PIERRE, S.D.(Press Release) – A total of 23 sobriety checkpoints in 16 counties are scheduled during October, according to the South Dakota Department of Public Safety.

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.

October checkpoints are scheduled for the counties of: Beadle, Brookings, Brown, Brule, Day, Charles Mix, Clay, Codington, Fall River, Jones, Lincoln, Meade, Minnehaha, Pennington, Spink, and Stanley.

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.