The South Dakota Highway Patrol and local law enforcement agencies will hold sobriety checkpoints in 14 different counties this month (Oct. 2024). In the central part of the state, checkpoints will take place in Walworth County. Other locations for checkpoints will be in Beadle, Bennett, Brookings, Clay, Codington, Custer, Fall River, Jerauld, Lawrence, Marshall, Meade, Minnehaha and Pennington counties. Officials remind drivers impaired driving is never a good idea 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. The checkpoints are funded by the South Dakota Office of Highway Safety. Both the Office of Highway Safety and the Highway Patrol are agencies of the South Dakota Department of Public Safety.