Atty. Gen. Patrick C. Lynch wants the state Supreme Court to reconsider whether police should be able to use sobriety checkpoints to catch drunk drivers, a practice that the court found illegal in its 1989 Pimental v. DOT ruling.
Lynch wrote Thursday to Governor Donald L. Carcieri asking him to seek a new opinion from the court, saying DUI checkpoints offer local police a “singular opportunity” to combat “the scourge of driving-while-intoxicated-caused deaths and injuries on our roads and highways.”
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“As we are all aware, alcohol remains a contributing factor in 38 percent of fatal motor vehicle crashes,” Lynch wrote. “Three out of ten Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some point in their lives. Every 33 minutes someone dies because of impaired driving; and every two minutes someone is injured. This year 1.5 million people will be arrested for impaired driving.”
Rhode Island has a particularly serious drunk-driving problem, federal statistics show, with 57 alcohol-related traffic deaths in 2003. In December, the doctors’ group End Needless Death on Our Roadways (END) put Rhode Island at the top of its “fatal fifteen” list for having 55 percent of all traffic deaths in the four years ending in 2003 classified as alcohol-related. The national average was 40 percent.
“A total of 264 families in Rhode Island, about one family per week, have been victimized in the impaired driving crashes since 1998,” Lynch wrote to Carcieri. “In addition to the personal impact of these terrible tragedies, all Rhode Islanders are confronted with the economic impact of drunk driving as well.”
As an example of DUI checkpoints’ effectiveness, Lynch told the governor about a 12-month enforcement campaign in Tennessee, which went from 15 checkpoints to 900. Nearly 145,000 vehicles went through the checkpoints, and over 9,000 were detained for investigation. There were 773 resultant DUI arrests, 201 misdemeanor drug arrests, 347 seat belt citations, and 465 child restraint citations. Four stolen vehicles were recovered, 35 felony arrests were made for violations such as drugs and parole violations.
The Tennessee data showed a 20.4-percent reduction in alcohol-related crashes, Lynch said, and there was a 5.5-percent overall decrease in nighttime single-vehicle crashes with injuries.
“Statewide use of a similar program could well serve to significantly reduce the DUI-caused carnage on Rhode Island’s roads and highways, as well enhance overall public safety,” Lynch wrote.
The attorney general has been looking at how to battle drunk driving for over a year. Since October 2003, a task force he set up has brought together police and state agencies to discuss the issue, develop legislative and educational initiatives, and help coordinate enforcement statewide. The DUI checkpoint issue came up during a task force meeting, Lynch said.
The reason Lynch is asking the governor to intervene is that the state Constitution allows him to ask the Supreme Court to certify a question and issue an advisory opinion. Lynch offered his staff’s support to help the governor’s office submit the question. Much has changed in the relevant legal landscape, Lynch said, and there is “good reason to believe” that, given a chance, the court would uphold the constitutionality of DUI checkpoints, “consistent with the United States Supreme Court and the large majority of our sister state high courts.”
