Statutes – Texas Criminal Defense Attorney

Resources - Are There Ways to Legally Check Online for Places Where Texas Cops are Checking for DWIs? Yes.

Michael Lowe is Board Certified in Criminal Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization

Sobriety checkpoints are illegal in Texas. However, Spring 2011 saw a push in the Texas Legislature to legalize law enforcement setting up drunk driving checkpoints on the roads (e.g., pending HB 439). At checkpoints, roads are blocked and all drivers are checked for sobriety before they can pass.

Checkpoints, if allowed, would be done in addition to the current practice in Texas where drunk drivers are pulled over by roaming patrols, setting in wait just like they do in speed traps. Checkpoints would also be an added effort to the current saturation patrols in Texas, where law enforcement cracks down on drunk driving in certain times of the year (e.g., major holidays).

Modern Technology to Warn of Police Looking for Drunk Drivers is Legal - Now

For those parts of the country that allow sobriety checkpoints, Google and Apple both offer apps (small computer programs) that can be downloaded to smart phones using either the Apple or Android operating systems which let users know the location of police drunk driving (DUI) checkpoints.

The current DWI apps include (this is not a complete list):

  1. Buzzed;
  2. Fuzz Alert;
  3. Trapster;
  4. Mr. Dui;
  5. Checkpoint Wingman; and
  6. DUI Dodger.

These apps provide users with information over their cellphone regarding routes to avoid if they believe they may be over the legal limit – which can happen after drinking only a beer or two after work, it all depends upon your individual physical characteristics.

Congress is pushing the manufacturers to pull these products off the market, but they are legal. Blackberry's PhantomALERT was pulled after Research in Motion succumbed to federal pressure back in March 2011. However, Google and Apple have not yet caved into lawmakers; their products are available for downloading today.

Will this change? Maybe. Legislation can always be enacted that outlaws a product or service. In May 2011, Senator Charles Schumer of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on privacy and technology sent a letter to both Apple and Google asking if these DWI checkpoint apps are in violation of their terms of service insofar as helping drunk drivers avoid the cops might be facilitating illegal activity. Google and Apple responded by agreeing to check into this argument, and they would officially reply within thirty days to this latest argument.

Other legal online sources of DWI Information – Text Messaging Services and the Police Themselves

However, these apps aren’t the only way to find out before you hit the road which route to take home: there are also sites like Sobriety Alerts and DUIcheckText that provide text messaging services, where users get texts from those in the know about where the police have set up shop or are pulling people over that night. Those text messages warning of Texas cops checking for drunk drivers in a particular area or on a certain stretch of road are legal. Texting while driving may not be, however, so Texas drivers would need to check the texts before hitting the road.

Twitter may also provide information on places where cops are pulling people over to check for drunk drivers. Tweets by people leaving a sporting event, driving a common route to or from school, etc. may provide fast and accurate information on saturation patrols in action. Checking tweets is as legal as the local community's distracted driving laws.

Finally, there are some law enforcement agencies that announce where they plan to be checking for drunk drivers. Simply checking their websites and Facebook pages may give you hot spot locations, no app needed. Nothing more legal and law-abiding that that, asking the police themselves, here in Texas.

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