Let’s say you are out in a bar, and regrettably have had a few to many. Concerned about your drive home, you turn on your smartphone and get the lowdown on any DUI checkpoints in your area. Smartphone users now have the ability to check what roads not to take to avoid any sobriety checkpoints on their route home.
Right here let me segway with two things. First, its best to call a cab if you are worried enough to be checking your phone to avoid checkpoints. And second, in Washington State checkpoints are unlawful so not an issue. But this issue was too good not to post about.
Most all of these DUI apps are free to users, though some charge a small fee. Some of the more popular apps have names like “Fuzz Alert,” “Buzzed,” and “Checkpointer.” One of the more popular apps is Trapster, which has 10 million users worldwide.
Last week, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, D-N-Y was one of four senators who sent letters to smartphone makers like Apple, Blackberry and Android, imploring them to stop making these applications. Senator Charles E. Schumer
Schumer said in a statement “There applications are nothing more than a how-to guide in avoiding law enforcement and provide drunk drivers with the tools they need to go undetected, putting innocent families and children at risk. They are a major public safety concern.”
Since the senator sent his letter out, Research in Motion, the makers of Blackberry agreed to remove the apps from their online store, there are plenty more still out there. Any law created to ban the use of them could infringe on First Amendment rights.
Law enforcement feels that the continued use of the apps will not change how drunk driving is policed. Even if someone succeeds in evading a checkpoint, there are usually other police officers within a 5-mile radius.
Mark O’Donnell, a public information officer for the NY State Police says that “If you are drunk driving, you are going to have a hard enough time trying to get on your smartphone to get to the site to figure out how to avoid a checkpoint.”