Howdy,
On Thu, 29 Jun 2000, The Narbys wrote:
> If you start with the statement:
> I admit I broke the law
>
> the assertion:
> Others got away with it and were not stopped
>
> is meaningless as a defense. As is the assertion:
> I am a better driver than the average police officer.
I agree. However, when you throw in the common accepting of traffic law
breaking, particularly with regard to speed (on everyone's part), things
get a bit more muddy, don't they? Now its a matter the individual cop's
determination if your speed was a "bit too much over the acceptable amount
you can speed by." And that opens up the door for selective enforcement
based not on the cop only being able to pull one person over, but rather
on the cop not liking that I have a shaved head.
In my mind, the fix for this is to raise the speed limit 5mph and start
ticketing anyone that's .01 mph over the new limit. Publicised correctly,
it'd have a positive effect on the populous, and the whole "the cop didn't
like me" thing would get tossed away. If we continue to rely so heavily
on the cop's judgement (and don't get me wrong, at some level we'll need
to, just not as much as we currently do), there will always be accusations
of impropriety (some founded, some unfounded).
> On a separate note I question that assertion, too - the number one thing
> that everyone (on this list) knows will improve your driving is seat
> time. Which is the number one thing your average highway patrol officer
> has literally YEARS of, training notwithstanding.
Um, I'd bet a fair amount that seat time cruising around at 50% of the
limit doesn't count when you're talking about high performance driving.
Now if the test was "ability to drive well while talking on the radio/cell
phone" I'd agree with you...
Mark
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