WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — College rule No. 8: Weekends begin on Thursday, so it's officially the first weekend of college! Time for a sobriety checkpoint.

Police are required to notify the public the date of a checkpoint, but do not have to publish the location. West Lafayette did this earlier this week.

The checkpoint is Thursday, and in case you think it is just a coincidence that the checkpoint falls on the first weekend back for students, it isn't.

"With Purdue University students starting back to classes this week, area police agencies want to remind everyone not to drink and drive," West Lafayette police Sgt. Jason Philhower said.

Asked if it felt like the checkpoint was targeting college students, Purdue student Eric Miller said, "Absolutely I think it does. But it makes absolute perfect sense.

"There’s going to be more people out who’ve been drinking, so it makes sense that they would have more checkpoints.”

Nearby, Trevor Clugh, a construction worker who was born and raised in Lafayette, gave another reason to keep drunk drivers off the roads.

There are many students who are new to the area and unfamiliar with the roads, Clugh said.

“You got billions of dollars worth of construction going on, now you got drunk drivers on top of that who don’t know where they’re going,” he said of the danger to life, property and expensive construction equipment.

Philhower and some of his fellow officers went to Purdue and know the excitement of the first weekend back with old friends.

"We’re not trying to tell you not to have fun," Philhower said to would-be partiers, "but plan ahead so you can get back safely. Make sure you set up a designated driver before you go out.

"Have someone drop you off, so you don’t have a way home,” he said, noting that this removes the temptation to drive.

Asked about the sobriety checkpoint targeting the return of college students, Purdue sophomore Trevor Reich from Valparaiso said, "I feel like it's definitely a fair thing to do just because it is in everyone’s benefit to be safe and not drink while driving. I don’t see an issue with it.”

Philhower wants students to know about the high-profile enforcement tactics such as checkpoints and saturation patrols. He wants the students to talk it up that these things are going on this weekend and other weekends.

Every tweet, Instagram or Facebook posts that the students send warning friends not to drive drunk translates into fewer drunks on the roads and fewer people hurt by impaired drivers, Philhower said.

And ultimately, that's the goal.

Reach Journal & Courier reporter Ron Wilkins at 765-420-5231.