PIERRE, S.D.(Press Release) – A new year of sobriety checkpoints begins as the South Dakota Department of Public Safety plans to hold checkpoints in 15 different counties during the month of January.

Checkpoints are scheduled for the counties of: Brown, Brule, Butte, Clay, Davison, Day, Fall River, Jones, Lake, Lawrence, Meade, Minnehaha, Spink, Stanley, and Walworth

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.