Defendant was stopped at a driver’s license check roadblock which found him DWI, and he was indicted as an habitual DWI offender. The state proved a compelling state interest in setting up this DL roadblock because nearly 14% of all fatal crashes in the state involved drivers with no valid DL. State v. Monk, 2012 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 1022 (December 12, 2012):
The Hicks Court held that the "presence of a sufficiently compelling interest is necessary under Article I, section 7 before an examination of the other aspects of a roadblock may proceed." Hicks, 55 S.W.3d at 527. As we earlier noted, the State may not merely rely on its general interest in maintaining highway safety. Id. at 530. It must produce "some proof of the need to curb a substantial and imminent threat to the safety of motorists on public roads distinctly resulting from the conduct of unlicensed drivers.
The State provided statistics indicating that 13.9% of all fatal crashes statewide in 2008 involved drivers with revoked licenses, suspended licenses, or no license. Additional statistics revealed that 25.8% of the drivers involved in accidents between 2005 and 2009 in Sullivan County were charged with driver's license related charges. The Defendant complains that the State did not break down the charges to categories indicating if the driver was cited for driving on a revoked license, driving on a suspended license, or, as is the case here, driving after being declared a Habitual Motor Vehicle Offender. We do not think this distinction undermines the proof that approximately one fourth of the accidents in Sullivan County involved unlicensed drivers. The State has provided statistics in support of its contention that the roadblock is related to maintaining highway safety. These statistics provide individualized suspicion and support the conclusion that unlicensed drivers are an imminent threat to the safety of motorists on the public roads in Tennessee and, specifically, in Sullivan County. We conclude that the record does not preponderate against the trial court's finding that the State demonstrated a sufficiently grave public concern.
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