Posted on 10/14/2009 1:13:02 PM PDT by SoonerStorm09
Why do you people all assume that because I oppose the legislative action against texting or seat belts or speeding that I condone that activity. Being a safe and aware driver precludes all that stuff.
It doesn’t matter if you condone it. You have basically posted that it should be legal and that the rest of us will be fine if we just drive defensively. I can imagine a road system with no laws to govern any behavior and it’s not a road system I would want anyone I love driving on. Then again, I’m a realist. Living in a civilized world requires some regulation. Let’s see how you really feel when your daughter is actually driving. Post me back in 2 years.
Did I say I wanted a road system with no regulation? No... How about we make the roads safer instead of more regulated. Example: In Albuquerque they installed red light cameras in order to reduce accidents in intersections. Then they shortened the yellows from five seconds to to three! See what I mean?
Example of cell phone distraction:
I was sitting in my vehicle in a parking lot waiting for someone, when I saw a female exit the store walking, and talking on her cell phone...Broad daylight...
She want across the parking lot, right up to my vehicle, grabbed the door handle and attempted to open it, when she saw me sitting in the vehicle...Totally stunned and embarrassed she walked away, looking for her own vehicle.
No, I’m trying to figure out which traffic laws are ok with you and which aren’t. I’m trying to find a rational for your point of view. That requires that I know a little more about what you think is ok and what you think is not. :)
You personalized this using my daughter as an example to try and pull me out of where I philosophically stand on this issue. I would like to see an end to predatory police and sheriffs departments. I am certain that nothing represents Federalism run a muck quite like the uniformity of traffic laws as found in all 50 states. I would rather see us spend the billions of dollars we spend on Police, Police cars, radar guns, man hours spent on training drivers how to actually operate there cars. I go on the premise that MOST people see it in there best interest to not get into accidents. You need traffic signals, you need speed limits. But instead of shortening yellows and putting up cameras, how about lengthening yellows and putting countdown timers. That makes sense but doesn’t make money for the city. Another example you need speed limits but I don’t know who trains traffic engineers to continually change the speed limits. An example is we have a rural loop that runs north south on the west end of town. Two lanes, very little traffic. The four miles I regularly drive has somewhere between 6-8 speed changes between 35 and 55. It would be far safer to set the speed limit at 40 or 45 the whole way and eliminate the speed changes. The Police like to sit at the speed changes. I am very scrupulous so I don’t get hit by $100 dollar tickets. But if you are not paying attention in this back road desert wasteland you can very easily get nailed at a speed change. Particularly because it’s hilly and they sit at the bottom of steep hills combined with speed changes. Is safety somehow enhanced by this? No. Revenue is. These predatory practices by cities and counties should be ended.
I do not place my faith in laws for my safety. Laws cannot make me safe. Only I can do that. I want common sense traffic laws, not weird gotcha laws. Seat belt laws, helmet laws are a nanny state nuisance, and very expensive to enforce. I wear my seat belt because I believe that my chances for survival are enhanced in most cases by wearing a seat belt. But should it be a law? NO! Society and its laws will not keep you safe. Only you can do that. So the traffic laws and enforcement should be designed to simplify compliance not to complicate. If you want your cities traffic to flow better with fewer accidents time the lights. Most cities have instead gone to “on demand” censors that make sure that everybody stops, thus increasing opportunities for accidents at intersections. So I could go on and on but the bottom line is that cities build traffic systems that cause accidents, the public demands more cops and more rules. So to answer your question do we need a framework of rules for traffic to work? Sure. But people here don’t know how to drive their cars. Because they are not trained to drive their cars. So a bunch of untrained morons driving around bashing into each other asking for more rules more signs more enforcement. Stupid. Drivers operate their vehicles to the rules not to the conditions. But that’s the way the system works here. The whole philosophy behind traffic and policy is that if their is a compliance problem instead of fixing it, (lengthening yellows) you shorten yellows and hand out tickets. It’s much like the typical down town area or university area where the city creates an impossible parking situation then fines people. I remember my first week at University at a big campus where I drove to the place to buy the parking permit, and while I’m inside buying the required permit to park on campus I get a ticket for not having a permit. That is how we do stuff in this country and I just don’t get it! Yes I got the ticket revoked but I had to go to adjudication to do it. Cost me time and irritation. So am I making sense here?
Finally if somebody goes before the city council to impose a new law upon his neighbors they better damn well have a good reason to do so. To use government power, guns and butter to remove an irritation or to create safety for yourself is a pitifully small thing to do. People here are risk adverse and demand a predictable and risk free world. Their is no end to the imposition upon their neighbors in order to achieve that impossible goal.
You need traffic signals, you need speed limits.
So, you only see the need for stop lights and speed limits. Correct? Well, the bottom line is, only an idiot texts while they drive, but idiots abound. I see no reason that activity should be legal. When I first came to this tread I was undecided, however you have convinced me. It SHOULD be against the law.
Good Grief I’m a billionaire
So lets just outlaw idiocy.
If only! hehehe
Texas pounded us like a prom date!... Eatin Texas crow tonight.
Yall got banged like a screen door in a thunderstorm...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.