You’ve been stopped at a West Virginia DUI checkpoint, now what?

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WBOY) — DUI checkpoints aren’t necessarily uncommon in West Virginia, but they can be unexpected if you don’t know about them ahead of time. Luckily, getting through them is fairly straightforward, assuming you aren’t driving under the influence.

When going through a DUI checkpoint, you may be briefly stopped and asked for three things:

• Your driver’s license
• Vehicle registration
• Proof of vehicle insurance

Although delays while traveling can cause mild frustration, 1st Sgt. Chad Wetzel with the West Virginia State police, they’re simply a preventive measure to keep pedestrians and motorists safe from dangerous drivers.

“We just want folks who are under the influence to not get behind the wheel and drive a vehicle,” Wetzel told 12 News. “It’s one of the most dangerous situations that can be easily prevented, especially in today’s society with ride-sharing and services of that nature.”

While making contact with drivers, state troopers look for signs or indicators that drivers may be under the influence of drugs or alcohol. If a driver shows signs of impairment, they may be asked to exit the vehicle for a field sobriety test.

One component of a West Virginia DUI checkpoint is a mobile Breath Alcohol Testing vehicle, commonly called a “BAT-mobile.” The BAT-mobile is equipped with a state-certified chemical test machine able to deliver accurate blood-alcohol tests. Unlike results from a handheld breathalyzer test, the results from this machine are accurate enough to be admissible as evidence in court if necessary.

However, there are some legal components to sobriety checkpoints as well. For starters, drivers are within their rights to go around DUI checkpoints entirely. In fact, advanced warning of the checkpoint and an alternate route must be provided by law enforcement ahead of time.

While warning people about a DUI checkpoint might seem counter-productive, that’s just one of the requirements for a sobriety checkpoint to avoid violating a person’s constitutional rights. In 1990, the Supreme Court case “Michigan Dept. of State Police v. Sitz” found that certain guidelines for a DUI checkpoint must be adhered to for it to be constitutional. For example, stops must be brief and minimally intrusive for drivers.

12 News spoke to Tim Miley, a personal injury lawyer at Miley Legal Group with more than 30 years of law experience, who elaborated on some of these requirements.

“[Checkpoints are] required to be very neutral or minimally intrusive, and they can’t be done to everyone going through them,” Miley Explained. “For example, ahead of time, [law enforcement] might decide that every fifth car we’re going to ask for the driver’s license, registration, and proof of insurance; they can ask for that information, and failure to comply with providing that information can result in a charge of failing to obey an officer. But they can’t ask for that same information and intrude upon every vehicle’s rights.”

It’s also important to note that while going around a DUI checkpoint is legal, drivers are not allowed to break traffic laws to do so. Illegal U-Turns, traffic violations, or simply not stopping at the checkpoint will likely get a driver pulled over by nearby law enforcement.

The quickest way to go through a sobriety checkpoint is to drive sober and have the necessary documents readily available.