Twitter has become the ultimate turncoat lately, functioning as a soldier for the police and drunken drivers alike.
We reported last week that inebriated drivers in Texas are to be outed on TwitterTwitter
, and now cops report that the culprits themselves are using the microblogging site to inform others of the location of sobriety checkpoints.
According to a 2001 study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, these checkpoints reduce alcohol-related accidents by an average of 20 percent. So you can imagine what effect a bunch of New Year’s revelers with the inside scoop on checkpoints could have.It’s common knowledge that holidays such as New Year’s Eve and Thanksgiving present ample opportunities for folks to get smashed, get behind the wheel and get into accidents. That’s why police set up sobriety checkpoints in the first place. Consequently, when folks make use of Twitter, FacebookFacebook
apps to bypass said checkpoints, we could be in for a world of hurt (literally).
Still, according to The Seattle Times, some think that there’s no difference between tweeting about a checkpoint and the police department’s own promotion of the security measure (police basically inform citizens that they will be enforced, but decline to give specific locations).
What do you think of this phenomenon? Do you think it will contribute to more accidents this NYE? If so, it might be safe to pull up a couch and party at home.
[img credit: tsand on Flickr]
If some people evade police using Tweeting while drunk, how many drive their cars into trees trying to do so?
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment