Authored By ashley.hopkins

The Tennessee Highway Patrol will conduct a sobriety checkpoint at the intersection of East Brainerd Road and Morris Hill Road March 15.

Similar checkpoints, as well as driver’s license checkpoints, will be held across the state throughout the St. Patrick’s Day weekend.

Last year, one person was killed in an alcohol-related crash in Hamilton County over the St. Patrick’s Day weekend. There were 13 vehicular deaths statewide, nearly 31 percent of them because of alcohol.

So far this year, troopers have arrested more than 1,500 DUI suspects, which is almost a 40 percent increase from this time last year.