DUI checkpoints help deter drunk driving, CHP says
Saturday, December 10, 2005 1:06 AM PST

California Highway Patrol officer Jack Moser tests Rodger Greenwell at a DUI checkpoint on Trancas St. between Soscal Ave. and Silverado Trail Saturday night. Greenwell, in town from San Diego to celebrate his birthday, had a drink earlier in the day but passed the field sobriety test. Jorgen Gulliksen/Register
It's a cold Saturday evening and Kathleen Rhoades and her husband Roger Nelson are driving west along Trancas Street in search of a restaurant.

The couple has just returned from delivering an injured owl to an animal hospital on Silverado Trail and has hit a snag: a sobriety checkpoint set up by California Highway Patrol officers.

Slowly, they make their way through the line of cars backed up on Trancas Street, a little past Silverado Trail, and are asked to pull their car to the side of the road to take a series of field sobriety tests. For Rhoades, it was the first time she's been asked to take such tests.

"It's kind of scary," she said. "I was nervous."


But despite a bit of nervousness about taking the tests -- some of which included touching her thumb to each of her fingers, balancing herself on one leg, patting and twisting her hands together, and breathing into a preliminary testing device that measured blood alcohol content -- Rhoades passed the exams and was sent on her way.

Nearly 800 cars passed through the checkpoint on the first Saturday of December and Rhoades was one of the 16 motorists given sobriety tests that evening. Of those, four were arrested for DUI. But for Rhoades and other motorists, including Roger Greenwell of San Diego, getting out of their warm vehicles and stepping into the cold to do field sobriety tests was a minor inconvenience.

"I think it's important that you have this checkpoint, especially in this region where wine is common," Greenwell said. "Having never done this before, it was kind of strange experience."

"I think it helps save lives because during the holidays there are a lot of people driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol," Rhoades said.

Both drivers agreed that having to take the tests was a small price to pay to make the roads a bit safer. And that's what CHP officials say the checkpoint is all about.

Officer Gerald Rico, a 25-year veteran of the CHP, said sobriety checkpoints help weed out drivers who have had too much to drink.

"It's a process of elimination," he said.

Rico pointed out that more drunk drivers are on the roads during the holidays because of holiday parties, festivities and gatherings, making it a good time to do checkpoints. Officers chose the location of the checkpoint based on the number of alcohol-related accidents on Silverado Trail and Highway 121 and the high probability that motorists traveling on those roads will have to drive west on Trancas Street to get back into Napa, Rico said.

Who gets stopped?

So how does the CHP decide who to stop and give sobriety tests to?

According to Rico, officers rely on their sense of smell and sight and if a motorist answers yes when asked if they've had anything to drink that day. If an officer catches a whiff of alcohol emanating from the driver, or if the driver exhibits signs of being drunk, they ask them to pull to the side for testing. Additionally, if the driver has had something to drink during the day, they are checked.

Officer Jack Moser explained it to the Greenwell family when they asked him if a motorists would still be stopped if they'd been drinking earlier in the day, several hours before driving through the checkpoint.

"I like to play it safe," he told them, adding that he would check them out.

Motorists aren't required by law to take field sobriety tests, but they are required to take breathalyzer or blood tests to determine if they are DUI. Enough probable cause must be present in order to administer either a breathalyzer or blood test, and using field sobriety tests helps officers determine if there is enough probable cause.

At CHP DUI checkpoints, the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable search and seizures, is heavily considered. Rico said the only thing they are looking for are DUIs. But should a driver fail a breathalyzer or blood test, it opens them up for police scrutiny, Rico said.

Motorists last week had the option to avoid the checkpoint. Officers posted signs along Trancas Street warning them of the oncoming checkpoint. When motorists turn their cars around, Rico said, officers don't go after them unless they exhibit signs of being under the influence.

According to Mark Boessenecker, Napa County chief deputy district attorney, using sobriety checkpoints is a legal way for law enforcement to get drunk drivers off the street.

"DUI checkpoints have been sanctioned by the courts in California since about 1987," he said. "It's a California Supreme Court case which found they were an appropriate way of deterring impaired drivers. Subsequently it went to the Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court resolved the issue in favor of sobriety checkpoints. They are constitutional and ... it's been law for 18 years."

He said the Napa County District Attorney's office has no problems with DUI cases or citations issued at sobriety checkpoints.

"My sense is the people serving on juries in Napa County are acutely aware of the dangers of drinking and driving," he said. "We have a fairly significant issue that we have to deal with in terms of traffic fatalities."

But at the same time, Napa County doesn't have as many alcohol-related traffic fatalities as neighboring Sonoma County, which Napa's CHP division helps patrol, Rico said.

For the most part, all motorists checked during inspections were not DUI. Others, such as 61-year-old Peter McCrone Dunsmuir, of Napa, were not so lucky.

Dunsmuir was the first person of the evening to get arrested on suspicion of DUI. After Dunsmuir completed field sobriety tests, CHP officer Bill Brewer told him "Mr. Dunsmuir, I have some bad news." Hearing this, Dunsmuir turned around and put his hands together behind his back. Brewer then took Dunsmuir to jail to take a blood test that would determine his blood alcohol level.

Also, one of the motorists Saturday was cited for driving without a license, after officers witnessed him switching from the driver's seat of the vehicle to the passenger seat while waiting in the checkpoint.