Every year, alcohol-impaired driving contributes to thousands of preventable crashes, injuries, and deaths across the United States. While laws against impaired driving are well established, the effectiveness of those laws often depends on how strongly local law enforcement agencies prioritize enforcement efforts. A recent nationwide study provides valuable insight into how police and sheriff agencies approach impaired driving enforcement and what strategies they use to keep roads safer.
Enforcement Priorities
Researchers surveyed 1,024 police and sheriff agencies across the United States to understand how agencies prioritize alcohol-impaired driving enforcement and whether that priority influences enforcement activity. The study found that approximately 68% of agencies considered impaired driving enforcement a high priority compared to other public safety concerns. Agencies that ranked impaired driving enforcement as a high priority were more likely to implement a range of enforcement strategies designed to deter impaired driving and reduce alcohol-related harm.
What Enforcement Strategies Are Being Used?
The study examined several common impaired driving enforcement approaches:
- Saturation patrols, where additional officers are assigned to targeted areas during high-risk times.
- Sobriety checkpoints, which allow officers to identify impaired drivers at designated locations.
- Open container law enforcement, targeting violations involving alcohol containers in vehicles.
- Advanced officer training, including programs that help officers recognize signs of alcohol impairment.
Saturation patrols were the most widely used strategy. Nearly 80% of agencies reported conducting saturation patrols in the previous year, while less than half reported using sobriety checkpoints. Open container enforcement was conducted by 58% of agencies, and nearly all agencies reported providing advanced impairment detection training to officers.
Priority Drives Action
One of the study’s most important findings was the strong relationship between agency priorities and enforcement activity. Compared with agencies that gave impaired driving lower priority, agencies with high priority were more likely to:
- Conduct any impaired driving enforcement activities.
- Use sobriety checkpoints.
- Deploy saturation patrols more frequently.
- Enforce open container laws.
- Ensure officers received advanced impairment-recognition training.
- Collaborate with local media to publicize enforcement efforts.
When drivers believe they are more likely to be stopped, tested, or arrested for impaired driving, they may be less likely to get behind the wheel after drinking.
Opportunities for Improvement
Despite the encouraging results, the study identified important gaps. Even among agencies that considered impaired driving enforcement a high priority:
- About half did not conduct sobriety checkpoints.
- More than one-third did not enforce open container laws.
- Almost one in five did not conduct saturation patrols.
These findings suggest that prioritization alone is not enough. Resource limitations, staffing challenges, legal restrictions, and public safety demands may prevent agencies from fully implementing proven enforcement strategies.
The Role of Specialized Resources
The researchers also found that agencies with a dedicated alcohol enforcement officer or an alcohol-focused division were more likely to prioritize impaired driving enforcement. Investment in officer training emerged as another positive finding. Nearly all agencies reported providing advanced training in recognizing impairment, but only about one-third indicated that all officers received such training.
Looking Ahead
Alcohol-impaired driving remains a major public health challenge, claiming more than 10,000 lives annually in the United States, according to data cited in the study. Researchers concluded that encouraging agencies to make impaired driving enforcement a higher priority may increase the use of effective enforcement strategies and ultimately help reduce alcohol-related crashes and fatalities.
Source:
Scholz, N., Lenk, K. M., Erickson, D. J., Toomey, T. L., Jones-Webb, R., & Nelson, T. F. (2023). Alcohol-impaired driving enforcement priorities and strategies in a nationwide sample of U.S. law enforcement agencies. Traffic Injury Prevention, 24(1), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1080/15389588.2022.2150049
