National Motorist Association: A Case Study

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The website, roadblock.org, is owned and operated by the National Motorist Association. The association is an alliance of motorists that purport to protect motorist rights in the courts.

According to the website, the National Motorists Association works for “more reasonable speed limits and fight for better driver training, fair enforcement practices and important privacy protections”. After reviewing the site, it is clear that the organization believes that roadblocks should never be conducted except to warn drivers of hazards that exist. In the interest of clarity, I will attempt to briefly discuss points raised by roadblock.org.

Roadblock.org believes that checkpoints are an arbitrary search of persons traveling on the roadways which
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The court in Michigan Department of State Police v. Sitz (496 U.S. 444 [1990]) decided that in the interest of public safety a sobriety road check was constitutional, and the state had an obligation to prevent drunken driving. The court noted that the inconvenience or intrusion to motorists is slight when balanced to the public interest. The checkpoints are not performed in an arbitrary manner as they must be conducted in accordance with written guidelines set for the location and every driver is stopped thus taking the arbitrariness or discretion on whom to stop. Regarding the organizations objections to seat belt or safety check, courts have recognized that random stops of automobiles cannot be conducted as motorists still enjoy a “reasonable expectation of privacy” but the court in Delaware v. Prouse (440 U.S. 648 [1979]) held that if restriction are placed on officer discretion through written guidelines, i.e. every 10th, 15th car stopped, the checkpoint would conform to court