COSTS AND BENEFITS OF A COMMUNITY SOBRIETY CHECKPOINT PROGRAM

Objective: Alcohol-involved crashes cost society mon than $100 billion a year. Sobriety checkpoints are effective in apprehending drunk driv ers. This article compares the costs and the estimated monetary benefi ts from a hypothetical community sobriety checkpoint program. Method: The analysis is constructed around a hypothetical community with 100,0 00 licensed drivers. A literature review suggests that a generously fu nded intensive checkpoint program (156 check points per year) can be e xpected to reduce alcohol-attributable crashes by about 15%. The benef its (cost savings) of the checkpoint program are calculated using 1993 alcohol-involved crash incidence from the National Highway Traffic Sa fety Administration. Costs per alcohol-involved crash and the percenta ge of alcohol-involved clashes attributable to alcohol an updated from published studies. Results: Estimated annual savings to the hypotheti cal community total $7.9 million. This includes $3.1 million for avert ed fatalities, $4.5 million for averted nonfatal injuries, and $0.3 mi llion for averted property damage. Every $1 spent on a sobriety checkp oint program can be expected to save the community more than $6, inclu ding $1.30 of insurer costs. Conclusions: An intensive sobriety checkp oint program can save a community more in automobile crash costs than the program costs.