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In response to an all too regular string of accidents involving drunk drivers and bicyclists on the Rickenbacker Causeway, police will set up a DUI sobriety checkpoint on the bridge to Key Biscayne tonight. The Miami Police and Miami-Dade Police departments will join forces for the checkpoint.
See also: Another Cyclist Killed in Rickenbacker Causeway Hit-and-Run
Meanwhile, another DUI saturation patrol will cover the Brickell NET Service area. Police conducting the sting say they’ll have zero tolerance for anyone breaking Florida’s traffic laws.
The checkpoint will begin at 8 p.m. and conclude at 1 a.m.
“This checkpoint in being conducted due to the high occurrences of both vehicular & pedestrians and vehicular & bicyclist crashes on the Rickenbacker Causeway,” reads a statement from the departments. “Numerous requests from the public have been made requesting the police agencies to take enforcement action on the causeway before more serious injuries and deaths occur.”
Indeed, January 21, yet another cyclist, Walter Reyes, was struck and killed by a vehicle driven by Alejandro Alvarez, a 21-year-old college student heading home after spending the night at a club. Another bicyclist was also injured in the crash. Alvarez fled the scene but later turned himself in.
That incident follows the death of cyclists Aaron Cohen in 2012 and Christophe Le Canne in 2010. Nonfatal incidents on the Rickenbacker are also not uncommon.
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