Driving past the Florida Highway Patrol depot yesterday I noted the place was chock-full of cruisers. It didn't surprise me, because I imagine budget cuts mean fewer troopers, less money for gas, and many fewer donuts.
Sorry, cheap gag. We all know the cops get their donuts gratis, for their toil in the community, and rightly so. They did agree to protect and serve, so we citizens should agree to protect their right to be served free coffee and donuts.
Okay, I'll stop now.
The downside of fewer law enforcers is the creeping disregard for road rules. Chronic red-light busting in Florida is a given. Rolling-stop right turns don't raise an eyebrow. Fifteen over the limit is the limit. It's the same problem that Rudy Giuliani faced in New York City when he came to office, what was known as the broken window syndrome.
Left uncorrected, bad (and illegal) driving becomes the norm, leading to further erosion of respect for the law, at least that's the theory.
My pet dislike is unrestrained loads. I've dodged enough ladders, mattresses, sectional sofas, paint buckets, drink coolers, pails, air compressors and other truck-bed detritus for a lifetime. I fear that the next tradesman's tool to bounce from the back of his Silverado doing 90 mph will come straight through my windshield and kill me.
It nearly happened to Maria Federici.
4 comments:
what a horrible story, but with an outcome that, hopefully, will avoid another accident like hers happening. i do agree with you about the slow erosion of law and consequently, our society. this erosion is also evident in the lack of civility and gentility in our everyday life. respect for each other is no longer the norm. xoxoxo
Yep, I was living in Seattle when it happened. It's a horrible tale indeed.
Lack of civility and gentility is right, Savannah. I guess the only thing we can do as individuals is to do the right thing within our own sphere and hope it spreads.
Years ago one of the Seattle radio stations had a call in game called "Cop or no cop". They would get a caller to guess if they would find a cop or not when they called a donut shop at random. It was funnier then anything but got pulled off the air pretty quickly. LOL
I agree with your point about bad & illegal driving. Out here in Nevada I've been passed on two occasions while doing the speed limit (65) IN A NO PASSING ZONE! Jeez!
I love that idea, Don! Imagine the horror of the cops being exposed as living up to the cliche....on the radio. No wonder it was pulled. No pressure from the Chief there.
Ahem.
Oh, yeah, that's a fave of mine too. Doing multiple dumb things to gain a car-length at the next lights.
Dopes.
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