DUI checkpoints are supposed to be a surprise, not something you can carefully plan your drinking-and-driving night around, according to four US Senators. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Harry Reid (D-NV), Charles Schumer (D-NY), and Tom Udall (D-NM) have written an open letter to Apple, Google, and RIM asking the companies to stop peddling apps that help drunk drivers avoid the police, calling the software "harmful to public safety."

The apps in question range from those that try to put DUI checkpoints on a map in real time to those that help users alert one another about police on the prowl for drunk drivers. One app that we found in the iOS App Store called "Checkpointer" specifically advertises its $4.99 offering as being able to save you "thousands of dollars by helping you avoid an arrest for a DUI." (The company that sells Checkpointer also offers bail bonds, so it's clear which demographic this company is catering to.) Another app called "Buzzed" says it will alert you when a DUI checkpoint shows up or is planned for your area, though it also offers a "call a cab" service based on your GPS location.

Similarly, Checkpoint Wingman for $1.99 on the Android Market offers real-time alerts when you are geographically close to a DUI Checkpoint, and PhantomALERT on both Android Market and Blackberry App World alerts users to the presence of DUI checkpoints, school zones, red light cameras, and speed traps.

In their letter, the Senators pointed that 10,000 Americans die from drunk driving incidents annually, arguing that access to these apps is only detrimental to the public.

"We appreciate the technology that has allowed millions of Americans to have information at their fingertips, but giving drunk drivers a free tool to evade checkpoints, putting innocent families and children at risk, is a matter of public concern," reads the letter. "We know that your companies share our desire to end the scourge of drunk driving and we therefore would ask you to remove these applications from your store unless they are altered to remove the DUI/DWI checkpoint functionality."

It's unclear whether any of the companies plan to comply with the senators' request. If we were to guess, though, Apple might be the one to agree to get rid of DUI checkpoint-related apps—after all, it recently removed a "gay cure" app after some public outcry. Google's Android Market will likely remain a general free-for-all, though we're not sure which way RIM might go. Apple, RIM, and Google did not respond to our requests for comment.

Update: RIM has agreed to pull the DUI checkpoint-related apps from its store.