checkpoints
In my 29 years of driving, I have never been part of a checkpoint of any type.
Taking Brad home tonight, we passed through a checkpoint. We were talking about drinking and its attributes, and Academy was being compressed to one lane, and I was wondering what the heck was going on.
They had a two lines of about 30 people on either side of the lane I was in, and they were directing traffic into 2 lanes. The officer introduced himself (Colorado State Patrol) and told me it was a multi-jurisdictional sobriety checkpoint. Had I consumed any alcohol tonight. Nope. None? None. OK, you're free to go.
There were still stopped cars ahead of me, so I decided to engage in conversation. Does anyone ever say yes to that question? He said oooooooh, yeah. The more one has had to drink, the quicker they are to say Yup, I've had 2. I find that interesting.
Traffic freed, we went along, and got stopped again at the other end, this time by a CSPD officer. He, however, was working a DUI checkpoint. And he took the extra step of asking if we'd been doing any drugs. Still nope.
On the way home, I thought about it. These two officers seemed to be looking for totally different things. One was seeking sobriety, and the other was seeking non-sobriety. I realize that both achieve the same goal, but I find the difference interesting. One is looking for someone to punish, the other is looking for someone to be happy about.
Taking Brad home tonight, we passed through a checkpoint. We were talking about drinking and its attributes, and Academy was being compressed to one lane, and I was wondering what the heck was going on.
They had a two lines of about 30 people on either side of the lane I was in, and they were directing traffic into 2 lanes. The officer introduced himself (Colorado State Patrol) and told me it was a multi-jurisdictional sobriety checkpoint. Had I consumed any alcohol tonight. Nope. None? None. OK, you're free to go.
There were still stopped cars ahead of me, so I decided to engage in conversation. Does anyone ever say yes to that question? He said oooooooh, yeah. The more one has had to drink, the quicker they are to say Yup, I've had 2. I find that interesting.
Traffic freed, we went along, and got stopped again at the other end, this time by a CSPD officer. He, however, was working a DUI checkpoint. And he took the extra step of asking if we'd been doing any drugs. Still nope.
On the way home, I thought about it. These two officers seemed to be looking for totally different things. One was seeking sobriety, and the other was seeking non-sobriety. I realize that both achieve the same goal, but I find the difference interesting. One is looking for someone to punish, the other is looking for someone to be happy about.