Now You Can Get a DUI for Eating a Bag of Chips or Drinking a Coke

Guess what crime the police state has decided is on the same level as being drunk behind the wheel? Using your phone or eating a bag of potato chips

“Sir, can you step out of the car? You have potato chips on your breath.”

I seriously don’t know whether to laugh, or slap someone on the back of the head whenever they start talking about America being a free country. It clearly isn’t anymore, if it ever was. A tyranny the likes of which the world has never seen is emerging, bit by bit, sand grain by sand grain, micromanaging every aspect of Americans’ lives.

Here’s the latest straw on the camel’s back from the emerging, totalitarian police state. Now, in the state of Washington (and no doubt in other states, soon) you can get an E-DUI for texting, smoking, or eating behind the wheel. Yep, they created a new acronym out of one of their favorite old acronyms. The Daily News fills us in:

Starting today, drivers caught holding a cellphone or any other electronic device while stopped at a red light or intersection will be subject to a $136 fine under Washingtonâs strict new âE-DUIâ law. The fine for repeat offenses within five years is $234.

Drivers who are pulled over and found carrying out other types of âdangerously distractedâ behavior such as grooming, smoking, eating or reading can also receive a secondary fine of $99.

The revenue-generating fines are the least of the issue. Drivers caught texting, smoking, or heaven forbid, eating behind the wheel will be forced to pay higher insurance rates, likely on par with someone caught careening down the highway after drinking a fifth of vodka. Fox News writes:

Tickets issued for driving while using hand-held electronics will go on a motoristâs record and reported to their insurance provider, according to a website set up by the state explaining the new law.

It won’t matter if the hapless motorist is stopped at a light, either, and informs his family he’s running late because of traffic.

The E-DUI prevents drivers from using their phone at nearly any time while they are behind the wheelâeven if they are stopped in traffic or waiting for a red light.

But, take solace. Lawmakers didn’t go too far. Wait, of course they did…

The new law does allow âminimal use of a fingerâ to activate an app or device, so a single touch or swipe is still permitted.

I’ve certainly got a finger for today’s pigs in blue.

The insurance lobby loves the new law, and sheepish worshipers of the state will go along and get along while they bend over the barrel and pray their government overlords use some lube this time, as they always do.

At most, this deserves a minor fine, and this latest “crime” certainly doesn’t rise to the level of a damned DUI.

But what about the freedom loving man who doesn’t think the nanny state needs to be telling him what to do inside his personal vehicle, and branding him with a ridiculously over the top charge for something as minor as slipping a potato chip out of a bag or smoking a cigarette?

When will the encroachment of abject tyranny stop? How many more senseless laws do our self-appointed masters have to pass to protect us from ourselves before well tell them to shove it? As Ben Franklin knew, those who trade a little liberty for a little security deserve neither, and will lose both.

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