Program Goals/Target Sites
In the early 1990s, nearly half of all traffic fatalities in Tennessee each year were alcohol related (Lacey et al. 1999). Based on the success of Australia’s random breath testing (RBT) program (Homel 1990), Tennessee in March 1994 implemented a yearlong statewide sobriety checkpoint program called Checkpoint Tennessee. The goal of the program was to deter impaired driving and reduce alcohol-related crashes.
This impaired driving enforcement approach was a joint effort involving the Tennessee Department of Transportation, the Governor’s Highway Safety Office (GHSO), the Department of Safety, the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP), and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). This approach included checkpoints that were conducted on weekends in all 95 Tennessee counties; typically, a county conducted 10 to 15 checkpoints annually. The objectives of the program were to arrest impaired drivers at checkpoints, to get them off the streets, and to spread the message of zero tolerance for drunk driving statewide.
There were concerns over implementing sobriety checkpoints with regard to potential increased resources and cost (Lacey et al. 1999); therefore, another objective of Checkpoint Tennessee was to illustrate that the program could reduce drunk-driving fatalities while using existing personnel resources.
Program Components
The Checkpoint Tennessee program used a law enforcement approach in which checkpoints were scheduled across the state for a 12-month period. Checkpoints were implemented by THP in coordination with local law enforcement agencies. Three checkpoints were set up in at least four counties throughout the state every weekend. “Weekend blitzes” were conducted on five weekends out of the year, with checkpoints conducted in all 95 counties of Tennessee. These took place on the first weekend of the program in April 1994; on the weekends of Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day; and at the end of the program, in March 1995.
At the checkpoints, all motorists were stopped to investigate for suspicion of impairment. If no evidence of impairment was found, they were given a pamphlet on driving under the influence and let go. If they were suspected of impairment, they were given further testing. Officers used several different types of equipment at checkpoints to detect driver impairment, including passive alcohol sensors in flashlights, video cameras, special lighting, cones, reflective vests, generators, signs, and floodlights. Passive alcohol sensors are flashlights with sensors to detect alcohol on the breath as the officer checks the eyes of the suspected drunken driver, and were an integral part of impairment testing at the checkpoints. All of these tools were used to gather evidence of impairment and determine probable cause to arrest impaired drivers. Standardized field sobriety tests were also used to detect impaired drivers.
Checkpoint Tennessee was heavily publicized in mass media outlets in the forms of TV, radio, and print public service announcements (PSAs), brochures, and billboards. Agreements were made with television stations to air the PSAs during primetime hours to maximize the impact of the message. Editorials were published in newspapers, discussing Checkpoint Tennessee and its goals. In addition, schedules for upcoming checkpoints were published in newspapers to make their presence known to the community. Billboards and radio ads were used to spread the message to motorists while they were driving; the billboards were placed on widely traveled highways in the state. Brochures outlining both the details of the program and the state’s drunk driving laws were distributed to the community, along with promotional materials, such as pens, pins, and cups.
Program Theory
A premise underlying the Checkpoint Tennessee program was that mass media outlets could have a strong influence on society (Lacey et al. 1999). Thus, advertising the program through media outlets was thought to increase awareness of the program and spread the message against impaired driving. Specifically, Checkpoint Tennessee operated on the idea that, if the program were advertised widely, people would be deterred from driving while impaired. Research finds that sobriety checkpoints can reduce the amount of alcohol-impaired driving and of deaths and injuries on the highway (Ross 1992).
