Are DUI holiday checkpoints allowed in Texas? What law enforcement agencies can do

The end-of-year holiday season has historically been promoted as a time of gathering, fellowship and food.

Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve particularly invite — and often encourage — people to indulge in alcoholic beverages while with family and friends.

That means there is likely to be an abundance of intoxicated drivers on the roads and highways, which presents a danger to motorists and pedestrians alike.

The National Safety Council identified Thanksgiving and Christmas as two of the seven deadliest holidays for traffic fatalities.

In 2023, the agency estimated that there were 507 road-related fatalities on Thanksgiving, 345 on Christmas, and 408 on New Year’s Day across the U.S.

Dallas, according to the National Safety Council, “experienced a notably higher volume of fatal crashes” during Thanksgiving than other holidays, with 24 from 2017-2021, the second most total of any major city in that period.

California-based Curtis Legal Group suggested that “the most common reason” there are more wrecks is “alcohol use.”

With such grim statistics and analysis, law enforcement agencies often establish sobriety checkpoints randomly as a proactive tool to reduce drunken driving accidents and fatalities.

Are there DUI checkpoints in Texas?

In Texas, law enforcement agencies are legally prohibited from performing sobriety checkpoints to identify drivers who may be under the influence. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled in 1991 that checkpoints were unlawful in the state.

Texas courts have also held that DWI checkpoints falls within Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution of Texas that states every person has the right to be protected from unreasonable searches and seizures.

Instead, state law clearly states that officers must have reasonable suspicion of impairment before conducting a traffic stop and performing a field sobriety test.

Though each state can determine whether law enforcement agencies can implement sobriety checkpoints, Texas has chosen not to. To work around the law, police often rely on other strategies to curb drunk drivers, such as increased patrols.

Is Texas the only state that doesn’t allow DUI checkpoints?

These 10 U.S. states, in addition to Texas, do not allow the checkpoints:

• Alaska
• Idaho
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Montana, but by statute, safety check roadblocks are possible
• Oregon
• Rhode Island
• Texas
• Washington
• Wyoming