The opinion article I chose “The Best Sobriety Checkpoint Bill I Ever Opposed” posted by Scott Henson identifies and outlines a current bill, SB 298, in the Texas legislature. If SB 298, proposed by Senator John Carona, is passed it would allow sobriety checkpoints in the state of Texas. This bill also attempts to negate the current disadvantages seen in other state’s sobriety checkpoints.
Henson clearly expresses his opposition to all sobriety checkpoint laws regardless of their nature. He goes as far as relating sobriety checkpoints to communism. I can understand Henson’s disproval. Sobriety Checkpoints do seem a bit “Big Brother-esque,” as Henson stated. However, Henson declares that he does respect the attempts the bill makes on overcoming sobriety checkpoint downfalls, despite an overall disliking on principal alone. I agree that the elements of SB 298 would do a very good job of alleviating the negatives of sobriety checkpoints. In fact I agree with it so much that I would vote for this bill if given the chance.
In his post Henson makes one statement that I completely disagree with, “But if you think drunk driving is so bad that it warrants use of more totalitarian tactics…” It is the ‘so bad’ portion that bothers me. It is as if Henson is implying that drunk driving is not that big of a problem. According to statistics I found online Texas had 1544 alcohol related driving fatalities in 2006 which is the highest number of any state in the U.S., while Texas only had 1384 murders. This means that drunk driving is a bigger problem than murder. So therefore, I would have to say that drunk driving is a very big problem, not only to those who drink and drive but to all of the innocent people that are killed every year because of it.
All in all I support bill SB 298, despite some thinking that sobriety checkpoints are a little communist in nature. For me the benefits of sobriety checkpoints far outweigh the drawbacks.
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