• 87 percent of Americans support sobriety checkpoints
• 10 states still prohibit their use and others rarely use them

Through the Campaign, we’ll work to make checkpoints legal in all states and to increase checkpoint usage throughout the country.

Crackdowns During High-Risk Periods
As a part of the Campaign, we support twice-yearly drunk driving crackdowns before Labor Day and the December holidays.

Sobriety Checkpoints
For sobriety checkpoints, law enforcement officers set up checkpoints and stop vehicles in a specific sequence (for example, every other car, every fifth car), as well as drivers who are obviously breaking traffic laws. Law-abiding people are sent on their way within minutes. Average stop time is about the length of a cycle at a stop light.

Research shows that the overwhelming majority of people arrested for drunk driving have driven drunk an average of 87 times before their first arrest. Sobriety checkpoints help stop drunk drivers who would likely remain under the radar –and the publicity from checkpoints reminds people who drink that drinking and driving don’t mix.

Research also shows that sobriety checkpoints can significantly lower the incidence of drunk driving. In 2002, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that alcohol-related crashes and fatalities dropped by 20 percent when sobriety checkpoints were used and publicized.

In 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed that sobriety checkpoints are legitimate and constitutional enforcement. Despite that ruling, there are 10 states that continue to prohibit their use: Idaho, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming. MADD is committed to bringing checkpoints to every state in the country. If you’re from one of these states, click here to tell your legislators that you support sobriety checkpoints.

What are sobriety checkpoints? 
Checkpoints are typically publicized in advance and signs are posted at the approaches to the checkpoints warning drivers that a checkpoint is ahead. Police must have a reason to believe the driver stopped at a checkpoint has been drinking before a breath test can be conducted.
More questions and answers...

Help can I improve the enforcement of DUI/DWI laws?
We've made significant progress in reducing alcohol-related fatalities in the past twenty years.  However, we have a long way to go – more than 17,000 people were killed in alcohol-related crashes in 2005. Call for improved enforcement of DUI/DWI laws.

Current usage
Sobriety checkpoints are a technique where law enforcement officials evaluate drivers for signs of alcohol or drug impairment. Vehicles are stopped in a specific sequence (e.g., every other vehicle or every fourth vehicle).  This may create a minor inconvenience for drivers, but the Supreme Court ruled (in Michigan v. Sitz) that sobriety checkpoints are constitutional because this small inconvenience was overwhelmed by a compelling state interest in saving lives. 

Effectiveness
The Centers for Disease Control studied sobriety checkpoints and found that they can reduce alcohol-related crashes and fatalities by 20 percent. They are an integral and necessary part of anti-drunk driving enforcement and deserve our support.