year’s time are the equivalent of one fatality every 51 minutes. More than two-thirds of drunk driving fatalities involved a driver with a blood alcohol concentration of .15 percent or higher. In Nevada, for most drivers the legal blood alcohol concentration limit is .08 percent.

The checkpoint is taking place on Blue Diamond Road because of the frequency of impaired driving in that area, Lang said. There have been 61 incidents of impaired driving on Blue Diamond Road from the Jan. 1 to July 23 in 2012.

Along with alcohol, drivers have been found under the influence of prescription drugs, methamphetamine, marijuana and other illegal drugs.

Officers from the Nevada Highway Patrol, Nye County Sheriff’s Office, Las Vegas Paiute Tribal Police and Henderson Police Department will also be participating in the event.

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