Brule, Gregory, Hughes and Stanley among central South Dakota counties where sobriety checkpoints are scheduled this month

South Dakota’s Department of Public Safety has scheduled 20 sobriety checkpoints to be held in 22 counties statewide during March.

Checkpoints are scheduled for Brule, Gregory, Hughes and Stanley counties in central South Dakota. Other counties with checkpoints scheduled this month are Bennett, Brown, Clay, Codington, Day, Fall River, Hutchinson, Jerauld, Lake, Lawrence, Meade, Mellette, Minnehaha, Moody, Pennington and Yankton.

The monthly checkpoints are designed to encourage people to not drink and drive. The checkpoints are funded by the South Dakota Office of Highway Safety and conducted by the South Dakota Highway Patrol with the help of local law enforcement.

Officials remind drivers not to drink and drive regardless of whether there is a checkpoint planned in their county. People who have been drinking are urged to designate a sober driver or take an alternate form of commercial or public transportation.

Both the Office of Highway Safety and the Highway Patrol are agencies of the South Dakota Department of Public Safety.