Our Supreme Court has already approved of stopping vehicles at a police checkpoint, with no suspicion of wrongdoing, to check for impaired drivers, or even to simply check for a valid license. You may not be aware that the innocent traveling public is also subject to being directed off the road by police or other government officials at random to participate in a “survey” to establish statistics on impaired driving.
Under the auspices of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there is a program in dozens of cities across the country where officials randomly select vehicles to stop and request “voluntary” participation. The goal is to determine, through breath tests or blood and saliva samples, what percentage of drivers are impaired by alcohol, drugs or prescription medication.
The National Roadside Survey of Alcohol and Drugged Driving has been criticized in many circles, and even challenged by at least one lawsuit by an aggrieved driver.