Let me start off by saying that law enforcement officials of the world deserve credit for doing a usually thankless, and sometimes dangerous job. I don't envy policewomen and policemen and I admire them for what they do, but there is a degree of hypocrisy to how many of the departments go about their business. I'm talking about traffic enforcement, specifically to give speeding tickets. Why is it that in many states, police vehicles are allowed to hide in the dark to keep us from driving at "unsafe" speeds? If you ask me, sitting in the median with lights off is much more dangerous than driving 10 to 15 mph over the speed limit. What if somebody illegally attempts to turn around and doesn't see the patrol car? What if there is an accident and somebody tries to avoid a collision with other vehicles only to run into a dark patrol car? I don't think there are any good justifications. It's probably just driven by ticket revenue, but that doesn't help the objective of traffic safety as it should. I applaud states that force patrol cars to have their park lights on while waiting to find speeders.
Also, police should stop abusing their "power" by turning on their sirens just so that they can drive through a red light. Don't even get me started about police cars not using turn signals. That drives me up a wall. They should be exhibiting model driving behavior for the rest of us. I can only remember seeing one patrol car use turn signals in the last 6 months here in the Detroit metro area.
+ Atul
Hi Atul
Nice Post. I agree whatever you have written.
Cheers
Nidhi
Posted by: Nidhi | March 21, 2006 at 02:26 AM
In defense of cops running red lights, do we really want our tax dollars to pay for them sitting at a red light, or for getting where they need to be (albeit a donut shop)
Posted by: Nivi | February 17, 2009 at 09:43 AM
Nivi,
Red lights are a wasted of time, but don't the donuts make the cops slower? :-)
Atul
Posted by: UH2L | February 17, 2009 at 01:07 PM