Texas Senate Approves Sobriety Checkpoints Legislation

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Texas, which has more alcohol-related traffic deaths than any other state, would allow police to set up sobriety roadblocks and force more drunk-driving suspects to give blood or breath samples under legislation approved in the state Senate Monday.

The bill allowing police checkpoints in large counties and cities passed the Senate 20-11 Monday. The chamber unanimously passed separate legislation aimed at forcing compliance from motorists who initially refuse to give breath samples when police suspect they’re intoxicated.

Both bills still have hurdles to overcome, including passage in the House, before becoming law.

Texas is one of only 11 states that does not allow sobriety checkpoints, according to a Senate analysis. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that checkpoints are constitutional but haven’t been allowed in Texas since 1994. That’s when a state court ruled they violated the Texas Constitution because there were no statewide guidelines.

The author of the sobriety checkpoints legislation, Republican Sen. John Carona of Dallas, said the bill would make the roads safer while protecting civil liberties.

“We’re not taking anyone’s rights away,” Carona said. “We’re trying to ensure that my right and your right to drive safely on the roadway and be protected from drunk drivers is preserved.”

Under his bill, SB298, only the police in counties with a population of 250,000 or more, and cities with a population of 500,000 or more, would be allowed to set up roadblocks to check for drunk drivers.

The bill would also exempt federal highways and interstates, bridges, causeways and roads that serve as a single route into and out of a designated area, such as the one used to access South Padre Island, officials said.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Texas’ 1,292 deaths in alcohol-related crashes in 2007 were the most in the nation. Another 30,000 were injured.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving, police agencies and many local government associations support creating sobriety checkpoints. But civil libertarians and criminal defense attorneys say sobriety checkpoints are ineffective, promote racial profiling and treat innocent people like criminals.

Under the legislation, police would be required to consider the number of drunken driving arrests and accidents in an area the previous year. And checkpoints would have to be chosen without regard to the ethnic or economic makeup of an area. Police would also be required to announce the checkpoints in advance.

Still, Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, said the legislation would give too much power to law enforcement by removing the requirement that there be “probable cause” before motorists are stopped.

“Every law-abiding Texan could now be forced to stop and have contact with a police agency,” Whitmire said. “If you’re minding your own business you ought not be bothered.”

Earlier Monday, the Senate passed a bill giving law enforcement more latitude in forcing motorists to submit to breath or blood tests. Currently, half of all Texans arrested for Driving While Intoxicated refuse a breathalyzer test, according to a Senate analysis.

Under a bill by Sen. Bob Deuell, R-Greenville, police could take a breath or blood sample if the officer believes that the person caused a serious accident, was driving drunk while transporting a child or has evidence that the person had two prior DWI convictions.

By JAY ROOT, Associated Press Writer

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)