In the last two years, we’ve noticed that the police in many jurisdictions seem to pull over Dodge Ram trucks more often than others for focused scrutiny concerning impaired driving. Dodge Ram drivers are asked to blow into Approved Screening Devices more often. Dodge Ram drivers seem to end up with 90-day driving prohibitions disproportionately. And it happens more in the interior, in places like Prince George, Smithers and Kamloops. And this is strange.
The reason that it’s strange is that from casual observation (we travel all over the province) the number of Dodge Ram pickups seems to be about the same in Abbotsford, Chilliwack, and Cranbrook. Yet the likelihood of being pulled over while driving one seems to be less in locations in the southern 1/3 of British Columbia. It begs the question, why are more Dodge Ram drivers getting DUIs in Prince George’s as opposed to Maple Ridge?
It may be an issue of age. Chevrolet and GMC trucks are often purchased by men in their 40s and up. As you age, the police are less likely to pull you over because they assume you’re not doing anything wrong. It could be something with Dodge Ram drivers. Dodge promotes itself as an outsider; in their advertisements, the vehicles are usually driven harder. Perhaps men who buy Dodge trucks view themselves as more willing to take risks.
And it could be that the police in some areas of the province have just decided to target Dodge truck drivers. And we think that may be the case.
And here’s a partial reason why:
Dodge does brand itself as being a little wilder. They are also more aggressive in pushing financing options that may be a reasonable deal or may just be a way of getting people to spend more money than they can afford. Their trucks look pretty cool. If you’re young and you don’t have much of a down payment, but you have a job, there is a good chance you can finance a Dodge truck. This is part of the reason younger drivers buy a Dodge Ram.
Now, the police had pulled over a few young guys driving Dodge Rams may have found them to be over the limit and issued them a DUI such as a 90-day immediate Roadside Prohibition. In the mind of a police officer, even a small bias may arise. They may think it’s good fishing pulling over Dodge Ram pickups.
That may sound cynical, but police also look for the shortest distance between two points and they have numbers to meet as well. Once a bias is formed in the mind of an officer, the next step is acting on that bias. In this case, acting on the bias is pulling over the Dodge truck and placing the driver under heavy scrutiny.
In some cases, when we read the police report, it seems to us that the officer made up their mind from the start. Our concern is that they don’t make up their mind from the moment they see a Dodge Ram truck. We cannot imagine how we could argue that it is a violation of the Charter of Rights to pull over people driving Dodge Ram. It does, however, indicate tunnel vision which could cause the police to misinterpret the evidence.
If you were driving a Dodge Ram in BC and you got a DUI, we’d like to hear from you. If you just received a 90-day Immediate Roadside Prohibition DUI, call us right away. It doesn’t matter if you’re in Prince George, Terrace or Surrey. We defend these cases from every corner of BC.