Police around the state increased patrols and set up DUI checkpoints over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
Bars in Hartford were busy as friends reunited over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and more police were out, concerned about celebrations going too far and possible drunken driving.
From Wednesday morning through Sunday morning, state police arrested 42 people on charges of driving under the influence, ticketed 980 for speeding citations, and handed out 2,639 moving violation tickets for things such as unsafe lane changes, failure to signal, tailgating, cell phone usage or texting.
State police also investigated 389 accidents up to Sunday morning, including one fatality and 45 crashes that caused injuries.
By comparison, last Thanksgiving weekend, state police made 52 DUI arrests and doled out 1,106 speeding tickets, 314 tickets for seatbelt violations and 3,538 tickets for hazardous moving violations. During the holiday last year, they investigated 934 crashes, including 97 with injury and one fatality.
On Friday, state police stopped drivers in Hartford getting onto I-91 southbound from Jennings Road starting from about 7:00pm. The checkpoint operated until about 1:30am on Saturday.
Not everyone thought the checkpoint was a good idea.
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Michael Picard said he and others have recently been protesting these types of checkpoints.
As people drove by Picard held signs which read, “COPS AHEAD. KEEP CALM AND REMAIN SILENT.”
“I’m not against catching drunk drivers. I’m against the method doing that,” says Picard.
Picard says there are better and fairer ways to catch drunk drivers rather than stopping everyone.
But police say a checkpoint is a good tool as part of their holiday enforcement crackdown which also includes increased patrols.
Authorities say checkpoints usually catch several drunken drivers.
“This is a way to prevent them from entering the highway and causing accidents and hurting themselves or other members of the public,” Trooper Robert Zdojeski said.
The Thanksgiving Holiday weekend traffic enforcement campaign ends at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday.
