DUI checkpoint Thursday on Highway 50 in Douglas County

A DUI checkpoint is planned Thursday afternoon and evening at an unspecified spot on U.S. Highway 50 in Douglas County.

Officers from the Reno and Sparks police departments, deputies from the Washoe and Lyon county sheriff’s offices, and troopers from the Nevada Highway Patrol will conduct the road block. Drivers passing through the checkpoint will be greeted. Those who show signs of alcohol and/or drug use will be directed to the secondary screening area. Once there, standardized field sobriety tests will be administered, and those who fail will be arrested.

Additionally, those at the initial screening area will check on whether traffic laws are being ignored or broken.

“With the high volume of traffic expected on Nevada’s roadways and highways, especially on the evening of the 4th, we want everyone to enjoy the festivities safely and responsibly,” Trooper Chuck Allen, public information officer with the highway patrol, said in a news release.

The DUI checkpoint is funded by the “Joining Forces” grant secured by the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety and paid for by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.