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In 1990 the US Supreme court decided sobriety checkpoints were legal as long as specific standards made them uniform.

KHOU - TV

Since then 40 states have adopted checkpoint programs.

Texas has not come up with such standards so they’re not used here but now, state lawmakers are working on a plan to bring them back.

Andrea Schmauss with Mothers Against Drunk Driving says checkpoints are primarily a deterrent. Designed not just to catch drunk drivers—but also persuade people not to drink and drive in the first place. “People hear about them they think twice about getting behind the wheel of a car, they get a designated driver they may drink at home.”

In 2004 1,642 people died in alcohol-related crashes in Texas.

And police connected alcohol to 46 percent of all deadly crashes that year.

And studies show checkpoints can reduce alcohol related crashes by 20 percent.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office says it would consider using checkpoints if lawmakers approved that bill.

The Texas Senate was scheduled to vote on it Wednesday but at the last minute supporters there pulled it down, because some there believe it does not have the votes to pass.

“The issue is can you stop someone for no other reason soley than the fact that they are driving a car on the streets of Houston and the answer to that for the American people and for freedom should be no,” said Randall Kallinen with the American Rights Association.

Whether they are effective or not opponents of sobriety checkpoints say it constitutes an unreasonable search of drivers who would otherwise never have been pulled over.

And for now in the legislature it appears that argument has prevailed.