Sheriff Craig Webre announced the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office will conduct multiple checkpoints over the next two weeks Lafourche Parish. Seat belt checkpoints will be conducted during the daytime hours of Wednesday, February 7, and Wednesday, February 14, 2018. Another seat belt checkpoint will be conducted during the evening hours of Thursday, February 15, followed by a DWI checkpoint which will continue into the early morning hours of the following day.  During the seat belt checkpoints, deputies will be checking motorists for seat belt and safety seat violations, as well as for proper inspection tags and insurance. During the DWI checkpoint, deputies will be looking for drivers who are possibly impaired while checking for other traffic safety issues. These checkpoints are designed to help raise awareness for these types of violations and make the highways of the parish safer for all motorists.

Sheriff Webre reminds citizens to designate a driver if you are going to drink. Motorists suspected of DWI who refuse to submit to a breathalyzer test will lose their driver’s license for one year (first offense). For a second offense, the penalty increases to two years. Anyone convicted of a DWI offense while their driver’s license is suspended because of another DWI offense will face automatic prison time. Lafourche Parish is also a “No Refusal” parish, meaning if a suspected drunk driver refuses a breathalyzer test, deputies will seek a search warrant to have that person’s blood tested.

These checkpoints are being conducted in conjunction with the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign which runs through February 15, 2018. The campaign is coordinated and funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission. In addition to these checkpoints, additional deputies have been assigned to saturated patrol efforts throughout the campaign to target impaired drivers and help keep motorists safe.