FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 17, 2016

  POLICE TO CONDUCT SOBRIETY CHECKPOINT

AT KEY BRIDGE ON SAINT PATRICK'S DAY

Give Your Keys to a Sober Driver

BALTIMORE, MD - To educate the public and to prevent alcohol-related crashes, the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) Police will conduct a sobriety checkpoint tonight at the Francis Scott Key Bridge (I-695) toll plaza in Baltimore. 

During the checkpoint, the MDTA Police will distribute information about laws and penalties for driving while intoxicated or while under the influence of alcohol and drugs. Motorists caught driving while impaired will be arrested and prosecuted.

According to a new study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, drivers with an alcohol level of 0.15 percent were 12 times more likely to crash than sober drivers. The study also revealed that marijuana users were about 25 percent more likely to be involved in a crash than drivers with no evidence of marijuana use.

In 2015, the MDTA Police arrested nearly 1,100 impaired drivers and issued nearly 2,900 DUI citations.

The Maryland Transportation Authority Police, a nationally accredited force, is the seventh-largest law-enforcement agency in the State, with more than 600 sworn and civilian law-enforcement professionals. MDTA Police officers provide law enforcement at the MDTA's highways, bridges and tunnels; at BWI Marshall Airport; and at the Port of Baltimore.

NOTE: If you choose to use an acronym, please refer to Maryland Transportation Authority as MDTA Police.  Thank you.

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