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Automotive News & Views Traffic Laws & Enforcement Tactics
540 messages, Last post on Sep 21, 2009 at 12:22 PM
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Replying to: oldfarmer50 (Oct 16, 2007 2:59 pm) Maybe some kind of massive legal action could be taken against various agencies for their inability to properly maintain their infrastructure. The time and fuel wasted must be enormous. This is a draw on the economy. |
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have yall seen the stories in wired mag & elsewhere about the gumball rally dude who made it from NY to LA in 31 hours? the wired article is fantastic. it's being covered on foxnews tv now too. about ignoring lights at 2AM, i did that once - no cars for miles except for the one behind me at the light. i sat at the interminable light and after a minute crawled through the red light. i thought it was funny that the car behind me followed me through the red light - until he turned on his bubble-gum machine 2 miles later and pulled me over. he was an off-duty/unmarked detective (near burlington VT). he said "ELIAS, does everyone down in Boston drive like?" You are amazed that I didn't have a good answer. he ended up letting me skate after a fairly pleasant conversation. lesson learned. |
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Replying to: euphonium (Oct 16, 2007 9:37 am) I suspect that your statement was tongue-in-cheek, but it did get me thinking about something. Should we accept that all "rules and regulations" are just and should be followed with moral zeal? Now there are probably some people who feel that there is a moral imperative to follow all rules and regulations, no matter how dumb they are, in order to show respect for law and order. Personally, I feel that this line of thinking assumes that those making the laws always have the best interest of "society" at heart. However, in practice those making the laws can be just as corrupt as those who choose not to follow those laws. I think it is okay to practice some "civil disobedience" as long as you are willing to accept the punishment if you are caught. For instance, I remember driving on a rural road where the Speed Limit drops from 50 to 35 at a bend without any warning. Unless you are familiar with that stretch of road, there is no way that an average driver can react to the change in speed limit that quickly. In fact, it is somewhat dangerous since it can lead to panic braking. What this particular town does is that they often put a speed trap at this point in order to catch the out-of-towners who aren't aware of this abrupt change in speed. It is an easy way for them to raise money, since pretty much everyone will be over the speed limit here. Personally, I have a problem with this situation since it is clear that the only purpose of this is to manufacture violations, and not to make things safer. In fact, in their zeal to raise money, they probably have made things less safe due to the panic braking that occurs here. So, yes, you have people who are legally wrong for speeding in this area. However, they are morally right for not braking abruptly at possibly causing an accident that way. Now I have been fortunate enough not to get a ticket on this road, since I am aware of its existence. However, if I were caught, I really do not have any choice but to plead guilty, since, at the end of the day, I am violating the law here. |
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Replying to: humblecoder (Oct 19, 2007 11:46 am) In the states that I'm most familiar with, if there's a reduction in the speed limit coming up, there's an advance warning sign saying "reduced speed ahead" or "speed limit 40 ahead." The newest such signs are yellow diamond-shaped ones with the reduced speed limit number and an arrow pointing ahead, like the commonplace pictorial "stop ahead" or "yield ahead" signs.
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Cheaters just don't know where to draw the line, but they do rationalize their unorthodox decisions.
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Replying to: 210delray (Oct 19, 2007 7:26 pm) A big problem here is that some localities set a speed limit with one sign after a crossroad such as 35 mph. Then there's no sign until the next major road, usually one mile. People feel the speed limit increased and don't want to go 35 mph because it looks like "country." But it's within that township-become-city and the limit sticks even though there's no repeat 35 mph sign. |
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Replying to: euphonium (Oct 19, 2007 7:53 pm) |
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Replying to: humblecoder (Oct 19, 2007 11:46 am) Which defines the difference between civil disobedience and criminality. Think about this also, there are about 3000 traffic rules and regulations in the average state. Every time you leave your driveway you are violating at least one of them. It's almost impossible not to. I was once pulled over by a local police officer because my license plate was crooked. His real reason was because I was driving a very beat-up old Oldsmobile through an upscale neighborhood. The officer couldn't find "driving while poor" in his rules and regs so he used what he could to come up with probable cause for the stop.
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Replying to: 210delray (Oct 19, 2007 7:26 pm) |
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Replying to: oldfarmer50 (Oct 20, 2007 11:58 am) That is probably not just true of traffic rules, but all rules. If you stop and think about all of the obscure (and not so obscure) rules that we are constantly violating, either knowingly or unknowingly, we probably should all be in jail! Even a law-abiding citizen like myself has a hard time keeping up with all of these rules. |
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