Interlock Facts

Texas' dubious distinction of having the highest number of alcohol-related crash deaths in the nation has prompted some advocates to look toward legislative solutions, including the potential resurrection of a pair of deterrents.

Roadblocks designed to catch drunken drivers and more frequent use of ignition interlock systems have gained advocates in the state Legislature and elsewhere.

Advocates say that increased use of those deterrents could save lives, while opponents say that roadblocks, in particular, violate the rights of innocent drivers.

Texas is one of 11 states that do not allow sobriety checkpoints by law enforcement officials, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association Web site. Texas prohibits sobriety checkpoints based on its interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.

The state allows ignition interlock devices, essentially an in-car Breathalyzer, for repeat offenders. But some advocates want to see the devices installed in the cars of those charged with a first case of DWI.

Opponents say such measures target the wrong people, while others say that they would create an ever-present deterrent against future offenses.

Texas has had the highest number of alcohol-related deaths in the country for the past 12 years, said Sparky Dean, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety.

In 2007, 1,292 people were killed in Texas in drunken driving crashes, according to the Mothers Against Drunk Driving Web site. Despite having less than two-thirds the population of California, the state has more drunken driving fatalities, the site said.

"To improve, Texas must pass legislation allowing for sobriety checkpoints and mandating ignition interlocks for all convicted drunken drivers -- something it failed to do in 2007," according to the MADD site.

Last year the Texas Senate passed a bill that would permit sobriety checkpoints, but that bill was left in committee in the House, according to a search of bills on Texas Legislature Online.

Similarly, another bill that would have required the installation of a Breathalyzer in cars for first-time offenders was left in committee in both the House and Senate last year, the Dallas Morning News reported.

Dean said he supported both measures. "Texas has a DWI problem," he said. "The solution is not only continued education of the police and the public, but our courts must follow through with prosecution. If the Texas Legislature allows our police agencies and offers the tool of sobriety checkpoints, Texas will be a safer place to drive."

Similarly, if courts are allowed to order the installation of car Breathalyzers for first-time DWI offenders, Dean sees "a very real and constant reminder to that person of some of the consequences of their bad choices."

Not everyone agrees with him.

Legislation for sobriety checkpoints has been introduced in every Texas Legislature since 1994, when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said such checkpoints were unconstitutional unless a statewide governmental entity established guidelines, according to the Web site of the American Beverage Institute, which has vociferously opposed the roadblocks.

According to the group's Web site, a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study found the number of DWI arrests made by a roving patrol program was nearly three times the average number made by checkpoint programs.

Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that the average blood alcohol concentration of a fatal car crash is .18 percent -- more than twice the legal limit.

"Because they are highly visible by design and publicized in advance, roadblocks are all too easily avoided by the chronic alcohol abusers who comprise the core of today's drunken driving problem," said ABI Managing Director Sarah Longwell. "That leaves adults who enjoyed a glass of wine with dinner, a beer at a ballgame or a champagne toast at a wedding to be harassed at checkpoints."

The organization recently denounced Pennsylvania's recent attempts to pass legislation to install Breathalyzer devices in first-time offenders' cars. Like Texas, the state has a .08 percent BAC to be legally intoxicated.

"A 120 pound woman can reach the .08 percent BAC level by having two glasses of wine in two hours," said Longwell in a news release. "Should she receive the same punishment as someone with a .18 percent BAC level or multiple offenses?" The legislation being discussed in Pennsylvania won't solve any problems because "it targets the wrong people," she said.

Keith Hampton, legislative chair for the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, said he doesn't see a need for ignition interlock devices in every car or in the car of every DWI offender, although he acknowledged the deterrents can be effective in appropriate cases.

"The vast majority of people who get popped for DWI, you'll never see again," he said. "The trauma of being arrested ensures that they are permanently deterred. They aren't the ones we should be worried about."

Hampton opposes any use of roadblocks because they mean that "perfectly innocent people are being seized" when police patrols are -- in his opinion -- more apt to be effective.

It is a myth that roadblocks can be limited, he said. "Every police officer has complete discretion to arrest you for any violation whatsoever except for one thing -- speeding," he said. "Did your brakes squeal as you stopped? Once stopped, you are completely under the whim of that police officer."

Abilene Police Sgt. Doug Wrenn, who heads the department's traffic division, said that the state's avoidance of sobriety checkpoints stems from a desire not to infringe on the public's rights of freedom for passage throughout the roadways.

While the measure would allow police to catch more drunken drivers, Wrenn said, lines must be drawn when it comes to impeding the freedoms of others.

"The majority of the drivers on the road are not drunken drivers," he said. "A substantial amount of the people that would get stopped or inconvenienced are law-abiding residents. So that hasn't taken off here."

There are no set standards for how to operate such a program in Texas, Wrenn said, and logistically speaking, such roadblocks take substantial resources to implement.

Wrenn said he would prefer police interactions to be based on probable cause where a legitimate violation of the law had occurred before detaining someone. "We are able to do driver's license and insurance checks, and if someone in one of those contexts had the odor of alcohol on them or gave us the indication that they were impaired, we could continue that investigation," he said.

But he said that ignition interlock systems are a "great idea for anybody."

"It's a great plan, I think, because it's one that requires no enforcement," he said. "Anytime we can see the furtherance of a penalty to curb or discourage a certain behavior without requiring law enforcement to do something else is great. Statewide, law enforcement has its hands full as it is."

Dawn Owens, a victim advocate with MADD's Lubbock office, which oversees efforts in Abilene, said that she understands some may feel their freedoms are being violated because of the stops. "But if you're not drinking or doing anything illegal, then really you're going to pass through rather quickly," she said. "It's not going to take any longer than a toll booth would, and you'll be on your way."

In Owens' opinion, putting up with the occasional, slight delay could save motorists' lives. "No one is immune to this," she said of becoming a victim of a drunken driver. "It could happen at any time."

Such checkpoints tend to last no longer than a single stoplight rotation, she said. Vehicles tend to be stopped in a predetermined sequence, such as every other vehicle.

The checkpoints are publicized in advance, and signs are posted warning a checkpoint is ahead, and police must have a reason to believe a driver stopped at a checkpoint has been drinking before a breath test is conducted.

"Society has the viewpoint of 'This is not going to affect me. This is not going to happen to me,'" she said. "Until it does hit home to them that someone they love is affected, perhaps badly, that's what it takes to open their eyes."

Karla Rose, executive director of the Abilene Regional Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, said that her organization teaches DWI intervention courses for first-time and repeat offenders and works closely with Texas' Department of State Health Services. "So we're kind of familiar with this (type of) legislation and what's been out there for a while," she said.

Rose's brother was killed by a drunken driver. She said she believed that both measures -- checkpoints and interlock systems for first-time offenders -- would reduce the number of drunken driving deaths. "I know that the feedback that I've heard from the states that have the random drunken driving checks say that's a really good preventive," she said, one that she believed could encourage the use of designated drivers, especially among younger people.

While she said that she could understand why some would not want ignition interlock systems for first-time offenders, she believes that such a measure would send a strong message.

"If it works on the second (offense), it would surely work on the first," she said.