DUI Roadblock Announced for Stamford

Police step up traffic watch before holiday
By Jeff Morganteen Stamford Advocate 05/21/2008

STAMFORD - A nationwide seat-belt safety campaign, Click It or Ticket, began Monday in Stamford, and it's safe to say some motorists got the message.

At a checkpoint on the Route 1 border with Greenwich, officers dished out 136 tickets - 58 for seat-belt violations, 77 for other motor vehicle safety violations and one for using a hand-held cell phone, according to police.

The Click It or Ticket campaign is organized by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Stamford police also will increase drunken driving enforcement by setting up a sobriety checkpoint tomorrow night downtown.

Roving patrols will be on the lookout for drunken drivers through Memorial Day weekend, Lt. Sean Cooney said.

The sobriety checkpoints and patrols are funded by a $64,000 grant from the state Department of Transportation, Cooney said.

Police have set up at least one checkpoint a month with the grant money, which lasts until September, he said.

Connecticut drivers wear their seat belts more often than the national average, Cooney said. About 16 percent of motorists in the state do not wear their seat belts, compared with 18 percent nationwide.

"Most of the Connecticut drivers have gotten the message that they and others around them are protected," Cooney said.

During the holiday weekend, officers on patrol will look for signs of drunken driving, such as driving too slowly or swerving erratically, Cooney said.

"Memorial Day is a big one," he said. "We'll expect, especially if the weather is nice, a lot of people out downtown. We expect to make a number of arrests."

Roving patrols allow officers to cover more ground than the checkpoints, which require about eight officers, Cooney said.

The Stamford Click It or Ticket campaign will continue until June 1.