LUCAS COUNTY | OVI Checkpoint Set Friday Night on South McCord Road

HOLLAND, Ohio — The Lucas County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday that a sobriety checkpoint will be set up Friday night on South McCord Road in the Holland area of Springfield Township.

Lucas County Sheriff Michael Navarre announced the location, according to WTOL 11. The sheriff’s office also posted the notice Thursday on its Facebook page. The Lucas County Operating Vehicles Intoxicated (OVI) Task Force will conduct the checkpoint from 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, through 2 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, at 1470 South McCord Road, the sheriff’s office said. The address is in Holland and is also the location of Springfield High School.

Officers with the Lucas County OVI Task Force will staff the checkpoint, the sheriff’s office said. The operation will be paid for through an OVI Task Force grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The Fostoria Free Press covers news across Northwest Ohio, including Lucas County.

How Ohio OVI checkpoints work

Sobriety checkpoints are legal in Ohio when they follow established guidelines. In 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Michigan Department of State Police v. Sitz that highway sobriety checkpoints do not automatically violate the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, provided the stops are brief and the program is carried out in a reasonable way.

Ohio appellate courts have reached the same conclusion under the Ohio Constitution. They have upheld checkpoints that use a safe, visible location; illuminated advance-warning signs; a clear show of official vehicles and uniformed officers; and procedures set in advance under neutral criteria, so individual officers are not left to decide whom to stop. Those factors were described in State v. Goines and later applied in cases including State v. Bauer and State v. Hall.

Ohio law-enforcement agencies commonly announce checkpoints in advance. The Lucas County Sheriff’s Office has previously noted the 1990 Supreme Court ruling when it publicizes task-force checkpoints. Ohio courts have said advance media publicity, while often used and helpful in giving drivers notice, is not by itself an absolute constitutional requirement if the checkpoint is otherwise clearly marked and operated under those guidelines.

County Safe Communities programs in Ohio, administered through the Ohio Traffic Safety Office, are local coalitions that work to reduce traffic deaths and injuries. One of their primary goals is increasing awareness of impaired driving. In Lucas County, the Safe Communities Coalition has partnered with the OVI Task Force on impaired-driving awareness campaigns, including the national Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over effort.

Drivers who go through the checkpoint should expect a brief stop. Motorists are advised to have a driver’s license, vehicle registration and proof of insurance ready, and to arrange a sober ride if they plan to drink.

Featured image: A file photograph of an Ohio State Highway Patrol Ford Police Interceptor Utility, taken in 2022 by Raymond Wambsgans and used under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license via Wikimedia Commons. The image has been cropped, darkened and overlaid with text for this article, and the license plate has been blurred. It was not taken at the South McCord Road checkpoint, and the announcement from the sheriff’s office did not name the Highway Patrol as staffing this operation.

Sources:
Lucas County Sheriff’s Office announcement on Facebook, Nov. 12, 2026: https://www.facebook.com/lucascountysheriff/
WTOL 11, “Friday night sobriety checkpoint announced in Lucas County,” Ashley Taylor, published 1:07 p.m. EST Nov. 12, 2026: https://www.wtol.com/article/traffic/friday-night-sobriety-checkpoint-announced-in-lucas-county-south-mccord-road/512-868fbe85-dd89-4829-b7a2-025b910c9f02
Michigan Department of State Police v. Sitz, 496 U.S. 444 (1990): https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/496/444
State v. Hall, 2004-Ohio-3302 (5th Dist.): https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/5/2004/2004-Ohio-3302.pdf
Ohio Safe Communities, Ohio Traffic Safety Office: https://otso.ohio.gov/programs/ohio-safe-communities
UToledo News, Aug. 6, 2026, on the Lucas County Safe Communities Coalition’s work with the OVI Task Force: https://news.utoledo.edu/index.php/08_06_2026/utoledo-health-to-co-host-mock-drunk-driving-crash-and-press-conference-on-aug-7
Featured image, Raymond Wambsgans, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ohio_State_Highway_Patrol_Ford_Police_Interceptor_Utility_(Right_front_view,_unknown_plate).jpg