The South Carolina Highway Patrol is putting extra pressure on drunk drivers this summer, and social media is not helping them.
“What we’ve done is use the ‘fear of where we’re going to be’ to keep you from drinking and driving,” Lance Corporal Billy Elder with the South Carolina Highway Patrol.
The Lance Corporal says he’s seen an increase in people warning friends the location of a current DUI check point.
“If you’re texting someone to tell them ‘Hey there’s a DUI check point up here’ for the purpose of them trying to avoid – and [they still drive] under the influence, the person ought to know that’s wrong,” said Elder.
To fight back against “texters” and people who are using social media to warn friends, troopers try to stay one step ahead by setting up several check points along I-77 and side roads.
“We’re branching out to have people guessing where we’ll be next,” said Elder.
As a result, if a drunk driver is tipped off and tries to avoid the DUI checkpoint, that driver could get a surprise elsewhere.
Elder says they’ve had 17 fatal crashes in York County this year; half of those were from drunk drivers.
“If you are allowing someone to make it around a DUI check point, then did you contribute to that wreck? I say you did,” Elder says about people who warn drunk drivers.
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