Sobriety checkpoints or roadblocks involve law enforcement officials stopping every vehicle or more typically, every nth vehicle on a public roadway and investigating the possibility that the driver might be too impaired to drive. They are often set up late at night or in the very early morning hours and on weekends, at which time the proportion of impaired drivers tends to be the highest.
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Harry
[url="http://www.legalx.net"]California Dui[/url]
Impaired driving roadblocks
By: Jack R. Nerad for Driving Today
Date: Monday, 26. June 2006
The headline was hard to ignore: "California Puts the Brakes on Impaired Driving; More than 310 Agencies Take Part in Sobriety Checks in December." And of course the goal was laudable. Preventing drunk or otherwise impaired drivers from taking innocent lives is worth some time, inconvenience, and perhaps even a little kink in our constitutional rights. But just as the enforcement of drunk drivers has been getting stiffer and just as the establishment of "sobriety checkpoints" has become more frequent, some are claiming that such roadblocks are ineffective and target the wrong people.
"The nation is on the wrong track in its efforts to combat drunk driving. PR campaigns and roadblocks--the centerpiece of the nation's war on drunk driving--harass and intimidate responsible adults while failing to target truly drunk drivers," so said several traffic safety experts cited in a new report by the American Beverage Institute (ABI), a restaurant trade association that seeks the responsible consumption of "adult beverages."
According to ABI, instead of prompting enforcement that goes after the seriously drunk driver with extremely high blood alcohol content, Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration continue to promote the use of roadblocks that "harass responsible adults who drive after drinking adult beverages in moderation." Further, the ABI asserts the MADD/NHTSA strategy that uses checkpoints as a key weapon against impaired driving isn't working.
Statistics might back up the lobbying group in its claim. For nearly a decade and a half, the anti-impairment forces seemed to be gaining serious ground in the war against drunken driving, but at some point in the mid-1990's, the progress stopped and then took a turn for the worse. Whether the increase in sobriety checkpoints at the expense of other forms of enforcement contributed to the reversal is an open question, but it is a question worth asking.
The point is not to ignore the problem of impaired driving. It is a very real one that costs lives each and every day. The point is: how can limited law enforcement resources be best used to combat this serious public health problem? Critics of sobriety checkpoints say they are effective at raising public awareness of the issue of impaired driving, and they might even prevent some social drinkers from having a drink or two (or three) and then getting behind the wheel, but they won't keep the serious drinker from swigging way to much alcohol and then attempting to drive. And the big-time drinkers, some experts will tell you, are the ones really behind the alarming rise in impaired driving traffic deaths.
"Alcohol-related occupant fatalities [are] up a total of three percent, and it's all coming out of the high-BAC (blood alcohol content) [drivers]," Dr. Jeffrey Michael, Director of NHTSA's Impaired Driving and Occupant Protection Division has been quoted as saying. "Clearly, the implication here is that the usual stuff isn't working. We did something right back in the late 80s, early 90s, and we're not managing to do that now."
Instead of establishing checkpoints that use a number of patrolmen, some safety experts advocate a return to more conventional highway patrols in which wide-ranging officers stay on the lookout for seriously impaired drivers in a much broader sweep through communities. While no one is advocating driving after drinking--and remember even a few social drinks can seriously impede your ability to control a vehicle properly--there is some honest disagreement on how best to keep dangerous drivers off the road.
Driving Today Managing Editor Jack R. Nerad frequently writes and lectures about impaired driving.
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All Comments (13)
Showing 1 - 13 comments
Harry,
Patricia,
I went threw a "sobriety" checkpoint the other day. I was in line and there were about 6-7 cars in front of me. I had the chance to actually sit in my car for a while and just watch this whole "safety" thing for a while until it was my turn to pull up to the officer. As I just sat in my car waiting, I looked at the whole "checkpoint" and I realized that I live in a police police state with interior checkpoints!!! Yes, we have full blown police checkpoints right here in America! when I stopped to be question and "informed", the police officer was kind of rude and Nazi like. He asked me if I had anything to drink, etc. He shined his flashlight right in my face and threw out my vehicle. I FELT INVADED AND THAT MY RIGHTS HAD BEEN VIOLATED! Why is America turning into this? It's terrifying to see this happening and from what I have learned, the U.S. gov. is giving states more money for these checkpoints. why? Is America really the land of liberty and the free? THINK ABOUT IT.
John,
I dont want to cross paths with a drunk driver on the road but I'll take my chances.I have to agree with one of the comments above,roadblocks are nothing more than a cash cow.A way to fund whatever in the name of safety.I suppose many do not know what it would be like to live in a police state,let alone even know what that is but I can assure you,it will come to that sooner or later.
Linda,
Well, I have gone threw a "sobriety" checkpoint and I had not been drinking at all, my car was totally legal and just on my way home from work. I was interrogated by the police for 14 minutes, harrassed and intimidated. I find that these so called DUI/"sobriety" checkpoints (roadblocks) are much more than just that. It's terrifying to see that in America we have these checkpoints....and 99% of motorists that pass threw these checkpoints are sober, law abiding citizens that are interrogated and harrassed. Hopefully, someday, the U.S. Supreme Court and lawmakers will wake up and see the light that these "sobriety" checkpoints do nothing but harrass and intimidate the general public. I'm terrfied for my children to have to grow in American society...for what it is turning into....a massive BIG BROTHER. It's so, so, so sad.
Greg in Vermont,
"sobriety" checkpoints do not work! I read the paper and see the statistics and it's always like 900 cars were stopped and 1 DUI...and the others are motorists that get tickets. These so called "sobriety" checkpoints are nothing but Police State tactics that harrass and intimidate the law abiding citizens! It's time the American people wake up and realize that these are full blow POLICE CHECKPOINTS and it's so sad and disgraceful that this goes on in America. Most Americans DO NOT realize that their country is molding into a massive police state. Maybe, someday, they will wake up and realize that. And, within the next 10-15 years, they won't even be called "sobriety" checkpoints...they will be just called Police checkpoints...and the cops will be just checking for your "papers". It's so sad that America is turning into this and I'm glad that I don't have any children..because I don't want any children to have to be raised in this massive police state, America.
Mostly BS citations,
Where I live in Virginia, the statistics for a Saturday night roadblock often look like this (as printed in the newspaper a couple weeks later):
950 vehicles stopped
100 citations issued
1 arrest for an outstanding warrant
1 DUI arrest
Although the roadblocks are allegedly to catch drunks, their main purpose seems to be to issue tickets for:
(most common)
Seatbelt violation
Expired annual inspection sticker
Expired annual tax sticker
Expired tags/registration
Expired drivers license
(less common)
Missing front license plate
No proof of insurance
Burned out light
Excessive window tint
Suspended / revoked / nonexistent driver license
Although many people would support screening for the suspended / revoked licenses, the math still works out to something like 89% of cars being stopped for nothing, 10% of cars being ticketed for BS, and maybe 1% of cars with a "real" problem. Oh, and 0.1% DUI.
They would be better off going back to the old fashioned method of waiting outside bars near closing time, watching the patrons leave, and following the drunk-looking ones until they had an excuse to pull them over. Add a few more to watch the main roads for "social drinkers" who are clearly driving poorly.
Of course, that would not generate as many tickets or make a big visible "see, we're doing every thing we can!" impression on hundreds of voters.
Jamie,
I think drunk driving is not as severe problem as people make it out to be. .08 alcholol level is not going to impair your driving ability. 99% of alcholol related fatalitys are by those .14 and above. I see the road blocks and the harrassment of the social drinker as a pure cash cow and nothing more. And it makes me sick.
joe,
Yes, drunk driving is bad traffic offese, but why are more people killed by speeders & road rage today than dui ? that is information the f.o.p. dont want the public to know.in penna you can drive your vehicle 85-90mph the whole way across i-80 & never see a cop.drive by any trooper barricks the parking lot full of patrol cars during the week. come weekend they are all out for d.u.i. they say they dont have the man power. i find that hard to believe.
cari,
me and my two little boys were hit by a drunk driver on October 28 2005 ,The guy also had sveral drugs in his system. He had been in jail for this many times and he still had his license,that is so hard for me to understand . He did not make it . He died on impact.He had to learn the hard way. I am so glad me and my babys are still here.I have a rod in my leg ,a new metal heal and foot bones,my little boy that is six had two broken legs.And my 8 year old little boy had a cut splean and a deep cut on his neck. thank God we had seatbelts on.He crossed a 4 way and hit us head on at 95mph . Somethig needs to be done to stop people from getting back on the road after dui's
sandy,
IN TIME ALL PEOPLE WHO WAN TO HAVE A DRINK NEED TO HAVE IT IN THE PRIVACY OF YOUR HOME HUNTIN CAMP OR WHER EVER ,NOT ON THE HIGHWAY YOU MAY NOT WANT TO LIVE BUT ALOT OF US DO WANT TO LIVE! TO ALL OFFICIAL PLEASE DON'T ADVERTISE IT LET THEM PAY THE PRICE IT'S CHEAPER THAN A LIFE. IT HARD ENOUGH TO LOOSE ALOVED ONE BY NATURAL CAUSES BUT IT MY BE A FAMILY MEMBER OF THIER OWN SO PLEASE DON'T ADVERTISE IT JUST GET 'M DONE ONCE AND FOR ALL!
Dottie,
We know of a man who has had to D.U.I.'s both within 6months of one another,1-year in jail. he still drinks and drives plus he's on prescription drugs very high doses. We pray every day he gets stopped before he kills someone or even his self.We all make mistakes but this is no mistake Plus he's Bipolar Should he be driving ? He is And hes Insurance is in someone elses name His livin'n girlfriend so please pray they get stoped. in Okeechobee,Fla.
Carlos,
A problem with roadblocks is that their locatoin is often known and impaired drivers go around them. Sometimes the checkpoints are announced on radio and TV, so you get lots of hassling of ordinary citizens for very little result.
Susan,
Roadblocks are good!
