Poo on Drunk Driving Checkpoints
Thank you, James Bovard, for your commentary on drunk driving checkpoints. More probably needs to be said, but it's good to see I'm not alone in my contempt for those things.
Some of you older folks might remember the old vehicle inspection stops the California Highway Patrol used to run here in California. They stopped doing them quite a few years ago. I believe it was because of some court decision. Too bad they couldn't apply that decision to the drunk driving checkpoints.
What they'd do is set up a checkpoint somewhere. Unlike the drunk driving checkpoints, these were unannounced and set up somewhere you wouldn't see them until it was too late to avoid them. They'd wave you to the side of the road and check your vehicle for mechanical flaws: Horn, turn signals, tires and so on. They'd give you a fix- it ticket for anything they found wrong.
Last one I ran in to was on Myrtle Avenue in Eureka, out in front of the PG&E office. I was driving east coming up off Old Arcata Road, turned the corner and there it was. Too late to avoid it. Don't remember if they found anything wrong with my car that time, or not. Seems they usually did.
Regardless, I hated those things then and continued to hate the vehicle inspection stops long after they stopped doing them. Now, if only the courts could get around to ending the drunk driving checkpoints.
posted by Fred Mangels @ 8:35 AM
64 comments
64 Comments:
I got caught in one of those in Fortuna. Why would any responsible car owner object to having the State of California assure itself that his or her vehicle was in safe working order?
Say someone's brakes don't work very well, and the owner is putting off having brake job because he or she think something in his or her budget is more important than being able to avoid running into other cars or pedestrians.
Wouldn't it be a good thing for the CHP to find the problem and require that it be fixed before somebody got run down?
Oh, Wait! That's not the Libertarian Way. Nevermind.
9:22AM is the king of the straw man ploy and is the same lame jerk (authoritarian) that likes to "respond" to pogo.
"Oh, Wait! That's not the Libertarian Way.".
Correct. Being stopped by police without probable cause is not the libertarian way.
"Say someone's brakes don't work very well,...".
They checked break lights, not brakes. There would be no way for them to know your brakes didn't work, unless you were unable to stop for the vehicle inspection.
The abuse of "stop and Harass" on Kalifornia highways continues but is now more cost effective. Ever wonder the rationale for the many millions of dollars spent in expansion of the CHP "weigh stations" such as the one at Cottonwood on I-5? The harassment has been shifted from the ordinary motorist to commercial vehicle operators and the typical "citation" results in more than $1,000.00 in penalties. The reason is not "highway safety" but revenue. Commercial operators cannot turn a profit with unsafe vehicles that cause accidents but must endure costly delays while CHP "technicians" inspect their vehicles for the most minute flaws. Agencies that obtain special permits for oversize loads nationwide refuse to provide them for Kalifornia only. I hauled a permitted load from Florida to Willow Creek and transited 7 states with no problem. Upon entering the CHP weigh station at Tehachapi the officer at the scales went into orbit. He demanded documentation of registration with the Calif. PUC even though the load consisted of personal property and not for hire as well as possession of a class 1 (for hire) operators license. This encounter resulted in an interview with his SUPERVISOR who admitted to me that he was "unfamiliar with the law". The encounter resulted a 12 hour delay but no citation. Welcome to the wonderful Kalifornia Peoples Republic. Your papers please.
I'd really presume that stops like the ones you refer to are against the law.But with the Patriot Act,I wouldn't bet on it.
And,you probably have to be stopped yourself in order to file a complaint.One in which I can't imagine would move very quickly.
Thank God for traffic stops. Only drunks and people who drive with drugs in the car are against them.
Thank God for traffic stops. Only drunks and people who drive with drugs in the car are against them.
This is a natural response to this post. I give Fred more credit though. This issue will tear apart a group, because the comparison to a Police State will trouble the Libertarian. However, how do we combat drunk drivers without endangering liberties?
-boy
11:14 wrote, "Thank God for traffic stops....".
These aren't traffic stops, in the normal sense, since no violation of traffic laws has occurred.
Boy asks, "how do we combat drunk drivers without endangering liberties?...".
You pull over a motorist after you've noticed driving behavior that gives you probable cause to believe the driver might be impaired.
Yeah Fred I agree! When I'm shitfaced and out and about, like you, I hate it when people try to stop me! Nobody will stop us Fred! We are forces of nature! Yeee-Haaaawwwww!!!
Freedom!!!! Freedom!!!! You and I are the same Fred!!! We love FREEDOM!!! Watch out Eureka I'm about to go on a beer run!!!!!! Yeeeee-HAAAAAWWWWWWW!!!!!
Fred, what are you drinikin???
YEAH, I have the liberatarian right to drink and drive. If someone doesn't like it that way they shouldn't go on the road or they should purchase an Abrams tank or hire a security detail when they use the road. My liberety is more important than their safety or lives. I should have to pay for cops just to coddle those namby pamby safety nuts. If I want to risk my life, that's MY business and nobody has the right to force me not to.
Fred,
Have all your rational posters been driven off by this idiot?
(burp)
Try driving the Baja Highway in Mexico. They have multiple stops paid for by OUR tax dollars to stop drugs from getting into the US. They stop EVERY car and thoroughly search a high percentage. While it isn't a big deal for tourists, it is quite a hassle for the Mexicans who have to drive that highway frequently. Did I mention these aren't cops but soldiers with automatic weapons doing the stops?
If you have a point 5:27, please feel the freedom to make it anytime.
Too bad for Zorba 10:48, but nobody likes the nuisance of being stopped.
I'm reassured by the speed enforcement which the Eureka PD has been stepping up lately.
Phred! Quit your bitchin' and ghet out there and whalk once in er while, man!
Just kidding, sort of, but the linked article makes some good points.
If you don't get the point you aren't worth wasting time on to explain it, Lodgepole.
5:27
Each driver who want to drive on public roadways should be given the opportunity to buy an annual subscription to each road he wants to travel. That will eliminate the socialistic method of taxing and spending all drivers without their consent that currently dominates our highway financing System. Liberatarianism forever!
hacker harry said...
Oink.
Free speech but only for meeee.
5:27, Si quieres las reglas asi, mueva a Mexico hue! Estamos en Los Estados Unidos, la tierra de liberdad. Buenos Noches....
Lodgepole, Ya no estamos en Los Estados Unidos. Ya han llegado las leyes y reglas que les gustan el 5:27PM y el 9:26PM/9:28PM. Esto es la Republica Socialista de Méxifornia. ¡Bien venidos a Aztlán! ¡Viva Che!
Un qué manojo de idiotas. Gente te estás quejando por un punto de control de conducción bebido muy ocasional aquí cuando nuestros fondos provenientes de impuestos pagan puntos de control permanentes en México guardar las drogas fuera de los E.E.U.U. Imaginarte cada vehículo en 101 que son parados cada vez con varias búsquedas completas del vehículo que ocurren siempre 24/7.
Si no tienes gusto de puntos de control aquí, no infligirlos en otros para nuestra ventaja. ¿Conseguirla?
It is becoming more and more apparent that the reason you fools are libertarians is that you don't have the ability to comprehend what you read. You make assumptions that are not supported by the evidence and then jump to conclusions that are completely false. It takes too much time explaining what reasonably intelligent people understand automatically so I won't waste my time here.
9:26 has to be the MOST idiotic of the posters here. Oops, I can't go there this year because I didn't I didn't buy the required annual pass. Talk about loss of freedom.
You freaks should understand that what you are advocating will turn the US into the a third world country even faster than the neocons. But you probably don't care because you delusional nutcases think you will be one of the elite. LMFAO!!
Libertarians are entitled to opine about laws of this nation. Fred brings up a solid point with that commentary piece. However, the argument is challenged (EFFECTIVELY I MIGHT ADD) when the Mothers and Fathers and Friends of victims killed in accidents involving drunk drivers are brought out for public comment. Those are the shock value sound bites that work to silence any point made by Fred and his libertarians, no matter how well they argue. Any stats that show the number of deaths decreasing in accident involving drinking will be met with the mantra "One accident a year is too many!" And the public will eat it up. Why? That is a good question I have no answer for?
-boy
I suppose it is because some people have empathy and realize that the one drunk driving caused death a year may be one they love, Boy. Imagine that.
Gee, how many airplane crashes should we tolerate becuase government inspections of aircraft trample the rights on airlines?
How many military casualties should we plan for to secure the rights of defense contractors to not have their products inspected? How many police and firefighters should we allocate for injury rather than inspecting their equipment and ensuring they maintain them?
I guess freedom DOES have a price, and for radical conservatives its borne by someone else.
Fred is a moron. Gee and how many of these checkpoints do we have? Maybe 2 a month? They always have escape routes as well. They are advertised in the paper! Fred you are a MORON!
Indeed, 12:16 and 1:09 :)
Anonymous said...
"I suppose it is because some people have empathy and realize that the one drunk driving caused death a year may be one they love, Boy. Imagine that."
10:01 AM
GOOD post!
Please stop embarrassing yourself and by extension your entire family. This blog is creating nothing but grief for the people related to you.
I love you Fred, but please stop writing here!
(anonymous family member)
I suppose it is because some people have empathy and realize that the one drunk driving caused death a year may be one they love, Boy. Imagine that.
I am not a Libertarian, Imagine That!
I am just trying to see the argument being made by Fred. The right to drive without being stopped at random by the cops versus the right to drive without danger of being wrecked by a drunk driver.
Not exactly a soup question.
-boy
"Esto es la Republica Socialista de Méxifornia."
Zorba should stick with English. He makes even less sense in Spanish.
One of the problems I have noticed with you Fred is that you open your mouth on topics you don't understand and you know only a very limited scope on any issue. It's like watching someone with a high school education talking about how HIV doesn't cause AIDS - lifestyle does. Or maybe it would be like me talking about various strains of mold and parasites that effect humboldt county lawns. See, I bet you would know all about that, right?
Nope. I'd say it's the exact opposite. You don't understand much on any issues and, if you do, the scope of your understanding is limited.
I actually love it when the Authoritarians attack me. More on that later.
So you like being handcuffed and slapped around?
Fred, 90% percent of the comments range from "Fred is a complete idiot" to "OK Fred, but you forgot A,B and C." Thats not a terribly good track record. But if you think very highly of yourself and think of everyone else as incompetent boobs, then I understand.
So, tell us about your experience then! Tell us why were all wrong instead of the normal 'asshole' or 'authoritarian' routine you spit out.
Fred, really your family members must be proud of you. Just do yourself a favor and shut-up!! And get a job too!!
8:22 AM apparently cannot comprehend sarcasm, which fairly dripped from the comment I made at 9:26 PM.
Not understanding what I wrote, he or she attacks it, not knowing in truth whether he or she is attacking his or her own position.
How sad for 8:22 AM to be so lost and alone and so confused in the bargain.
(Sniff.)
9:26 = 10:06 = TROLL. If you want to play hostile and passive aggressive games, enjoy yourself. No one appreciates or respects your antics. Grow up and join the adults or stay in the sandbox. Your choice !
I think they should checkpoint Fred to see if he's mowing straight lines...
Fred, I think because you have never had children or taken responsibility for children, to my knowledge, you have a very self-centered view of the world. Virtually every post of yours only talks of other people in the sense that you find them annoying or that the world is against you. I think if you had only had a child, or taken responsibility for a child you would at least understand that the world does not revolve around you. I think it must be sad to be of your age and be without children. It must be a very dark and sad place. I am sorry you never had that light brought into your world Fred. Taking responsibility for others and understanding the bigger picture outside of yourself has been the most rewarding aspect of being a parent for me.
Den mänskliga rasen delas politiskt i två delar, de som vill bli kontrollerade och de som inte har någon sådan längtan.
Since CPR (pun intended) is somewhat challenged in his spanish and english understanding "Zorba" will provide a translation of the above quote:"The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire." CPR gets a star on his brownie button if he can identify the language :o)
See Fred, be a parent. Than earth protectors will chide you for contributing to over populating the planet.
-boy
Fred can't win!
The Boy Most Likely to ... said...
See Fred, be a parent. Than earth protectors will chide you for contributing to over populating the planet.
-boy
um- maybe you should give this site a glance- maybe you will see human overpopulation a bit differently:
http://tranquileye.com/clock/
hint: we are breeding like insects.
hint: we are breeding like insects.
But are we dying like insects?
-boy
Sarcasm is not evident in your post of 9:26, Anonymous 10:06. That is just standard Libertarian privatization garbage. Sarcasm doesn't play well when you are posting anonymously on a blog.
10:20 thinks troll equals anyone who points out what a cretin it is.
Sorry Zorba, but all of those Scandinavian languages look the same to me.
One key to understanding the sarcasm of my post is that Libertarians do not normally refer to themselves as advocates of "Liberatarianism."
It wasn't an inadvertent misspelling. It was a conscious choice to alert the astute reader to the tongue-in-cheek nature of the entire commentary.
However, I vow in the future to make my misspellings more obvious and my sarcasm less oblique.
Wow 6:35, unless that's even more oblique sarcasm(which no one hear would understand anyway) you're a modest, humble and thoughtful anon blogger. There is some hope for the world, except that is wherever the dark shadow of Fred falls, without wisdom, reflection, or insight. He's the true fool, treading far from the angels.
Point taken, Anonymous 6:35. My apologies for mistaking you for a Libertarian nutcase. :)
6:17 PM: "...(which no one hear [sic] would understand anyway)..."
Written by a true literary giant. You might also need a little help in the placement of punctuation. Then again, since you post as "anonymous", you can blend in with the rest of the "progressive" mental midgets. Excuse the redundancy.
Pogo is another "genius" who claims typo detection is critical thinking. Sorry Pogo, when you've got no thoughts, nit picking isn't an adequate substitute.
Sheesh. For the most part, randomly generated strings of words would be more interesting than this shtuff. Sorry it's come to this Fred. Anybody know where I can find civil discourse?
Ekovox's 299 Opine is a pretty friendly place, as is Chocolate Covered Xanax. Not political blogs but probably the more fun local ones out there.
hear vs here is hardly a "typo" even for a "progressive" retard like 11:03 AM. As for jeff's search for "civil discourse", he might try here and even get a chuckle.
"Pogo" wouldn't use the name of the great cartoon character if "Pogo" weren't such a "retard."
He's more like Faux-go.
Welcome to the forum "deacon" and "jack" (or is it Laurel and Hardy?). We look forward to your hard hitting and insightful input. Or will you slink back behind your mask of "anonymous"?
Who the hell put Pogo in charge of welcoming or anything else?? The halfwit Fred can barely manage, now here comes another slime mold, rising on its hind legs, declaring dominion over a miniscule flyspeck of cyberspace. Sheesh...
Fred, you'd have a different opinion if a drunk driver hit you and caused undo financial hardship on your wealthy lifestyle.
I don't think I would at all. I'm not saying people should drive while they're drunk. I'm simply opposed to police being able to pull people over for no reason.
This emotional reaction to bad circumstance is a prevailing factor in our approaching police state, though. That's why I try and speak out against such things.
Those who forsake liberty for a sense of security deserve neither liberty nor security- B. Franklin
It would be a police state action if the police shot drunk drivers apprehended at check points. Are they doing that here, Fred?
I like drunk driving checkpoints. Why? It's because if a drunk driver kills one of my sisters, I will murder the son of a bitch. The checkpoints save the drunk driving bastard from killing my sister, and so they save me from having to murder the dirty low-life drunk driver.
Is that clear?
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