As part of the Click It or Ticket campaign, Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre announced deputies will be conducting seat belt and DWI checkpoints this Memorial Day Weekend in Lafourche Parish. During the seat belt checkpoint, deputies will be checking to ensure all vehicle occupants are properly restrained. During the DWI checkpoint, deputies will be looking for drivers who are possibly impaired while checking for other traffic safety issues.

Sheriff Webre reminds drivers that the use of seat belts is always important and can mean the difference between life and death in crashes. Per Louisiana State law (R.S. 32:295.1), upon conviction of the first offense, the driver faces a $25.00 fine including court costs, and any subsequent conviction carries a $50.00 fine including court costs.

Motorists suspected of DWI who refuse to submit to a breathalyzer test will lose their driver’s license for one year (first offense). For a second offense, the penalty increases to two years. Anyone convicted of a DWI offense while their driver’s license is suspended because of another DWI offense will face automatic prison time. Lafourche Parish is also a “no refusal all the time” parish, meaning if a suspected drunk driver refuses a breathalyzer test, deputies will seek a search warrant to have that person’s blood tested.

Assisting Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies during the checkpoint will be officers from Thibodaux Police, Houma Police, Assumption Parish Sheriff’s Office, and Louisiana State Police Troop C. Sheriff Webre also extends his gratitude to Rouses Supermarket and Domino’s Pizza for their generous contributions of refreshments to deputies and officers working the checkpoints.