Can you safely avoid a sobriety stop?

On Behalf of | Oct 27, 2022 | DUI

In areas of high traffic particularly prone to intoxicated drivers, officers may set up something called a sobriety stop, or a traffic stop.

What are these stops? And is it possible for a driver to avoid them if they do not wish to proceed through?

What are traffic stops?

LifeSafer discusses how sobriety stops play into people’s lives. First, it is important to understand what these stops are.

Traffic or sobriety stops are a stretch of road, usually in an area with a lot of known issues with intoxicated drivers and often on the highway. When anyone enters this stretch of road, they consent to officers potentially pulling them over and conducting sobriety tests. Officers will usually select the cars at random as they go through.

Of course, this is a dicey situation in terms of a person’s rights. For that reason, some states require officers not only to alert drivers to an upcoming sobriety stop, but also provide them with an alternative route if they want to avoid the stop.

Avoiding a stop without breaking the law

In order to avoid a sobriety stop safely, a driver can take any exit as long as they do not break any rules of the road to do so. This means they cannot drive over double lines, make illegal U-turns, cut off other vehicles, speed, drive recklessly or so on.

If a driver leaves in a way that breaks the law, officers can pull them over and ticket them for that. They may even decide to conduct a sobriety test, rendering the driver’s attempt at avoiding the stop useless.

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