What’s the Deal with DUI and Sobriety Checkpoints?

In your years of driving, you may have encountered a sobriety checkpoint.  If not, you may have at least read about or heard warnings of checkpoints.  Word of sobriety checkpoints tends to proliferate around holiday weekends, when there’s a high probability that people drinking beers at barbeques all afternoon will get behind the wheel.  They are also often held in the late night or early morning hours.  However, sobriety checkpoints can pop up anytime, anywhere and you should be prepared accordingly.

DUI and sobriety checkpoints are temporary roadblocks erected by law enforcement to catch drunk drivers in the act.  Officer at checkpoints may stop every vehicle driving past, or they may perform patterned or random checks.  Typically, the officer will request your license and registration.  During this exchange, the officer will look for any superficial cues suggesting impairment, such as unfocused vision, fumbling for documents, open alcohol containers on the floor of the car or the smell of alcohol on the breath.  If they observe evidence of impairment, the officer will ask you to pull over and may request to search the car, or to perform chemical or field sobriety testing (which you have the right to refuse).

The legality of checkpoints has been the point of some controversy.  Many opponents argue that checkpoints constitute an illegitimate search and seizure, in violation of the 4^th Amendment of the Constitution.  This Amendment mandates that law enforcement must have probable cause to search an individual on their private property.  The controversy became so great the Supreme Court weighed in on the issue, acknowledging that checkpoints did represent an infringement on citizens’ 4^th Amendment rights against seizure, however this infringement was warranted as long as law enforcement can demonstrate evident effectiveness and minimal intrusion.

Further, the effectiveness of checkpoints has been drawn into question.  In a study conducted by the National Highway and Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), results indicated that standard traffic stops resulted in three times as many DUI arrests as checkpoints.

In Florida, law enforcement has established the “three minute rule” to meet the Supreme Court’s requirements.  Any vehicle that enters the designated checkpoint area cannot be detained for more than three minutes, or else checkpoint officials must stop diverting all traffic into the checkpoint lanes, instead systematically selecting vehicles in traffic for search.

Each Florida County is given the right to establish checkpoints and dictate policies relating to officer’s conduct at checkpoints.  Counties are under no obligation to announce the location and duration of the checkpoints, although many will send out notification.

Despite their intrusiveness and the potential for law enforcement to use discriminatory measures to select which cars to stop at a checkpoint, it is unlikely that the use of checkpoints will go away anytime soon.