I leave McDonald's Shell on Knoxville a little after nine pm last (Monday) night. I pull into the left turn lane on Nebraska, so as to go towards Downtown on Knoxville. The car in front of me is one of Peoria's finest, without a turn signal on as we await the green light. It turns, he turns, still no signal. Next, instead of properly turning into the left lane, he shoots all the way over into the right. Then, after two bad moves, he hits the trifecta with a right turn into Taco Bell...with no signal.
Now, how can those of us who are frustrated daily by terrible drivers that do not properly signal and properly change lanes expect those faults to be corrected when the guys who can write the citations can't even follow the rules? This has never, BTW, been a problem in any city I've previously lived in. Carson City, Nevada; Dubuque and Waterloo/Cedar Falls, Iowa; Rochester, Minnesota. I've never witnessed the lack of regard for simple traffic laws by officers OF that same law in those cities, yet I see it daily in Peoria.
Meanwhile, there are five troopers stationed on an overpass and on-ramp outside of Morton, keeping the that completely flat and straight stretch of I-74 safe from the dreaded speeders during the last week of every month.
Wow, I feel safer just knowing that. Not.
My beef? I'm sick of speeding accounting for about 92% of all tickets written in this state, and I'd be willing to bet any amount that improper lane changes and lack of turn signals cause far more accidents.
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Call the Pope! I 100% agree with Mr. Stone on this one. And what about the dijits that run around with no headlihgts on in a blizzard or pouring rain as required by law.
Sctobrien says...
I talked to some cop friends of mine about your complaint and described what you wrote (Taco Bell) and he suggested that what you saw could have been a cop responding to a silent alarm call.
Another one I talked to told me that often times when they drive like bats out of hell it is because they are going to an urgent call and it's quicker to go without lights because other motorists freak out when they see the lights and don't know they are supposed to get all the way over to the right. He told me that many times drivers will actually stop right in front of him, so that is why he does the weaving in and out of traffic.
But for the other stuff, it doesn't look good to enforce things one doesn't follow.
Thanks, Scott, for the info.
In this case, however, the only alarm this guy was answering was the one in his stomach telling him it was time to make a run for the border.
congrats on the new job, B.J.
Suddenly I got this mental image of BJ doing a "Gomer Pyle" in the classic "Andy Griffith Show" episode when Barney keeps making U-turns in front of the "fillin station" after writing Gomer a ticket for something.
"City-zens Array-est! City-zens Array-est!"
BJ: I just witnessed a PPD car devoid of any signals maneuvering on Sterling yesterday - in the rain with no headlights to boot. And could they put a car at War Dr and University? They could spend all day writing red light tickets. Geez!!! Does somebody have to get killed? Prolly.
Mazr - thanks very much. I'm looking forward to the challenge!
Vonster, I've witnessed three more occurrences in the last week, and never close enough to me to get identifying numbers off the squad cars. But believe me, the next time I do see it and get a number, I'm calling it in. It's getting ridiculous.
Congrats on the new job. Any chance we will hear you on the radio?
Nope, not on the radio anymore. Moving behind the desk. I might do a commercial here and there, or do a high school football game on a Friday night, but no more airshift. Besides, according to most of the "experts" in this town, I suck on the air anyway, so it's no great loss. :)
Experts and people shopping at your radio commercial customers businesses are totaly different. You're the reason wxcl became the best station in town and now we don't have a good country station. Our loss and they'll figure it out once their ratings go down.
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