Common sense rants with Joe

Welcome to a weekly rant, where I point out annoying things that break common sense.  Today I’d like to rant about Traffic Law.

First of all, I want to say that I love and support police officers.  They enforce the laws of legislature.  Some of these can be enforced using common sense, and yes there are times when it’s clearly time to intervene, but I’ll give two examples of the former.

I was once witness to a police officer on a highway stopping a young male late at night.  The young man wasn’t speeding or otherwise breaking any laws.  The stop was for expired license plate registration.  After some confusion, the young man was able to contact his parents to explain to the officer what was happening.  The DMV had failed to send the parents the new stickers even though they had paid.

Another example is one witnessed where on a three lane highway, two semi trucks were in the right and middle lanes, traveling around 70, but otherwise blocking the people behind.  Our hero, in this case, went over into the left lane to accelerate and overtake. The speed limit was 65, so all three parties were speeding.

What do you think happened in each of these scenarios?

Well, I’ll tell you.  In the first instance, the officer impounded and towed the young man’s car, and gave him a free ride to the station in the back of the police car.  He dropped the young man off at the roadside near the station before a full arrest.  I should caveat here that the young man’s girlfriend was with him, and this event may have ruined their relationship.

In the second case, an officer stopped the vehicle and issued a speeding citation.  And here, I caveat that the driver was not weaving or reckless, just using the fast lane to bypass two road-hog semis.  Keep in mind as well, you shouldn’t be in the middle lane unless you are going faster than those in the right lane.

What would you have done, in the same circumstances?  I’m more livid about the speeding stop.  The officer went by the letter of the law, in an attempt to keep the road safe.

Rant On.  Why are there not laws in the US that allow for driving like on ze autobahn? Our country is literally three times the size, with half of the speed!  We literally have three lane highways, interstates, that are 50mph!  And literally, if you go X amount above the limit, it’s reckless.

Have you ever driven through the Dakotas?  Nevada?  Out to Front Royal?  A lot of empty road that is fun and safe to drive fast on.

But, according to the laws enacted, the officer more often than not has to go by the letter of the law.

I should be able to get a registration that says automatically that I will drive fast, in good faith, not risking the lives of others.  So leave me alone.  “Oh, but we can’t trust an individual to make decisions, the government knows what’s best!  Let them decide for us! ”

Assinine.

You want to know what is worse?  The officer giving the speeding ticket RAN OUT ONTO THE ROAD to flag down the driver, FROM THE FAR RIGHT SHOULDER!

Let me see how many times common sense could have been used in that situation.

Is it just me!?  Am I the only one feeling legislated to death!?

Rant off.  Again I’m not bashing police for doing their job.  I am bashing society for talking away common sense, our ability to make critical decisions.  Such a lawsuit happy society has ruined itself.  Ruined!

This has been common sense rants with Joe.  Tune in next week for more rants about everyday things.  Remember, if something doesn’t make sense, and seems stupid, it probably is!