“I’ll tell you what is harder than dying in Gaza by an Israeli missile deluxe. What is harder is that you get a phone call from the Israeli army telling you toevacuate your home because it will be bombed in ten minutes. Imagine; ten minutes; and your whole short history on the surface of Earth will be erased.
Gifts you received, photos of your siblings and your children (dead or alive), things that you love, your favorite chair, your books, that last poetry collection your read, a letter from your expatriate sister, reminders of the ones you loved, the smell of your bed, the jasmine tree that hangs off your western window, your daughter’s hair clip, your old clothes, your prayer rug, your wife’s gold, your savings; imagine; all this passes in front of your eyes in ten minutes, all that pain passes while you are struck by surprise.
Then you take your identification papers (passport, birth certificate, etc.) which you have ready in an old metallic candy box, and you leave your home to die a thousand times, or refuse to leave and die once.”
I think the logic is if the cops see someone swerving around that they can then follow you and give a test wherever you stop for some time afterwards (a restaurant/home/etc), but this legislation where drinking 2 hours after you get out of a vehicle and can be charged for it even if you never even were intoxicated when you were driving is rife for abuse.
I don’t trust cops as is. Giving them the power to demand anyone give a test for any reason at any time at any place is going to get innocent people thrown in jail, and I fear particularly people of colour would be effected.
Another important thing to know (according to a lawyer I met socially over New Year’s) is that the handheld devices that cops have are usually calibrated incorrectly and can register you as over the limit based on mouthwash. Even so, her advice was not to refuse to be tested, because in some areas that’s considered admission of guilt.
She also said that if you want a lawyer’s assistance in fighting the charges, you only have seven calendar days (not business days) to respond, and so it is critically important to get in touch with one IMMEDIATELY (because for instance, in Vancouver, there’s only one place your lawyer can file the response that’s open on Saturdays, and none on Sundays).
