The real job
There is plenty of outcry in New Zealand about police sitting at the side of the road pointing a speed radar gun at the passing population of frustrated and sometimes frightened drivers. Frightened? The aggression or misbehaviour of many Auckland drivers is indeed a factor in road safety. There is no doubt that road accidents causes more than a reasonable proportion of early death than other forms of human activity that involve motion or mechisation. Univesality exposes us to each other in a very risky way. Our behaviour patterns and reactions are the very key to our survival. It may or may not be like other forms of crime in that it can be a consequence of frustration that we become lacking in the self-control dept. But when our muscles respond to the release of certain hormones we hope this does not translate to an additional 50 kms per hour of volocity on top as the acclerator is pushed down in anger. When we become angry, we lash out seeking satisfaction. A foot to the floor kind of reaction is the most dangerous form of unpredictability on the road. It need not be in anger, but at times when our attention is gathered by other things than paying attention to the detail of how our own vehicle is functioning and in relation to other vehicles hurtling or crawling along the highway.
This still does not answer why we need police to sit in their cars aiming a portable radar gun at us? Are random vehicles appearing over the crest of a rise or behind a favoured moterway signage blindspot more of a hinderance to safety than an aid to good behaviour? Probably not, and that is why the police seek to better our patterns of behaviour on the road. If they can prevent 400 deaths per annum, then they are doing four times more good than if they stopped every single murder.
It is fairly reasonable to argue that the lives of people who are connected in someway, however casual, to a murdering psychotic are in more need of police attention. But then, so many of us become murdering maniacs behind a wheel when someone or something has pissed us off. Like a parking ticket. We get behind the wheel and start letting off steam by punching down on the accelerator. Everyone has done it.
It is that behaviour, if we learn to correct it in our selves, prevents the dangerous spread of frustration between drivers. It would certainly help if drivers were able to simply able to keep their distances at least two whole seconds apart at all times. There would be far fewer accidents. Driving would be less frustrating.
And the police could concentrate their efforts on real criminals. The real stars of the 6pm news. Why do we want them sitting at the roadside?
1 comment:
Why is exceeding the speed limit in your car not considered a crime, not even a misdemeanor? To use Mr. Scott's words in that Star Treking song "Ye canna' break the laws of physics". If you speed and/or lose control the consequences can be fatal. In NZ about 400 people are killed on the roads each year. There are about 50 people murdered. That means 8 times as many police should be devoted to preventing road deaths as there should be murder. Like 90% of the Police Force would be involved in trafic enforcement! Currently it's around 30% and they want to reduce it? If the Police forces were really resourced based on the traffic and murder death rates, you couldn't even move on the road without being watched by a cop. Be careful what you wish for, the results may not be what you expect.
Post a Comment