Re: More power to the police in high speed pursuit

In article <36udnSD6qtmGI6LbnZ2dnUVZ_q6vnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxx>, dwight wrote:
"Brent P" <tetraethylleadREMOVETHIS@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:zZydnfJDU7R-D6LbnZ2dnUVZ_gydnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

You just want people to follow orders. You don't care if those orders
make sense, you don't even care if they are lawful, you don't even care
if the majority of people refuse to. To you, it's just a question of
obedence of authority. Sad.

So many others have tried and failed, maybe it's my turn...

Once again, you're missing the point. That point being reality.

The 85th precentile works wonderfully in reality. Actually, speed
derestricted interstates work extremely well in reality. I've driven some
of them.

Preach all you want about how things "should" be (irrelevant to the
discussion), but at the end of the day you still come up against reality.

Why don't you get on a plane to Germany, rent a car and drive around on
/// autobahn and even speed limited autobahn and surface streets for
awhile. After you do that excerise, get back to me about reality.

SHOULD speed limits be readdressed? Sure.
SHOULD the majority determine what those speeds should be? Not necessarily,
but probably better than an arbitrary number.
But... oh, there's that reality again.

Reality... you mean the reality where people ignore the posted speed
limit and drive an appropiate speed for the road anyway? What's wrong
with making reality legal? It's the underposted speed limit that's
denying reality.

Speed limits are posted. In paint. Not like a temporary road sign that can
change from one minute to the next, but painted.
You can look at that big 55 and grumble all day, but it's still going to
read 55.

Yet it doesn't reflect the reality of the road. People are driving 75+mph
day in and day out without issue. And not just some people nearly all of
them. In fact, the percentage driving that 55mph posted speed limit or
less is statistically no different from zero in free flowing traffic. Even
blue haired old ladies are exceeding it with good margin in their buicks.
Some of them might think it's still 1968 and the speed limit is 75....

And here's the deal - we all KNOW that it's 55 and a lot of us choose to
exceed that limit. A lot of us. Doesn't make it legal, doesn't give me any
grounds to contest a speeding ticket if I get one. We know the game, and if
we choose to play and lose, that's just too bad.

So you accept the premise of the 'game'. A game of roadside taxation. It
doesn't bother you that you have a choice of increasing your risk of a
collision while decreasing your risk of a ticket or increasing your risk
of a ticket but decreasing your risk of a collision. You just accept it.
That's apathy.

EVERY CAR ON THE HIGHWAY could be doing 75mph, but if YOU get singled out of
the herd and pulled over for speeding, that's on you.

Here's a big hint for you, I am not whining about a speeding ticket.
Haven't had a speeding ticket in YEARS.

The fact is, by defining nearly everyone as a violator, it creates more
_SAFETY_ problems, not less, than just setting the speed limit
appropiately. Of of those safety issues being pulling people over for
road side taxation may cause someone to make poor decisions that
otherwise wouldn't be made. It just turned someone who was driving in
quite an ordinary and acceptably safe manner into a hazard.

Now go back to your preaching. Or make a donation to an organization that
aims to change the reality. Better yet, run for public office and see if you
can change things yourself. Hell, I'll make a small donation to YOUR
campaign.

Here we go again... the 'run for office' routine. Which side of the
effective single party do you think will take me? What law am I going to
change exactly? Well I suppose in IL there is that old NMSL speed cap
law... but that's about all there is. It's already the law that local and
state governments follow the MUTCD. Most of what I want -already IS law-,
government simply doesn't follow it. But since apathetic types like you
won't fight tickets that are illegal under the law, it just stands and
the system rolls on. They put up red light cameras on intersections with
underlying problems that don't comply with the MUTCD, shorten the yellow
timing even further, making the intersection's traffic control devices
clearly out of compliance with the law that demands the MUTCD be followed
and you just shrug your shoulders, 'that's the game, law is the law'.

They are preying upon your ignorance, the collective ignorance of the
people. I am trying to give you an education... but no... you embrace the
ignorance. You like being fleeced. Even if the RLC doesn't get you, when
you slam on the brakes because of that short yellow and someon rear ends
you, you're still fleeced.

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/04/430.asp

Me? My driving record is clean and clear. And, no, I don't always adhere to
the speed limit. And on those days, years ago, when I DID get a speeding
ticket, I didn't complain. I knew the rules, I knew the risks. I lost the
game that day.

I AM NOT COMPLAINING ABOUT A SPEEDING TICKET. Are you just clueless? You
want to play to game. I don't think I should have to choose between my
safety and being singled out for a ticket. Here:
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov//////tfhrc/safety/pubs/speed/images/fig1.gif
http://www.sha.state.md.us/images/85thchart.gif

Notice, those are -government- websites. Even they know that driving a
couple standard deviations below the mean speed is dangerous, yet it's
often what one has to do to be legal. And you don't have a problem with
it.... it's just the game...

Come to think of it... how do I know that I want YOU going faster than 55,
anyway? We all know what a joke drivers' tests are in this country.

You don't get it either. Are you all trained like dogs? You just think
the whole thing is about the 'system' and obedence to it? Are you that
clueless? Why isn't the government following the law? Isn't there any
outrage about the government not following the vehicle code that in many
states mandates following the MUTCD or even goes a step further codifying
speed studies and the 85th percentile method into the law itself rather
than just relying on it from the MUTCD? Why is that we must obey the law
but the government doesn't?

Is that another point of your apathy? Where you just accept a lawless
government because that's reality? How much lawlessness are you going to
accept? How long are you going to just sit there before you have some
degree of outrage at something? The violations of the vehicle code is just
the tip of this iceberg of the things governments in the USA do that are
against the law and probably some of the most minor. So, since you accept
that, where's your limit?

Maybe some day you're off to buy to your dream mustang and the buyer only
takes cash.... you get pulled over... maybe you didn't even do anything
wrong... or maybe it's just one of those checkpoints. The cops want to
search your car and since you're a good citizen with nothing to hide you
let them. They find the cash and take it as illegal drug proceeds. They
don't charge you with anything, they just take the cash. That's the law
these days.... You can mount a legal fight to get your cash back and
accept the costs as part of 'the game'... or do you just shrug your
shoulders and go 'oh well, that's reality'?

.

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