"Sir, we've observed that one of your rear lights is malfunctioning, one of your wiper blades is not working properly, the Poppy hanging on your rear view mirror is obstructing your vision, your personal items in the rear seat were not properly secured and we had a difficult time making out the information listed on your proof of insurance."

They continue, "Procedures for handling this citation are clearly printed on the back. You may pay the fine at the address listed, or if you wish to contest this in court, the procedure for doing so is also listed as well."

You are absolutely dumbfounded and begin fuming.

"Are you kidding me!?!" you think to yourself.

"Setting up a roadblock, stopping everyone on the road, and then handing them a stack of tickets for ridiculously pointless offenses? "

Which is even more galling when recall you were doing absolutely nothing while driving to draw any attention towards you?

Sounds like something out of a dystopian novel, doesn't it?

This couldn't happen today. you may say to yourself.

Mandatory stops for all vehicles.

Inspections without proper cause.

We have our protections enumerated in the Fourth Amendment.

They CAN'T do that!

.

.

.

Think again.

Welcome to Roadcheck 2012.

For the initiated, Operation Roadcheck is the largest targeted enforcement program on commercial vehicles in the world. Beginning in 1998 and held annually since then, it was coordinated through the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), which is an international not-for-profit organization comprised of local, state, provincial, territorial and federal motor carrier safety officials and industry representatives from the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

For 72-hours, beginning at 10:00am on June 5th this year and running until June 7th, approximately 10,000 agents at around 1,500 locations will be conducting mandatory inspections of trucks and truck drivers in North America.

Any Professional Driver could potentially face everything that I had just described at the beginning of this post during this time.

Isn't it ironic that a non-profit organization of motor carrier officials, feels grimly determined to be of service to Professional Divers by besieging them under the guise of a "safety and education"?

For the record, according to the CVSA, the overall driver compliance rate from 2011 was 95.8%.

In 2010, the rate was 95.6%. This was unchanged from 2009.

In 2011, Level 1 inspections (Driver, Driver Paperwork, Vehicle and Cargo) found a 96.3% driver passage rate.

In 2011, and this one should be a important because we need to be on our "A" Game with this, HAZMAT driver passage rate was 97.4%!

Playing Devil's Advocate; I cannot help but wonder what the result would be if this were expanded to ALL passenger vehicles? What kind of compliance & passage rate they would achieve?

So to bottom line it, we have an overwhelming majority of Professional Drivers who are being safe and consciousness about their jobs according to the very same people advocating for these stops and searches on the public dime. Yes, most of us do take a little pride in our work because we do have families that we'd like to see at the end of the day.

There is a quote from Pastor Niemöller that is very apropos:

"First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me."

The overall gist of what he is saying should be plainly obvious.

{On a side note, if you ever get the chance, I recommend reading a bio on Pastor Niemöller. He has a few interesting things to say about political leaders and the "promises" that were made by them.}