CHECKPOINTS

Sobriety Checkpoints: Facts & Myths

People don't like the use of sobriety checkpoints to detect and deter impaired drivers. They consider them a form of police harassment and an invasion of their privacy.
FACT: Public opinion polls indicate just the opposite. Both recent surveys and polls throughout the 1980s and 1990s show that 70-80 percent of those polled are in favor of more sobriety checkpoint use to combat drunk driving. In fact, public support tends to increase as communities experience checkpoint use. Opponents of sobriety checkpoints tend to be those who drink and drive frequently and are concerned about being caught. In those same polls, 81 percent of adults also favor mandatory safety belt use laws.
Sobriety checkpoints constitute illegal search and seizure and are, therefore, unconstitutional.
FACT: In general, sobriety checkpoints can be thought of as being very similar to other accepted operations such as security checkpoints set up at airports to detect air passengers attempting to carry on weapons or bombs. Specifically, the U.S. Supreme Court on June 14, 1990 upheld the use of sobriety checkpoints to detect and deter impaired drivers. Previous appeals to the Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of such checkpoints had been declined, which allowed high state court rulings to stand. The June 14, 1990 ruling clearly upheld the constitutionality of such enforcement measures.
Sobriety checkpoints may be successful in Australia, but they have never been shown to be effective in the U.S.
Numerous studies in the U.S. demonstrate their effectiveness. For example, in Charlottesville, VA, reduction in impaired driving; New Jersey, reductions in alcohol-related fatal crashes. A new study comparing community programs found that checkpoints along with public information efforts achieved significant deterrence. They have also been an important way of increasing safety belt usage when encouraged as part of the checkpoint procedures.
Sobriety checkpoints really aren't necessary for an adequate DWI enforcement program.
Recent research substantiates the fact that checkpoints and aggressive public information efforts are essential to achieve deterrence of impaired driving. Checkpoints also provide a means of increasing public awareness for safety belt use. Agencies are able to use checkpoints to favorably recognize sober drivers and passengers using seatbelts and to encourage non-users to buckle up before proceeding.
Sobriety checkpoints are only successful as specific deterrents and do not affect the general public's attitude about drinking and driving...only those who get caught in them.
Because of the heightened visibility checkpoints give to DWI law enforcement, they are especially valuable and effective as a general deterrent. Public information about the program and publication of arrest resulting from them further increases the general deterrent effect. If the public is aware the police will be conducting check points, they tend to be much more careful about drinking and driving. They drink less, or find alternative transportation.
Sobriety checkpoints are easy for drinking drivers to avoid. They can merely turn around and detour around them or switch drivers before being stopped.
Most well-run checkpoints have a police officer down the road to observer such behavior. If drivers make a U-turn to avoid them, the police can follow the vehicle for a short distance to observe its operation. If the driver is observed switching places, they can pull the vehicle over. And even if drinking drivers do avoid the check point, they may drive more cautiously because they are aware of active enforcement efforts.
Many drinking drivers do not exhibit impairment obvious enough to be detected at checkpoints, and police often do not detect these drivers.
While even thoroughly trained officers will not detect 100 percent of the drinking drivers, the police can use passive alcohol sensors (PAS) to help them detect those who are impaired. These passive sensors detect alcohol in the breath of the drivers while they are speaking to the officer. They can be calibrated so that a person who has truly had only one drink would probably not be detected, but will serve as a valuable “extension” of the officer’s nose to help him determine who should be examined more closely for impairment.
.Sobriety checkpoints are not needed more than once or twice a year in any community.
Sobriety checkpoints must be run frequently to realize the desired effect in a community. They must be visible on a frequent basis in a community to maximize effectiveness. Once media coverage declines, frequency is even more important to maintaining effectiveness.
Sobriety checkpoints are very expensive to operate and yield very little in terms of arrests.
Sobriety checkpoints have been successfully run in California and Ohio with only 3 to 4 police officers. Most checkpoints yield more arrests for DWI/DUI per officer duty hour than normal patrols.
Sobriety checkpoints hold people up for long periods of time and cause huge traffic jams.
Well-conducted sobriety checkpoints generally delay drivers for no more than 30 seconds, and cause no traffic problems. If traffic does back up, police are instructed to relieve congestion and then resume stopping cars in a predetermined pattern.

 

The Top 10 Questions People Ask About Checkpoints


Why do the police use checkpoints?
Sobriety checkpoints are a proven way to catch drunken drivers and get them off the roads. Also, checkpoints reduce drunken driving because people fear they’ll be caught when police are out in force.

How do checkpoints deter drunken drivers?
People tend to change their driving habits when they know a checkpoint is being held in their area. They use designated drivers and other safe alternatives like public transportation rather than getting behind the wheel after drinking.

How significant a problem is drunken driving?
Drunken driving is a major social problem in America. It is completely preventable. In 1998, 15,935 people were killed, nearly one million injured and one million cars crashed because of drunken driving.

Do checkpoints curb drunken drivers?
Yes! When well-publicized, checkpoints reduce the number of drinkers on the roads. A checkpoint program in Binghamton, New York showed a 39% decrease in drinking drivers. In New Jersey, checkpoints were credited with a 10% to 15% drop in single vehicle crashes at night.

Do any states use checkpoints intensively?
During the intensive “Booze It & Lose It” anti-drunken driving campaign in North Carolina, law enforcement agencies across the state held 1,233 checkpoints and 3,858 people were charged with drunken driving. There have been similar programs in Ohio and Tennessee.

Aren’t checkpoints an inconvenient bother for motorists?
Well-planned checkpoints delay motorists about as long as a stop at a traffic signal. Should traffic back-up, police stop the checks until the congestion is cleared and then continue. In a survey, 79% of the public supported check-points to reduce drunken driving.

How can the expense of checkpoints be justified in tight police budgets?
Drunken driving prevention is an important and effective role for law enforcement in reducing injuries and saving lives. Cooperation among local, county and state police agencies helps spread the costs for equipment and personnel over several jurisdictions.

How does drunken driving affect our society economically?
Economic costs of alcohol-related crashes are estimated to be $45 billion yearly.

Are checkpoints legal?
Properly conducted checkpoints are not an illegal search and seizure. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld their constitutionality in 1990. Thirty-nine states plus the District of Columbia conduct checkpoints.

What other police and safety groups support the use of checkpoints?
Operation C.A.R.E., the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the National Sheriffs’ Association favor them. Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board, Remove Intoxicated Drivers and Students Against Destructive Decisions promote checkpoints. Private groups that advocate increased use of checkpoints include the National Safety Council, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and National Commission Against Drunk Driving.

Please contact the MADD-NH office for any further information.

Together we can make a difference!


 
 

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