Normally breathalyzer is the first thing they ask from you. If you are actually sober, and you refuse that test and then you fail a field sobriety test that’s completely on you. I don’t see how the right to refuse the breathalyzer test is the problem here.
I don’t get it. There is a test that takes ten seconds blowing into a tube. Why is “the right to refuse the breathalyzer” a thing? What’s the point if you’re still going to get tested in a less accurate way that takes longer? What right or freedom is being preserved there other than the right to waste everybody’s time and risk a worse outcome? Why does it matter if it’s “on you”? There are other people involved, from the cop performing the test to whoever else needs to get stopped or tested after you to potentially the public interest of not having drunk drivers zooming around. Why is it “being on you” relevant?
It’s mostly trivial, but man, it is such a microcosm of weird-ass American/anarchocapitalist thinking about public/private interactions.
Normally breathalyzer is the first thing they ask from you. If you are actually sober, and you refuse that test and then you fail a field sobriety test that’s completely on you. I don’t see how the right to refuse the breathalyzer test is the problem here.
I don’t get it. There is a test that takes ten seconds blowing into a tube. Why is “the right to refuse the breathalyzer” a thing? What’s the point if you’re still going to get tested in a less accurate way that takes longer? What right or freedom is being preserved there other than the right to waste everybody’s time and risk a worse outcome? Why does it matter if it’s “on you”? There are other people involved, from the cop performing the test to whoever else needs to get stopped or tested after you to potentially the public interest of not having drunk drivers zooming around. Why is it “being on you” relevant?
It’s mostly trivial, but man, it is such a microcosm of weird-ass American/anarchocapitalist thinking about public/private interactions.
The word you’re looking for is libertarian, but yeah I agree it’s a bit odd.