Posted on 11/25/2013 6:58:33 AM PST by Kaslin
I’ve been a Nay ever since my then-home state of Michigan first pulled this stunt in the 1980’s.
My grandfather knew a woman judge who had summarily tossed Pennsylvania’s attempt to do this on Constitutional grounds back in the 1950’s. We apparently became very mush-headed over the next thirty-five years or so.
I’m against them and the reason is simple: It’s how it makes me feel about my country and the relationship between myself and my government. I feel like a child and they are my parents.
However, as an American with strong knowledge of our nation’s history, I refuse to acknowledge such a paradigm.
Which causes the relationship to be adversarial.
the same advice the former prosecutor, now defense atty firearms instructor, said in my ccw legal class.
“Gads! It was a miracle that I wasn’t creamed! I can still to this day image that girls face looking down— lit with a blue glow— texting on her phone.”
The whore should be charged with attempted murder.
Well, yeah, I have tons of problems with that end of the situation as well (like picking a number that defines intoxication rather than requiring proof of impairment). My point, though, was that prohibiting drunk driving per se, as well as Constitutionally allowed tactics for preventing it, don’t violate my “right, as unrestricted as practical” view of driving.
“But then, are they trying to raise revenue, by ticketing people for other things besides DUI? Just wondering.”
I don’t think you have to wonder, just look at the number of DUI/drug/booze related infractions these things catch as opposed to insurance/vehicle safety/registration/license infractions. I know the local ones they have around here hardly ever catch DUI type impaired drivers but really pile all the other types of finable infractions.
Freegards
“My mother was T-Boned and crippled by a nimrod driving one-handed with a cell phone.”
The driver should be fed to hogs while still alive.
Those are all good questions, but wouldn’t it also be a good idea to have video and audio recording of all that is going on in and near your car at the same time and that recording being streamed to a remote location immediately?
It is not that hard to drive a car. If you are hyper focused on your driving at all times, you will get mental fatigue every 15 minutes or so.
Riding a motocycle is different. It is highly engaging as well, making it easier to stay focused.
My main point is that human beings are not machines and we make mistakes on a fairly regular basis. We also can not be set to a task like a machine and be expected to focus, machine-like on the task for extended periods (unlike the engine in a car that, if you continue to supply fuel, can run non-stop between oil changes.
Freedom involves taking some risk. The loss of freedom caused by sobriety checkpoints is a massive cost compared to the number of accidents prevented by their use. Notice I didn’t say the number of drunk drivers aprehended. It is because driving above the legal limit, especially just barely above, rarely results in an alcohol related accident.
"Horn broken, watch for finger."
Many years ago, when I was young, the county would set up roadblocks in both directions away from the beer joints as it approached midnight. They did a great business. I also noticed that certain bar/dancehalls never received this treatment, when I grew older I found that if you paid certain people you weren't bothered. I lived in a dry county when I was a kid and while helping a friend repair a car the county sheriff pulled up and parked next to us. Couple minutes later a local bootlegger pulled next to him and we witnessed the transfer of the booze,seized from another bootlegger the night before, from the cop's trunk to the bootleggers car and the transfer of cash to the cop. Same sheriff was later called out into the boonies ambushed and he and his car were set afire. No one was ever arrested or charged and this was over 40 years ago.
Another scam the cops in this area engage in is illegal-Mexican stops. They are easily identified as they drive ratty old cars and trucks and can barely see over the steering wheel and once they have been stopped whenever the cop needs to meet his quota they get pulled over. Why would they pull over these poor people? You would think they would have no money. Well you'd be wrong. They rent one apartment using a nice English speaking couple, and then 12 or 15 move in. They pool their money and live cheaply. Every week you will see in the local paper Hispanic names followed by charges of no drivers license and no insurance and the fine amount of usually 1200 bucks plus court costs. A few thousand here a few thousand there and soon it becomes real money.
These fines and other costs are used to pay make work jobs for relatives of local pols. Those that have some pull as we call it are never bothered with these pesky fines I know as a friend of mine was a local judge and saved my bacon on several occasions.
These scams started as well intentioned efforts to stop the needless slaughter of innocents but with the passage of time they become a criminal racket. These laws as well as drug laws go after people with a lot of money and so graft soon follows. These laws also attract the very kind of judges and cops we don't need. Corrupt men and women who will look the other way, and not just for the laws I have menitioned but more seroius ones, if the money is right. These things destroy the respect that people once had for the law and in my opinion do more harm than good.
Before you tell me that if it saves one life it is worth it etc., I will tell you that it results in many other lives lost and ruined in the criminal activity that comes with it.
And another thing: If it takes a sobriety checkpoint to catch you driving over the limit, maybe you are not too drunk to drive. Just a thought.
Why not just have the checks outside of bars?
just an fyi - you are under no obligation to answer anything - including your name
Sounds off topic, but it's very pertinent in border states like Texas, New Mexico....
Thousands of accidents caused by illegal aliens every year that are unlicensed and uninsured.
So, question...if we are no longer deporting illegals and they get stopped by DUI checkpoints, are we upholding the rule of law by not arresting, detaining and deporting?
Juss nother thought
It would, but given law enforcement’s propensity to “flip out” when they learn they’re being recorded, I’d personally think twice about it.
I stay off the roads during the hours they generally perform DUI checkpoints. If I ran into one of these during the day, I would be unnerved to the point that I’d likely do exactly as you prescribe.
Why not do a license and registration checkpoint looking for persons with outstanding warrants? Especially on election day?
One fishing expedition is as good as another. Except arresting people for outstanding warrants costs the city/county money whereas DWI taskforces rake in money for the courts, lawyers, insurance, and state. Yet still cops and judges and prosecutors drink and drive (not always prosecuted for it).
There are some who want to lower the BAC to 0.03. It’s about easier convictions, not fewer accidents. Blowing below 0.08 (the national standard forced by the federal government by the threat of withholding highway funds) will not “free” you. You may still be charged. Blowing above the number gives them evidence of being above 0.08 (provided the equipment is working properly and any blood test results have not been fraudulently manipulated as has been discovered around the country).
The founder of MADD left the group in the 1980s to lobby on behalf of breweries and bars. She never sought to bring back prohibition. She wanted accountability and prosecution for serious offense.
Congressman Steve King stated in his ‘Biting the Hand that Feeds You’ column that twenty-five Americans are KILLED every day by illegals...twelve by murder; thirteen via auto accidents.
In Texas the top donors to either party are lawyers. They just happen to give predominantly to the Democrat party (and make up something like 8 of the top 10 donors).
And if you get in trouble, the judge and prosecutor are going to want to speak to a lawyer, not you.
I wouldn't be surprised to see divorce lawyers pushing for same sex marriage either.
If you know you need to drive, then don't drink.
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