The Left Coast is very much a do-your-own-thang kinda happenin' place. Unless you want to, you know, drive somewhere or something. Very Smart Reader Doug Henderson forwards this piece from KOMO-TV in Seattle, detailing the new "voluntary" searches ferry passangers may have to endure:

An aggressive campaign to boost security on Washington state ferries will allow State Patrol troopers to conduct random searches of vehicles as motorists wait to board.

Patrol and ferry officials say the searches are voluntary, but the new practice gives boat captains the authority to deny passage to drivers who refuse to comply, our newspaper partner, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, reported Friday.

This Washington campaign joins such other fun voluntary activities such as your voluntary compliance with the IRS unless you want to go to jail, and (at least in Colorado) your voluntary submission to any DUI test unless you'd rather not have a license.

Really, the ferry searches don't strike me as being all that intrusive, and they would almost certainly pass Constitutional muster if performed on the same basis as roadblock DUI traps.

But, please, don't insult our intelligence by calling them "voluntary."