Traffic alert: Police setting up DUI checkpoint in Miami neighborhood. What to expect
The Miami Police Department plans a multi-agency DUI checkpoint Friday night near the Pelican Harbor Boat Ramp in the city’s Upper Eastside neighborhood.
The five-hour patrol around Northeast 79th Street and 12th Avenue will look to pull over drivers who are impaired and ticket people without seat belts. The corridor is just west of the 79th Street Causeway, which leads east into Miami Beach.
The checkpoint is a part of several National Highway Traffic Safety Administration campaigns with slogans like “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over,” “Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving” and “Buckle Up Florida: Click It or Ticket.”
About 37 people die daily in the United States due to drunk-driving crashes — one person every 39 minutes, according to the highway safety agency. In 2021, the most recent year with statistics, 13,384 people died in alcohol-impaired driving traffic deaths — a 14% increase from 2020, the agency reported.
“The Miami Police Department will show zero tolerance for motorists who violate Florida’s traffic laws,” police said in a news release.
The Broward Sheriff’s DUI Task Force conducted a similar sobriety safety operation earlier this month on Cinco de Mayo.
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Miami DUI details
What: The Miami Police Department says it’s setting up a sobriety and safety checkpoint.
Where: Miami’s Upper Eastside Neighborhood near Pelican Harbor Boat Ramp at 1265 NE 79th St.
When: The checkpoint runs 7 p.m. to midnight Friday, May 19, according to Miami PD.
Reason: “The goal of this checkpoint is to identify and apprehend impaired drivers before they can kill or injure others,” police said in a bulletin.
This story was originally published May 19, 2023 at 5:52 AM.
