Keeping Our Roads Safe

Any guesses what I may be holding in my hand here??

An electronic cigarette?

A very tiny albino flute??

A trick dribble straw???

Answer: None of the above!

That there is a souvenir from my first-ever Roadside Field Sobriety Test, or as we call it here in Canada, a breathalyzer test at a Chek-Stop.

You know, as long as I've been driving, and especially in the holiday season where caution is often left at home in a dresser drawer with respect to drinking and driving, I have never been pulled over before. 

Not that there's any prevailing chance of my blowing "over the limit" and getting my balding head and shoulders in the Celebrity Mug Shot Hall Of Fame like Nick Nolte or James Brown - the distilleries would all be long shuttered and bankrupt if they relied on Mrs. That Dan Guy and I for subsistence...

However, as fate would have it, I was returning from an AGM meeting last night, and I did happen to have a drink along with my dinner. So, as is typical in situations where I am innocent, I gave all the wrong answers to the officer that was shining a flashlight in my face, and was asked to pull over and get out of my car. What was I thinking - breaking out into a chorus of "How Dry I Am" was going to get a round of applause??

The officer must have been as surprised as I was relieved that I blew a "0". It was at about that time that my coherence returned, and I spoke like a sober adult, rather than trying to stammer out a recollection of my ABC's without a prompt to have done so....

As he eyed me over one last time, handed me my driver's licence back and advised me to be safe, I extended that back - it is not a fun job for these law enforcement officers, in the dark on a cold and rainy night - but if it makes a road safer in those conditions (or any, for that matter), I lift my coffee cup this morning to those efforts.

  Later!