Letter Rips Apart DUI Roadblocks

To the editor: The sobriety checkpoint planned for Stamford on Thursday will serve to funnel limited state and federal grant money away from measures that have proven to be most effective in combating drunken driving (news story, May 21).

Because they are highly visible by design and publicized in advance, roadblocks are all too easily avoided by the chronic alcohol abusers who are the core of today's drunken driving problem.

Conversely, the number of driving-under-the-influence arrests made by roving patrol programs is nearly 10 times the average number of DUIs made by checkpoint pro-grams, according to testimony by a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation official.

By focusing scarce law enforcement resources on roadblocks, Stamford police will strip Connecticut's roadways of their most valuable tool for catching drunk drivers. Stamford residents and taxpayers would benefit from employing the most effective tactics to catch drunk drivers: roving police patrols.

Sarah Longwell

Washington, D.C.

The writer is managing director of the American Beverage Institute.