PIERRE, S.D.(Press Release) – Sobriety checkpoints will held in 18 South Dakota counties during March, according to the South Dakota Department of Public Safety.

The monthly checkpoints are designed to encourage people not to 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.

Counties where the March checkpoints are scheduled are: Beadle, Brookings, Brown, Brule, Butte, Clay, Codington, Day, Hutchinson, Jackson, Lawrence, Lincoln, Minnehaha, Moody, Pennington, Roberts, Spink and Walworth.

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.