I admit it. We're not perfect. And by we, I mean me. And our company. And our employees and (gasp) even our customers. And for the most part it doesn't matter. We do NON-threatening illegal activities every day. And by illegal, I mean breaking traffic laws. Laws like making complete stops and using hands-free cell phones or staying within the speed limit even if I'm driving down the steepest hill in the vicinity.
Now you may be wondering what I'm getting at. Quite honestly, I'm really not admitting to any of the above behaviors. Even if I'm especially guilty of saving my brakes on the latter one. What I'd like to express is the frustration I'm having with the police force. Yesterday after dropping off my son to school, I witnessed two mothers pulled over for what I assume to be speeding in a school zone. Nothing else seemed amiss. I don't believe they were going super fast. In fact, I didn't observe their driving actions to be dangerous at all. BUT pulling someone over where there was no shoulder so that all traffic had to use the center turn lane to pass WAS dangerous.
But here's what really bothers me: receiving a ticket this week in the mail from a speed camera for a student driver who was on a driving lesson. in our vehicle. REALLY?!? Yes, really. One of our students was driving our car in a 35mph zone. She came upon a school zone (20 mph) without a child in sight. A hill was involved. And the camera got her doing 27. Guilty? Sort of. By the letter of the law. BUT that's not the point. Our students do illegal things EVERY lesson and that deserves mercy. Even the best learners make unexpected random mistakes. They are learning. Learning means practicing skills that are rough until they become smooth. No police officer would have given our student a ticket in person. It took a machine to do it. One that doesn't have a brain. We'd be out of business if we had to pay the ticket for each illegal action our vehicles commit.
My point is that unless a person or property is in danger by someone's driving then it'd be better for police to focus their efforts on crime instead of handing out tickets to drivers making non-threatening driving indiscretions.
Agreed. The more statistics I hear about traffic cameras, The more I'm convinced that it's more about revenue than actual public safety. Money over principal. That theory of mine was cemented last week when the Seattle city council voted to boycott Arizona, however keeping their $100,000 a month traffic camera revenue from.... you guessed it, an Arizona company. Money Over Principal!!
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