As Carnival season ramps up, St. Bernard Parish drivers who hit the road after hitting the bottle are about to see a lot more flashing blue lights.
The St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office says it will boost sobriety checkpoints and seat-belt enforcement starting tomorrow, using grant funds to flood parish streets with extra enforcement ahead of Mardi Gras. Sheriff James Pohlmann is urging residents to plan ahead and keep celebrations from turning into emergencies.
Sheriff's Office Announcement
In a post on the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office Facebook page, officials said a grant from the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission is funding seat-belt checkpoints and DWI sobriety checkpoints at various times throughout the year. The post quoted Sheriff James Pohlmann as saying, "Too many people are needlessly killed or injured each year in traffic accidents. We will not tolerate motorists driving on our roadways while under the influence of drugs or alcohol," framing the stepped-up enforcement as a straightforward public safety move.
Mardi Gras Enforcement Wave
The Mardi Gras crackdown falls within a broader statewide traffic safety push. The Louisiana Highway Safety Commission lists the current enforcement period as Feb. 6–17 and notes that it backs state and local agencies with high-visibility efforts such as sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols, according to the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission. The commission’s impaired-driving program description says it provides grants and other support to departments for these holiday enforcement waves.
Why It Matters
Impaired driving remains one of the leading causes of traffic deaths nationwide, which is why the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration runs its Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign and promotes high-visibility enforcement during holiday periods, according to NHTSA. Federal officials say checkpoints and saturation patrols are proven tools to cut down on alcohol- and drug-impaired crashes when celebrations fill the roads.
Local Options and What To Expect
According to Hoodline, the sheriff’s office has previously offered free holiday rides home to keep impaired residents from driving, and deputies say the new grant-funded enforcement is meant to work alongside those kinds of services. Drivers in St. Bernard Parish should be ready for sobriety checkpoints and additional patrols from Feb. 6–17, and officials are urging people to line up a sober driver, grab a rideshare, or use any available safe-ride options instead of risking an impaired drive.
