Citation

Katz B, Coffey P, Rakha H. Transp. Res. Rec. 2009; 2096: 98-101.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.3141/2096-13

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper documents a research project investigating the effects of various driving-while-intoxicated (DWI) checkpoint setup scenarios on overall traffic operations. According to NHTSA, 13,470 people were killed in alcohol-related crashes in 2006. Of the 13,470 fatalities, 64% involved drivers with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 or higher. For this reason, state and local police departments tend to conduct DWI checkpoints during the night, when police officers detain vehicles traveling on a roadway and interview drivers to determine suspicion of alcohol use. For planning and budgeting purposes, police departments need to be able to effectively plan a setup for DWI checkpoints. The goal of the project is to provide police departments with data and methodologies to analyze the impact of their checkpoints on traffic operations. Seven scenarios were investigated on the basis of interviews with several police departments: one officer stopping every vehicle, one officer stopping every second vehicle, one officer stopping every fifth vehicle, one officer stopping every tenth vehicle, two officers stopping every vehicle, four officers stopping every vehicle, and four officers stopping every second vehicle. Each scenario was varied to include 50, 100, 150, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, and 800 vehicles per hour (or vehicles per hour per lane) to obtain a wide range of limiting values after which DWI checkpoints would cause extraordinary amounts of delay. The paper includes the results for each scenario that can be used by police departments to recognize the potential impacts on vehicle delay.