How effective are DWI checkpoints?

DWI checkpoints can pop up anywhere. Louisiana State Police say they're effective in getting drunk drivers off the street.

"I think whether we arrest five, ten or zero people at these checkpoints, simply the fact that we're having them is a deterent, and it keeps people from making the wrong choice," says Trooper Matt Harris.

Troopers set up checkpoints where crashes have happened, and places where they're likely to happen. Every time troopers conduct a checkpoint, the point is to get drivers thinking about their actions.

"They know there's going to be a checkpoint, but they don't know where, so therefore, they're going to say, 'hey, you drive me tonight.' And they make the right choice."

State police say no matter how many drivers they get off of the road at a DWI checkpoint, an impact is till made.

Ronald Fletcher is one of the drivers that agrees. He encourages the use of checkpoints.

"I'm very much behind them," says Fletcher. "I think they should be more frequent."

In 2007, Fletcher was involved in a crash caused by drunk driving. He was actually the drunk driver.

"I made the two choices that would change my life forever," says Fletcher. "One was to get behind the wheel drunk, and the other not taking three seconds to reach over and click my seatbelt.

Fletcher spent time in the ICU with a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed. He says a checkpoint would've saved him from what he calls a mobile prison.

"It could've woke me up before to know, hey, you don't need to be taking these chances," says Fletcher. "You don't need to be behind the wheel you know."

Even though it's been five years since the life-changing crash, Fletcher says he stills lives with the aftermath of what a DWI checkpoint could've saved him from.

"I still live with it everyday, because i wake up with it and it doesn't go away," says Fletcher. "I wake up everyday, and i'm still in the same situation I put myself in by drinking and getting behind the wheel."