[beerocd]

Cops are just doing their job. No sense in giving them a hard time. I know you like to pay respects to our soldiers risking their lives over seas, and I appreciate that. Just remember cops (and firefighters) risk their lives here.

Big difference!!!  The soldiers are risking their lives to protect my freedom. The cops, in this case, are taking it away.

It's all about generating revenue for the city.

Really? So there are no murders, rapists, thieves, vandals or burglars in your area! Cool!

Not in my car there aren't.
I rarely drink outside of walking distance from the house.
And we're all FOR the roadblocks so long as there not along our path.

[Mikey]

Cops are just doing their job. No sense in giving them a hard time. I know you like to pay respects to our soldiers risking their lives over seas, and I appreciate that. Just remember cops (and firefighters) risk their lives here.

Big difference!!!  The soldiers are risking their lives to protect my freedom. The cops, in this case, are taking it away.

It's all about generating revenue for the city.

Really? So there are no murders, rapists, thieves, vandals or burglars in your area! Cool!

Another of your random quotes, but yes, there are and that's who they should be trying to stop instead of just hassling innocent people at check points.

[majorvices]

As I have said before, I certainly don't like check points. I also think the DUI limits are too strict. But when you see how drastic the drop in DUI related deaths are over the last 20 years you realize they are necessary evils. You may change your tune if you are ever T boned by a drunk driver or if you ever have a family member killed.  I believe that police officers should be treated with respect whether you are at a checkpoint or being pulled over or whatever (as long as they are treating the citizen with respect as well). They risk their lives for minimal pay to serve the community. If you can't follow that logic ... well ... I don't have anything else to say to try and convince you.

[dirk_mclargehuge]

I just read an interesting article in Reason Magazine.  When the Feds forced the states to go to a 0.08% BAC, alcohol related accidents went up, after a 20 year decline.  A UC Berekley study found "1,600 sobriety checkpoints in California generated $40 million in fines, $30 million in overtime pay for cops, 24,000 vehicle confiscations, and just 3,200 arrests for drunk driving. A typical nightly checkpoint would divert 20 or more cops from other tasks while yielding a dozen or more vehicle confiscations but only about three drunk driving arrests."

In Texas, refusing a breath test gets you a blood test.  Refusing that gets you the shoe leather express when they take your license away.  

I don't have a problem with police arresting someone they see driving impaired.  I have a problem with the police stopping everyone on a street to see if they are impaired.  Stopping everyone on a the street, to me, is a violation of the Fourth Amendment.  

But we've signed away our rights.  What's one more to throw on the scrap heap?

[Mikey]

I just read an interesting article in Reason Magazine.  When the Feds forced the states to go to a 0.08% BAC, alcohol related accidents went up, after a 20 year decline.  A UC Berekley study found "1,600 sobriety checkpoints in California generated $40 million in fines, $30 million in overtime pay for cops, 24,000 vehicle confiscations, and just 3,200 arrests for drunk driving. A typical nightly checkpoint would divert 20 or more cops from other tasks while yielding a dozen or more vehicle confiscations but only about three drunk driving arrests."

In Texas, refusing a breath test gets you a blood test.  Refusing that gets you the shoe leather express when they take your license away.  

I don't have a problem with police arresting someone they see driving impaired.  I have a problem with the police stopping everyone on a street to see if they are impaired.  Stopping everyone on a the street, to me, is a violation of the Fourth Amendment.  

But we've signed away our rights.  What's one more to throw on the scrap heap?

As I said, checkpoints are just another way of making money for the city in the interest of "preventing" drunk driving. Want to really stop most all drunk driving? Make all alcohol illegal. Those of your that aren't worried about your freedoms should embrace this. Oh, and be sure to remove the lock on your doors so the police can come check out the contents of your fridge anytime they want to.

[uthristy]

Cops are just doing their job. No sense in giving them a hard time. I know you like to pay respects to our soldiers risking their lives over seas, and I appreciate that. Just remember cops (and firefighters) risk their lives here.

Bull$hit, go dig up my post from morebeer, about getting stop almost every week while driving to work often by the same cops.

Heres some more cops just doing their jobs>
>Volusia County Sheriff Bob Vogel
http://www.zoominfo.com/people/Vogel_Bob_33297530.aspx
http://www.erowid.org/freedom/law/forfeiture/forfeiture_media4.shtml

< Daytona Beach. In June 1992, the Orlando Sentinel revealed that Volusia County Sheriff Bob Vogel had created a special police drug squad which preyed upon thousands of innocent motorists driving on U.S. Interstate 95. Operating under a broadly written Florida law allowing police seizure of cash and property based on probable cause without arrests in suspected felony cases, the police engaged in pure highway robbery.

Police conduct was guided by no written rules and reviewed only by the sheriff, who controlled all funds confiscated. Any motorists stopped who had $100 or more in cash were assumed to be a drug trafficker, and their money was taken. From 1989 until the bad publicity in 1992, the squad seized more than $8 million in cash from motorists, mostly blacks and Latinos, and in only four cases did the innocent owners get all their money back. >

<The Orlando Sentinel noted, “Deputies routinely said bills in denominations of $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100 were suspicious because they are typical of what dealers carry. But that leaves few alternatives for others. >
-------------------
That was my daily life, so along with the help of my lawyer (former state prosecutor) learned how to handle the roadside problem.

So now I standup for myself at every stop, not be a dick but its my rights as a American. My last traffic stop was 3yrs ago for speeding and talked my way out of the ticket--less than 7mph over.

You may change your tune if you are ever T boned by a drunk driver or if you ever have a family member killed.

Again this came up @ morebeer,  been there done that, and since then another couple  was killed leaving a young girl behind.
But  stopping everybody is the exact same as guilty till proven innocent.

Gee sounds just like TSA, suspect everybody as terrorist - if you have nothing to hide than you'll submit....

[majorvices]

I just read an interesting article in Reason Magazine.  When the Feds forced the states to go to a 0.08% BAC, alcohol related accidents went up, after a 20 year decline.  A UC Berekley study found "1,600 sobriety checkpoints in California generated $40 million in fines, $30 million in overtime pay for cops, 24,000 vehicle confiscations, and just 3,200 arrests for drunk driving. A typical nightly checkpoint would divert 20 or more cops from other tasks while yielding a dozen or more vehicle confiscations but only about three drunk driving arrests."

I'm not saying that this is incorrect - but I sure would like to see the study in question. All of the reports I have seen on the actual number of DUI related deaths have gone down, not up. This is the only thing that has convinced me that the DUI checkpoints and absurdly low blood alc/vol. are in any way, shape or form legitimate.

[uthristy]

Scary how much people are willing to give up for the false illusion of safety.

If we wanted to limit drunks on the roads we could take a page from some of the EU countries, but that'll never happen.

[bluesman]

This is a tough issue. If I knew without a doubt that DUI checkpoints saved lives, I would subscribe. How is one to know? Statistics...maybe. I see alot of paralells between this and the TSA checkpoints.

There has to be a better way.

[MDixon]

I guess I'm not following why a license check is a problem. They have done them in NC since way before I started driving and I've been tooling around legally for almost 28 years. It's not about treating everyone as a criminal, it's about getting those who are in violation.

Don't forget DUI/DWI is about more than alcohol, it could be drugs - illegal or otherwise.

 - -

OTOH - Florida has always been a speed trap.

[denny]

There is another way. People take the responsibility not to drive impaired. Then this discussion wouldn't exist.

This is true here and of so many things...if only there was personal responsibility.  Of course, we're dealing with humans here.

[beerocd]

Scary how much people are willing to give up for the false illusion of safety.

If we wanted to limit drunks on the roads we could take a page from some of the EU countries, but that'll never happen.

What's the EU method? Raise gas prices to $4/litre? That way you could only afford to drink OR drive.

[MDixon]

Some have ZERO tolerance. Drive drunk, never be licensed again...period.

EDIT - I should point out I do not know that for certain, but have been told that before.

[Kaiser]

One aspect, that may contribute to drunk driving in the US, is the fact that the personal car is for many the only means of transportation to and from their watering hole. In Europe settlements tend to be less spread out and public transportation is much more widely available.

This is one thing I noticed when I came to the US. Getting drunk away from home meant that I have to make arrangements for someone to drive me or plan to sober up on the hosts couch.

Kai

[corkybstewart]

There used to be a roadblock set up pretty often at the end of my street.  It was strategically placed so that no VIP's from town would get busted, only us poor suckers who lived out of the city limits.  My neighbor went through it one night in front of us.  He was so drunk he couldn't stand up but he didn't get caught.  A cop at the roadblock told me that setting up near bars is entrapment, but out in the boonies we're fair game.  I also asked him how effective it was and he told me they had issued a couple dozen citations that night and mad a few arrests, but they were all for outstanding warrants and such.  So in other words theses roadblocks are PR stunts to show how diligently law enforcement is protecting  us.
Kaiser, the reason I do 99% of my drinking at home is that there is on real public transportation in my town, a situation faced by a very high percentage of Americans