Like several other motorists stopped at this roadblock, which was aimed at nabbing drivers with a suspended license, Carson said she didn't mind the unexpected detour.
"In the short term it's a hassle," said the 58-year-old homemaker. "But ultimately it may prevent someone from ramming into you at 90 miles per hour with a suspended license."
In four hours, the law enforcement effort netted just two arrests of suspended drivers. But Cumberland County Sheriff Mark Dion said the value of such roadblocks can't be measured in arrests alone. More than 400 motorists were stopped, and each drove away with a greater understanding of the suspended-driver problem.
"We need to create an environment of responsibility," Dion explained.
The early morning roadblock at Raymond Beach was an example of how authorities hope to raise awareness about the perils of driving with a suspended license. When suspended drivers are involved in crashes, people are much more likely to be seriously injured or killed than when licensed drivers are involved, according to an analysis of statewide crash data by the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram.
Education of the law-abiding public -- whether through police roadblocks, grass-roots organizing or advertising campaigns -- is seen as crucial because there are no simple solutions to the suspend-driver problem. Strict police enforcement can make a difference, but there will never be an officer at every intersection.
Even officials who think the state needs to enact harsher penalties acknowledge that tough laws, such as those requiring mandatory minimum prison sentences, won't deter the most recalcitrant scofflaws.
Although public awareness has improved in recent years, officials say there's still a long way to go.
"They just don't care," said Don Cookson, spokesman for the Maine Secretary of State's Office, referring to chronic drivers with suspended licenses. "Whether they are legally licensed to drive or not has no relationship to their decision to drive a motor vehicle or not."
Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap compared traffic deaths caused by suspended drivers to hunting fatalities, which have fallen in Maine as more hunters have begun attending safety courses.
"So, education is not just a cop-out. It does work," said Dunlap, whose department includes the Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
Added Dion: "Twenty-five years ago, everyone winked and nodded to the drunk driver."
Indeed, the history of the movement against drunken driving in the United States provides a useful comparison for understanding today's suspended-driver problem.
In the early 1980s, there were about 25,000 alcohol-related fatalities per year on American roads. By the mid-1990s, that number had fallen to around 17,000 deaths per year, where it has since leveled off.
What happened in the 1980s and early 1990s was recounted in a 1994 essay by sociologist John McCarthy, who studies social movements and is currently on the faculty at Penn State University.
Starting in the 1970s, he found, government officials were striving to raise awareness about the dangers posed by drunken drivers. But it wasn't until the 1980s, after Mothers Against Drunk Driving was founded, that the issue began to get widespread attention in the news media. McCarthy concluded that traffic-safety officials were only able to get their message across to the public after a grass-roots movement emerged to put a human face on the issue.
Today, as with drunken driving in the 1970s, the suspended-driver problem has yet to become entrenched in the public consciousness.
"If you look around, there is no group for folks whose husbands, wives, sons and daughters have been killed by people who drive without a valid license," said Bob Scopatz, a traffic safety...
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