Wellesley Police Deputy Chief William Brooks said the sobriety checkpoint the department held in concert with the Massachusetts State Police May 7 signals drunk driving happens more often than most suspect.

Combined, the two police agencies arrested 10 drunk drivers, Brooks said, between the hours of 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. on Rte. 9 at Lexington Road. "I think it's alarming that on one point on Rte. 9, in under a four-hour period, we could come up with 10 drunk drivers," Brooks said.

The checkpoint discovered the first drunk driver within the first 15 minutes, Brooks said, and found the 10^th just before officers closed down for the night. During the checkpoint, he said, officers stopped and spoke to drivers as they traveled through, and asked them how their evening was going. If the drivers exhibited signs of drunkenness, Brooks said, they were pulled over to the side of the road and given sobriety tests. Upon failing, the 10 drivers were arrested.

The number of arrests made that evening, Brooks said, shows there are more drunk drivers sharing the road with the general public than many people might guess.

This is the third time the Wellesley Police Department has teamed up with the Massachusetts State Police for this purpose, Brooks said. Similar cooperative checkpoints were conducted in 2004 and 2007. This check was funded by a grant from the Highway Safety Division of the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, according to the Wellesley Police Department website.

During regular police duties in 2008, Brooks said, Wellesley Police made 15 drunk driving arrests on Rte. 9, another 18 in 2009 and seven so far this year.

"So I think this shows the effectiveness of the checkpoint," Brooks said.