a qualified rant

UPDATE: I will now retract some of the vehemence of this statement. After four cutoffs this week, I did in fact witness a patrolman pull over a dangerous driver, for which I am truly grateful.

---

first, the disclaimers:

• i have had a driver's license for over a quarter of a century.
• i have driven hundreds of thousands of miles.
• i have never been the cause of an accident.
• i was raised to respect authority in general, including the police and highway patrol.
• all of the policemen or patrolmen i have encountered have deserved that respect (with one very minor exception).
• all of the policemen or patrolmen are very helpful in the aftermath of accidents.
  

however...

in all of those years, i have never ever witnessed a policeman or patrolman make any effort at all to prevent those accidents and apprehend the ignorant and/or dangerous drivers which afflict our roadways.

• not once have i seen anyone be stopped after cutting me or someone else off.
• not once have i seen anyone be stopped after ignoring yield or stop signs.
• not once have i seen anyone be stopped for merging slowly onto a highway without yielding, causing accidents or near-accidents.
• not once have i seen anyone be stopped for tailgating at highway speeds.
• not once have i seen anyone be stopped for loitering in the passing lane well below the speed limit.
• not once have i seen anyone be stopped for driving the wrong way into oncoming traffic.
• only twice in twenty-five years have i seen anyone be stopped for anything except exceeding the (often pointless) speed limit.

yesterday alone i was cut off five times:

• once by a drunk man who turned left on red in front of me,
• once by a woman who could barely see over the dashboard,
• once by a repairman probably in a hurry to a call,
• and twice by cellphone users.

those numbers are not unusual. it is a rare day in which i am not cut off, tailgated, or turned in front of at least once on my daily commute of about ten miles each way -- in non-rush-hour non-highway traffic.

please do your part. first, pay attention and drive safely to the existing road conditions, not by mere letter-but-not-spirit-of-the-law, and certainly not in passive-aggressive hypocritical vigilantism. second, fight the money-grubbing bureaucrats who have corrupted honorable law officers to inflict governmentally-sanctioned highway robbery.