It's holiday season, and across the nation DUI checkpoints are in full swing. The roadblocks and brief officer contacts that many drivers will endure this Thanksgiving through New Years are legal in many states as long as protocol is followed.

Many opponents and critics of DWI checkpoints argue that they are not effective and are more publicity stunt than sound law enforcement technique.

Yesterday, the American Beverage Institute (ABI) issued a press release about sobriety checkpoints. In it, they announce that roadblocks have been proven ineffective and fail to isolate the problem of impaired drivers.

Instead of checkpoints, the ABI recommends roving patrols. The statistical data from checkpoints appears to support the ABI's claim that checkpoints are costly and ineffective at actually catching impaired drivers.

Instead of making contact with high probability DUI drivers, such as those that are swerving or driving without headlights, checkpoints make contact with everybody.

In a series of articles starting today, DUIAttorney.com will track the locations and progress of checkpoints across the nation. At the end of the holiday season the number of stops, arrests, police personnel hours and costs will be analyzed to see if the ABI's claim is substantiated.

In the meantime, drivers should be prepared to be stopped at checkpoints this season.