Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site alice.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!alice!ark From: ark@alice.UUCP (Andrew Koenig) Newsgroups: net.legal,net.auto Subject: Re: DWI Roadblocks Message-ID: <3893@alice.UUCP> Date: Mon, 24-Jun-85 19:19:57 EDT Article-I.D.: alice.3893 Posted: Mon Jun 24 19:19:57 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 25-Jun-85 08:08:36 EDT References: <979@homxa.UUCP> Organization: Bell Labs, Murray Hill Lines: 22 Xref: watmath net.legal:1787 net.auto:7144 > Is it "unlawful search and seizure" if you are stopped at a road > block and checked for DWI even though you were driving your car > properly (not too fast or slow or weaving or anything, just minding > your own business)? Is it "uss" if they do the same thing to check > driver's license and registration? I seem to recall that this particular issue was decided not too long ago by the US Supreme Court. Briefly, it is legal for police to set up roadblocks to look for motor vehicle violations, as long as they search every car (or they choose cars to search at random, without only searching cars whose drivers are, say, men with long hair). The court's basis for the decision was that you do not have the same right of privacy in your car as you do in your home, and that the right of people to drive in a safe environment overrides the right of people in cars to be free from arbitrary government interference. I think it's absurd, but the only thing I can think of to do about it is to stop driving a car, something I seriously consider every once in a while. Travel is not a right in this country.