Apple Dumps DUI Checkpoint App

This is something your iPhone can't help you with

​SF Weekly readers might recall the controversy that ensued after Apple released an iPhone app that would let drivers know exactly where and when they might be crossing a DUI checkpoint.

Of course, it wasn't nearly as controversial as the app that was released to help cure gays. But we digress. Today's story is that Apple has reportedly decided to strip its sobriety checkpoint app from its stores, according to Appleinsider.com

"Apps which contain DUI checkpoints that are not published by law enforcement agencies, or encourage and enable drunk driving, will be rejected," according to the new guidelines.

Congressional leaders had been putting pressure on the tech giant, sending a letter in March asking Apple to dump the app. The lawmakers said it was a public safety issue and they didn't like the fact that the real-time warning would give drunk drivers a chance to swerve the other way and dodge the cops.

"With more than 10,000 Americans dying in drunk-driving crashes every year, providing access to iPhone and iPad applications that alert users to DUI checkpoints is harmful to public safety," the lawmakers wrote. "We know that your company shares our desire to end the scourge of drunk driving and we therefore would ask you to remove these applications from your store."

But as SF Weekly reported in March, a quick search will show you that there are plenty of DUI checkpoint apps out there, including Buzzed, which says it would provide its users with "detailed information regarding if, when, and where" a DUI checkpoint might occur.

But who needs an Apple app to tell you about DUI checkpoints, when the local police will give you ample warning about where and when they will be stationed, checking for drunk drivers.

Follow us on Twitter at @SFWeekly and @TheSnitchSF