How Arizona DUI Checkpoints Work

On certain weekends and holidays, Arizona drivers may roll up to a line of cones, flashing lights, and officers waving cars through one by one. That is a DUI checkpoint — also called a sobriety checkpoint — and it is one of the few situations where police can stop drivers without suspecting any individual of wrongdoing.

Checkpoints are legal in Arizona. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the concept decades ago, and Arizona courts have followed suit, but with conditions. To pass constitutional muster, a checkpoint must be planned in advance by supervisors rather than set up on an officer's whim, use a neutral formula for stopping vehicles — every car, or every third or fifth car, for example — and keep each detention brief. The location must be chosen based on data like DUI crash history, the operation must be run safely with proper lighting and signage, and the intrusion on each driver should be minimal.

In practice, the stop is short. An officer typically asks for license and registration, looks and listens for signs of impairment, and waves most drivers through in under a minute. If the officer observes something — the odor of alcohol, slurred speech, an admission of drinking — that observation can turn the brief stop into a full DUI investigation with field sobriety tests and a possible arrest. Drivers are legally permitted to turn off or take another route to avoid a checkpoint, as long as the maneuver itself is lawful; an illegal U-turn to dodge the cones creates its own problem.

Checkpoints differ from saturation patrols, where extra officers roam an area looking for impaired drivers. Both surge around holidays known for heavy drinking, and both are usually announced in advance — publicity is part of the deterrence strategy and, not coincidentally, part of what makes checkpoints constitutional.

Knowing how checkpoints are supposed to work helps drivers understand what is happening at the cones. Find a qualified attorney at Justice Lookup.

Related reading: How Arizona DUI Checkpoints Work

This article is general information, not legal advice. It does not create an attorney-client relationship.