Are Pennsylvania DUI roadblock effective?

From a public relations perspective, few can argue that DUI roadblocks get attention. Some argue that the attention that they bring to the subject of drunk driving, and the corresponding deterrent value is enough to justify the expense and intrusion on drivers.

In Pennsylvania, police agencies tend to put their roadblocks in areas where there is high traffic and a generally high rate of impaired driving. The statistics, which are typically reported by the media (including the DUI news section of this site) usually bear out the reality that many drivers must be stopped in order to effectuate a single DUI arrest. In some cases, hundreds or even thousands of drivers are screened with few or even no arrests made. Opponents of roadblocks argue that the police would arrest more drunk drivers if they patrolled and looked for signs of impaired driving and then made individual surgical stops rather than the scorched-earth method that is necessitated by checkpoints.

Lawyers have suggested that the proven inefficiency of Pennsylvania DUI roadblocks is a good constitutional argument against them, because they are not the most effective, nor the least intrusive means of enforcing PA's drunk driving laws. Nonetheless, the courts seem not to care about the empirical effectiveness. Here's a quote from Com. v. Beaman:

...because highway safety and constitutional privacy guarantees represent compelling policy considerations in substantial tension, an inquiry into the actual effectiveness of sobriety checkpoints may "assume[] a heightened degree of importance" in a future case with a record containing empirical proof along these lines. See id. at 351-52, 768 A.2d at 325-26 (Saylor, J., concurring). Notably, as well, Mr. Justice Nigro filed a dissenting opinion, joined by Mr. Justice Zappala (later Chief Justice), opining that DUI roadblocks constitute an inefficient means of apprehending drunk drivers and that, accordingly, the government's interest in conducting them is outweighed by the cumulative intrusion into the privacy of all law-abiding motorists that pass through them.

The judicial and political atmosphere in Pennsylvania indicates that, regardless of their effectiveness or lack thereof, police agencies will be allowed to do them, and will continue to do them, presumably because of the publicity, and perhaps as a countermeasure to the cold hard reality that the police, despite their best efforts, will not be able to prevent every drunk driving injury or death.

It is unlikely that the effectiveness of PA sobriety checkpoints will be an effective argument to suppress your stop and dismiss your case. However, if you were stopped at a checkpoint, it is imperative that you have a competent lawyer investigate the circumstances of the stop to make sure the requirements were complied with.