Worst Interstate drive you have experienced

[Ned Weasel]

I have to go outside the box on this one: I-25 north of Las Cruces, New Mexico.  Why?  I don't appreciate feeling intimidated into consenting to a warrantless search of my private property by people with guns when I'm simply trying to use a tax-funded, public road to travel from one point to another within the country of which I am a citizen.

[Scott5114]

I have to go outside the box on this one: I-25 north of Las Cruces, New Mexico.  Why?  I don't appreciate feeling intimidated into consenting to a warrantless search of my private property by people with guns when I'm simply trying to use a tax-funded, public road to travel from one point to another within the country of which I am a citizen.

This sounds like a story that needs to be told.

[mefailenglish]

I have to go outside the box on this one: I-25 north of Las Cruces, New Mexico.  Why?  I don't appreciate feeling intimidated into consenting to a warrantless search of my private property by people with guns when I'm simply trying to use a tax-funded, public road to travel from one point to another within the country of which I am a citizen.

This sounds like a story that needs to be told.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Border_Patrol_interior_checkpoints

[kkt]

I have to go outside the box on this one: I-25 north of Las Cruces, New Mexico.  Why?  I don't appreciate feeling intimidated into consenting to a warrantless search of my private property by people with guns when I'm simply trying to use a tax-funded, public road to travel from one point to another within the country of which I am a citizen.

Yeah, I had that on I-5 between San Diego and L.A.  But they had guns and badges and handcuffs, and all I had was my ACLU card.  I didn't feel much like spending the weekend (or however long it took) in jail, so I tolerated the search.

[hbelkins]

I have to go outside the box on this one: I-25 north of Las Cruces, New Mexico.  Why?  I don't appreciate feeling intimidated into consenting to a warrantless search of my private property by people with guns when I'm simply trying to use a tax-funded, public road to travel from one point to another within the country of which I am a citizen.

This sounds like a story that needs to be told.

So does this:

Worst interstate drive I've ever experienced was I-24 from Chattanooga to Nashville after sunset on March 12, 1993. 

[Ned Weasel]

I have to go outside the box on this one: I-25 north of Las Cruces, New Mexico.  Why?  I don't appreciate feeling intimidated into consenting to a warrantless search of my private property by people with guns when I'm simply trying to use a tax-funded, public road to travel from one point to another within the country of which I am a citizen.

This sounds like a story that needs to be told.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Border_Patrol_interior_checkpoints

That plus the convenient charge of "You look nervous" pretty much sums it up.  So, I look nervous, huh?  Excuse me for not being one of your easy-going, back-slapping, beer-drinking* buddies who will always greet you with a friendly smile and a firm handshake.  Excuse me for not exactly feeling comfortable with a bunch of quasi-military-style checkpoints in the middle of the desert that aren't part of an actual border.  Excuse me for thinking to myself, "What the fuck is this shit?" as I'm trying to figure out how to navigate a heavily patrolled booth in the middle of a road that receives no funding from toll revenue.

*I actually like beer, but only in the right context.

[J N Winkler]

Excuse me for thinking to myself, "What the fuck is this shit?" as I'm trying to figure out how to navigate a heavily patrolled booth in the middle of a road that receives no funding from toll revenue.

Was this your first encounter with a Border Patrol checkpoint?

[kkt]

Excuse me for thinking to myself, "What the fuck is this shit?" as I'm trying to figure out how to navigate a heavily patrolled booth in the middle of a road that receives no funding from toll revenue.

Was this your first encounter with a Border Patrol checkpoint?

Is fascism more acceptable because it's been around for a few years?

[NWI_Irish96]

I have to go outside the box on this one: I-25 north of Las Cruces, New Mexico.  Why?  I don't appreciate feeling intimidated into consenting to a warrantless search of my private property by people with guns when I'm simply trying to use a tax-funded, public road to travel from one point to another within the country of which I am a citizen.

This sounds like a story that needs to be told.

So does this:

Worst interstate drive I've ever experienced was I-24 from Chattanooga to Nashville after sunset on March 12, 1993. 

Here is the Wikipedia entry to refresh your memory on the weather conditions at the time: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Storm_of_the_Century

I was a college freshman returning to Indiana from Spring Break in Florida.  I think they stopped even letting cars leave Chattanooga within an hour after we left.  Tailgating semis is the only thing that kept us from ending up stuck in the middle of Tennessee.  One of my roommates ended up stuck in Alabama and spent three days/nights in a Burger King.

[J N Winkler]

Is fascism more acceptable because it's been around for a few years?

I am very keen to hear whether this was Stridentweasel's first transit through a Border Patrol checkpoint because it has been my own experience that his reaction--mainly consternation that we allow such a flagrant apparent violation of the Fourth Amendment well within our own borders--is a first-time response.  The US-Mexico border runs through very isolated terrain, with no major metropolitan areas straddling the border other than El Paso/Juárez and San Diego/Tijuana.  There are therefore very few Americans that have direct experience of Border Patrol checkpoints as a routine part of ordinary life.  Most Americans travelling to the border from further within the US encounter a Border Patrol checkpoint long before they cross the Mexican border, become aware of the more intrusive kilometer-thirty internal frontier checkpoints, and have an opportunity to reconsider our checkpoints in the light of reciprocity.  For a substantial proportion of these people, a Border Patrol checkpoint is probably also their first contact with a formal exception to our civil rights as usually taught in middle-school civics class.

To answer your question, fascism is an ideology while Border Patrol internal checkpoints are an institutional norm.  We have had checkpoints for more than 70 years, under Presidents and congressional control of different parties.  This is not to say that they are right, proper, or even effective at their stated purpose of suppressing illegal immigration and interdicting contraband.  It is merely to say that they are a fixed part of the legal landscape.  In that respect they are like the continuing use of the Reid technique in custodial interrogations, despite an increasing weight of evidence showing it is responsible for large numbers of innocent people being jailed on false confessions.

[ET21]

Look no further than the Kennedy Expressway (90/94) from O'Hare to I-55 during rush hour, in the rain, on a Friday afternoon. No accidents too, just volume. I said screw it after one hour and got off at the Addison exit, headed east to the Drive to get into downtown.

Normal drive time with no traffic: 20 minutes
That day I drove it: 2 hours, 9 minutes on the time stamps and traffic reports.

[agentsteel53]

attempting to drive I-95 through NJ the first time.

"where the fuck am I???"

[freebrickproductions]

One time a few years ago (I think it was either 2010 or 2011), I was riding down to Port St. Joe, FL along I-65 through the Birmingham Metro Area. As soon as we passed downtown, the traffic slowed to a crawl all the way through southern Birmingham, Hoover, and Pelham (and possibly Alabaster too) due to road work
On our way back to Huntsville, traffic slowed to a crawl a little bit north of Montgomery because of a bad wreck.

[hbelkins]

Here is the Wikipedia entry to refresh your memory on the weather conditions at the time: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Storm_of_the_Century

I was a college freshman returning to Indiana from Spring Break in Florida.  I think they stopped even letting cars leave Chattanooga within an hour after we left.  Tailgating semis is the only thing that kept us from ending up stuck in the middle of Tennessee.  One of my roommates ended up stuck in Alabama and spent three days/nights in a Burger King.

We had about two feet of snow from that storm. I remember it because the SEC Tournament was being played at Rupp Arena but it didn't stop 23,000 fans from attending to watch the UK games, but I didn't realize there was a lot of snow that far west and south.

[Ned Weasel]

Is fascism more acceptable because it's been around for a few years?

I am very keen to hear whether this was Stridentweasel's first transit through a Border Patrol checkpoint because it has been my own experience that his reaction--mainly consternation that we allow such a flagrant apparent violation of the Fourth Amendment well within our own borders--is a first-time response.  The US-Mexico border runs through very isolated terrain, with no major metropolitan areas straddling the border other than El Paso/Juárez and San Diego/Tijuana.  There are therefore very few Americans that have direct experience of Border Patrol checkpoints as a routine part of ordinary life.  Most Americans travelling to the border from further within the US encounter a Border Patrol checkpoint long before they cross the Mexican border, become aware of the more intrusive kilometer-thirty internal frontier checkpoints, and have an opportunity to reconsider our checkpoints in the light of reciprocity.  For a substantial proportion of these people, a Border Patrol checkpoint is probably also their first contact with a formal exception to our civil rights as usually taught in middle-school civics class.

To answer your question, fascism is an ideology while Border Patrol internal checkpoints are an institutional norm.  We have had checkpoints for more than 70 years, under Presidents and congressional control of different parties.  This is not to say that they are right, proper, or even effective at their stated purpose of suppressing illegal immigration and interdicting contraband.  It is merely to say that they are a fixed part of the legal landscape.  In that respect they are like the continuing use of the Reid technique in custodial interrogations, despite an increasing weight of evidence showing it is responsible for large numbers of innocent people being jailed on false confessions.

To answer your question, it actually wasn't my first encounter with an interior checkpoint, but it was the first, and so far only, trip in which I encountered such an operation of questionable intent.  My first encounter with a within-U.S.-borders checkpoint was the California border checkpoint on I-40.  I knew about these in advance, though, and was under the impression that they were there to check vehicles for bags of produce, so I didn't question it.  My first encounter with a U.S. Border Patrol Question-and-Answer Friendship House was actually on I-8 near Yuma, Arizona, on the same trip.  I didn't know what it was at first, and I mistakenly thought that perhaps California also had checkpoints on exit, so I simply rolled the window down to see what the guy wanted, he asked me how I was, I said I was fine, and then he said to drive through.  I thought something along the lines of, "Well, that didn't seem like a necessary booth; I wonder that the real purpose of that is," but after that, I put it in the back of my mind.  I think I recall, later on the same trip, seeing one on the westbound lanes of I-10 in New Mexico, when I was going eastbound.  "Jesus, what's with these things?" was probably the most articulate internal dialogue I could muster at the time.

When I finally reached the one on NB I-25, my reaction was, "Really, I have to go through another one?" combined with the obligatory "WTF!?"  Unlike your garden-variety toll booth, where there are clear instructions on what to do, whether you take a ticket or pay a toll, which lane to be in, how much to pay, how fast to go, etc., these checkpoints have a striking lack of instructions, plus they have almost no architectural clues to suggest to motorists what the standard protocol is.  So, I rolled my window down to see what they wanted.  I was already confused when I saw someone else drive through without rolling the window down.  I was asked to open my trunk, so I thought, "Um, okay, it's like California, I guess," so I tried to open my trunk, only this time I hadn't thought to put the car in park, and I had forgotten that the trunk doesn't open when it's not in park.  So my internal reaction was, "Oh shit, these guys have guns, and I've already pissed them off by forgetting how to open the trunk!"  My next moment of shock came when I had finally gotten the trunk open, and I immediately saw a big, beige, bushy tail in my rear-view mirror.  It sprang out of my trunk so soon after I had opened it that it seemed like an automobile dystopia variant of pulling a rabbit out of a hat.

Next came the an array of classic lines such as "You look nervous" and "Do you mind if we search your car?" plus a seemingly endless string of questioning, with some of the questions repeated.  I didn't know whether I had a choice (and I still don't know whether I really did, the law aside).  Not wanting to end up in a rendition camp, I figured I had better comply with these armed, seemingly angry creatures and whatever sense of divine authority they thought they might have.  After they had talked me out of the car, I was apparently standing too close to the car (you know, you don't want to be too close to something you own!), so they barked at me to get away from it and then get inside their building.  That's when the terror really set in and I first started to doubt whether I'd actually make it home.  The totality of the questioning, which occurred throughout the whole event, included several strings of words seemingly designed to get me to admit to having pot in the car, even though they were probably careful to fall shy of the legal definition of entrapment.  This school counselor's office meeting went on for 20 minutes until they finally told me I could go.  Imagine that!  I'm a U.S. citizen, driving a car I own, on a public highway I helped pay for by purchasing gasoline, I've been charged with breaking no law whatsoever--and I can go!  It sure is a free country after all!

Driver's ed. courses should really have lawyers come in and teach kids how to stand up to this nonsense.  Or maybe maps and GPS systems should have all of these inspection stations pin-pointed--it seems like something the average motorist might want to know.  Or both.

[J N Winkler]

Stridentweasel--many thanks for the detailed account.  The experience you had sounds quite traumatic and is far worse than any checkpoint transit I have done, including the one where I was in a borrowed car, thought I was being waved on, and moved forward, only to look up in the rearview mirror and see agents in hot pursuit.

Driver's ed. courses should really have lawyers come in and teach kids how to stand up to this nonsense.  Or maybe maps and GPS systems should have all of these inspection stations pin-pointed--it seems like something the average motorist might want to know.  Or both.

Agreed on both--however, there are certain practical difficulties.  About half of the checkpoints are mobile, though some states (like Texas) provide permanent infrastructure at fixed locations which is used when the Border Patrol is in the neighborhood and running a checkpoint.  This means that GPS mapping of checkpoints would need to be updated in real time.

Returning to your account:

*  Checkpoint on I-40--this is California agricultural inspection.

*  Checkpoint on I-8 (probably at Telegraph Pass)--this is a Border Patrol checkpoint.  I believe it is a permanent checkpoint and that Arizona DOT provides guide signing for it, but it is possible the signs had not been installed when you passed through.  (I think the contract to install them was advertised sometime in the last couple of years.)

*  Checkpoint on I-10--this is another Border Patrol checkpoint, near Columbus, New Mexico.  It has permanent infrastructure (probably provided by NMDOT) that includes a canopy and a double-wide for the agents, but it is operated as a temporary checkpoint, so traffic is coned off I-10 without explanation.

*  Checkpoint on I-25--I suspect this is a temporary checkpoint similar to the one on I-10, but I have never actually gone through it myself (in fact, I have not travelled the length of I-25 between US 70 at Las Cruces and the NM 26 interchange at Hatch).

Now, in regard to the choices you had when you were stopped and questioned, the basic rule is that any searches they do must be with your consent unless they have probable cause.  The main exception to this is certain limited searches that can be done on the basis of reasonable suspicion (per the Supreme Court ruling in Terry v. Ohio), such as a frisk of outer garments for weapons.  In the absence of probable cause, you are not required to open your trunk, give them access to any part of your car that is not in plain sight, or allow them to search your vehicle.  They are, however, allowed to bring a drug dog near your car since that is not considered a search.  You are not required to answer their questions unless you are not a US citizen, in which case you must tell them so.  The most they are allowed to do on the basis of reasonable suspicion is to detain you briefly and try to develop probable cause for arrest or further detention by questioning you (typically in a manner that presupposes your guilt) or pressuring you to agree to searches you are not required to consent to.

Probably the best way to go through a Border Patrol checkpoint without unnecessary compromise of your constitutional protection against unreasonable search is to be politely defiant, like this woman:

http://www.gvnews.com/news/local/woman-challenges-border-patrol-checkpoint-and-wins/article_775d83f8-3391-11e3-9f6f-001a4bcf887a.html

The problem with this approach is that there is a small chance that Border Patrol agents will react by illegally detaining you or searching your effects--in general, by misbehaving until someone (generally a federal judge if the misbehavior doesn't stop with the AUSA) tells them to stop.  This risk is easier to swallow if you already live in the border area.  If you live far away, have a schedule to keep, and know there is nothing for them to find, then compliance is the safer bet, even if this means your rights get trampled on.

[SidS1045]

My one encounter with the Border Patrol was when my wife and I flew into El Paso and drove to Ruidoso NM for a vacation.  There was a northbound checkpoint on US 54 (may still be there) just north of the NM/Texas border.  It took all of ten seconds.  The agent asked where we were born, we told them, and they said "Have a nice day."

[NWI_Irish96]

Here is the Wikipedia entry to refresh your memory on the weather conditions at the time: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Storm_of_the_Century

I was a college freshman returning to Indiana from Spring Break in Florida.  I think they stopped even letting cars leave Chattanooga within an hour after we left.  Tailgating semis is the only thing that kept us from ending up stuck in the middle of Tennessee.  One of my roommates ended up stuck in Alabama and spent three days/nights in a Burger King.

We had about two feet of snow from that storm. I remember it because the SEC Tournament was being played at Rupp Arena but it didn't stop 23,000 fans from attending to watch the UK games, but I didn't realize there was a lot of snow that far west and south.

Sorry, I forgot to make my post Kentucky-friendly by linking the date to a college basketball event. 

[Zeffy]

Hmm, the worst Interstate drive I experienced was easily a traffic accident on I-278 in Staten Island, NY that shut down the entire side of the road we were traveling on. My family and I were going into Brooklyn to visit family, and as soon as we got to the directional T interchange with I-278 (and NY 440), traffic grinded to a halt. It would take almost an hour to get less than 4 miles. The culprit was someone who managed to obliterate the guardrail on the highway traveling east, and blocking almost all the lanes of traffic on the eastbound side.

[Pete from Boston]

Hmm, the worst Interstate drive I experienced was easily a traffic accident on I-278 in Staten Island, NY that shut down the entire side of the road we were traveling on. My family and I were going into Brooklyn to visit family, and as soon as we got to the directional T interchange with I-278 (and NY 440), traffic grinded to a halt. It would take almost an hour to get less than 4 miles. The culprit was someone who managed to obliterate the guardrail on the highway traveling east, and blocking almost all the lanes of traffic on the eastbound side.

Four miles in an hour?  Wow, I usually average at least 10 mph there.

[agentsteel53]

My one encounter with the Border Patrol was when my wife and I flew into El Paso and drove to Ruidoso NM for a vacation.  There was a northbound checkpoint on US 54 (may still be there) just north of the NM/Texas border.  It took all of ten seconds.  The agent asked where we were born, we told them, and they said "Have a nice day."

yep, the checkpoint is still there.

generally speaking, the only places there are checkpoints is where you head away from what is defined to be the "border zone".  if you draw on a map every checkpoint, including its direction, you will note that they all head generally away from the border.  this indeed includes I-8 eastbound at either Telegraph Pass or the appropriately named Sentinel (they vary it up), as the Arizona/Sonora border takes a southeast angle while I-8 keeps heading almost exactly due east. 

the one exception to this rule is between exits 51 and 47 on I-8 westbound in California: Pine Valley, and its corresponding checkpoint on old US-80.  this one just plain sucks, as it is very hard to avoid, and I get caught in it every time I am returning home, as opposed to departing.  it's the only one that is not at a logical exit of a well-defined border zone.

[Pete from Boston]

My one encounter with the Border Patrol was when my wife and I flew into El Paso and drove to Ruidoso NM for a vacation.  There was a northbound checkpoint on US 54 (may still be there) just north of the NM/Texas border.  It took all of ten seconds.  The agent asked where we were born, we told them, and they said "Have a nice day."

yep, the checkpoint is still there.

generally speaking, the only places there are checkpoints is where you head away from what is defined to be the "border zone".  if you draw on a map every checkpoint, including its direction, you will note that they all head generally away from the border.  this indeed includes I-8 eastbound at either Telegraph Pass or the appropriately named Sentinel (they vary it up), as the Arizona/Sonora border takes a southeast angle while I-8 keeps heading almost exactly due east. 

the one exception to this rule is between exits 51 and 47 on I-8 westbound in California: Pine Valley, and its corresponding checkpoint on old US-80.  this one just plain sucks, as it is very hard to avoid, and I get caught in it every time I am returning home, as opposed to departing.  it's the only one that is not at a logical exit of a well-defined border zone.

That's the only one I've hit.  I guess it's between a sparsely populated border region and major metropolis (San Diego). 

Are there still border patrol checkpoints on 91 in Vermont below White River Junction?

[jeffandnicole]

My worst interstate drive was probably this past winter, driving home from work in a snowstorm.  For the entire 41 mile drive I averaged 7 mph, much of that sitting driving on I-295.

Regarding the more entertaining subject of border patrols, the only intra-America one I encountered was on I-87, about an hour or so south of Canada, which compared to what the others have encountered near Mexico was enjoyably calm.  I saw it while driving north to Montreal for the final Phillies series against the Expos, so I was prepared for it on the way back.

Returning from Montreal, I got a very friendly Canada/US border agent who was a Philly sports fan...in fact, he was able to tell me about the Eagles game that was played earlier that day which I hadn't seen.  Leaving there, sure enough about an hour later, I found the I-87 patrol still on the highway.  The women that stopped me saw me in my Phillies gear, and after encountering several thousand other Phillies fans returning from Montreal as well, was quite pleasant.  She was almost apologetic that she still had to ask me the mandatory questions she was required to ask.

[agentsteel53]

Are there still border patrol checkpoints on 91 in Vermont below White River Junction?

I had no idea that there ever was one.  that said, I have not driven I-91 very many times.  I would imagine this checkpoint would be fairly easy to avoid by taking US-5 strategically - or, in general, any number of roads.  Vermont, unlike certain parts of the southwest, has a pretty well-connected road network.

the only northern border checkpoint I know of is the one on I-87 mentioned by jeffandnicole.

[J N Winkler]

The Border Patrol actually operates on both the northern and southern border--it is just that the southern border gets the majority of the manpower resources, and there is no real attempt to enforce a completely nonporous zone around the northern border.  The Border Patrol Museum near El Paso (which is well worth a visit, if only to get a sense of how the agency and its personnel justify bothering US citizens at internal checkpoints) has historic photos of a checkpoint near Pembina, North Dakota.  I dimly remember that the accompanying exhibit label noted that contraband seizures per vehicle passing through the checkpoint are actually higher on the northern than on the southern border.