The Politics Of Sobriety

While I've been away from Northern Virginia, one of my blogging buddies, Charles Austin, has been called back to the area on business. Unfortunately for him, that meant having to put up with one of the things I can't stand about the area, the mandatory sobriety checkpoint.

As it turned out, Charles had a few drinks over the course of an evening when he had to entertain a pair of Japanese businessmen, an admission that led to the police administering a breath test which he passed. But while he got away from the roadblock unscathed, Charles had a few other thoughts:

I had two thoughts about this evening's "experience." The first was what our troops in Iraq must go through every time they stop someone, not knowing what to expect. They have my respect and undying thanks. The second was in my reaction during and after the event. I felt nothing. I didn't get nervous, I didn't sweat, I wasn't cocky, and I wasn't obnoxious. I just felt nothing. I went through the motions like I was buying groceries. I don't think this is a good thing.

As for the "going through the motions," I know exactly what Charles is talking about. I had to drive through a similar roadblock about a year ago, and while I also admitted to drinking that evening (just one beer a few hours before), the young officer who stopped my car sent me on my way without asking me for much more. Like Charles though, as soon as it was clear I was going to be stopped, I handed over my lisence and registration without being asked.

Why? Because both Charles and I knew instinctively that if we didn't cooperate fully and without hesitation, we'd likely end up behind bars that night -- whether or not our test results turned out in our favor.

Unfortunately for those of us who live in the Reston-Herndon area of Fairfax County, the sobriety checkpoint isn't all. Last Holiday season, police officers in both municipalities began crusing through local bars to administer breath tests and charge bar patrons with public drunkeness. Mind you, individuals weren't targetted for arrest if there were disruptive out on the street, the police simply walked into local bars and hauled people off their stools to be tested -- something I found to be a bit extreme.

For me, the tenor of the times has changed so much, that I can hardly remember the last time I had more than two drinks over the course of an evening out -- something that Radley Balko commented on a few months ago at Tech Central Station:

Another anti-alcohol group - Mothers Against Drunk Driving - has also adopted a neo-prohibitionist point of view of late. MADD has shifted its focus from preventing "drunk driving" to preventing "drinking and driving."

Drunk driving deaths have leveled off the last few years, after steady declines since the early 1980s. This leveling-off has led most experts to conclude that drunk driving is largely limited now to a small core of alcoholics, the kind of people who aren't likely to be swayed by public relations campaigns.

But instead of calling for more resources to catch those few hard core drunks, MADD has set its sights on social drinkers, and has embarked on a nationwide campaign to lower state blood-alcohol limits to .08. MADD's also working with law enforcement officials on the local level to arrest motorists who have had anything to drink at all - BACs as low as .01 - at random roadblock checkpoints.

While Charles wasn't arrested, it's important to note that one of the police officers who administered his breath test advised him to return to his hotel immediately -- a command I would think most motorists recently threatened with a loss of liberty would probably obey.

Charles is right to be disturbed by what happened to him. As we all should be.

Eric 01:43 AM

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Posted by: at December 24, 2003 02:06 AM

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