Social Conditioning is a interesting phenomenon. In NJ the paramedics went to the same cars the police use. The drivers would not move when they came up behind them in thier old vehicles, now the drivers assume it is a police car and move out of the way.
Rick
---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: M35products@aol.com
Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2001 17:33:21 EDT
>In a message dated 9/6/01 2:53:01 PM Eastern Daylight Time, davidcole@tk7.net
>writes:
>
><< Wow Henry - talk about opening up a can of worms! >>
>
>All well said, except that one basic legal tenet seems to have been ignored.
>"Driving is a privilege, not a right" That is the unpopular loophole that
>allows seemingly "less than constitutionally correct" traffic rules to be
>promulgated by the states. That is what allows a law to say "it is unlawful
>to operate a vehicle EQUIPPED with a (fill in the blank) red or blue light,
>radio scanner, siren, radar detector, etc" The burden of proof is on the
>accused, rather than the govt, to prove that the vehicle is not "equipped".
>Sort of "guilty until proven innocent" I agree, but that's the way it works.
>(Except those cases, such as serious DWI, that warrant jury cases, then the
>"regular" jurisprudence rules kick in)
>
>In other words, we all agree that "just having the (disconnected ) lightbar
>shouldn't be unlawful", but the reality of the situation is that some
>slow-witted drivers, or, indeed, over zealous cops, equate the blue or red
>light (turned off) that they see in the mirror, as being indicative of some
>authority. They then either slow down suddenly, swerve out of the way, get
>nervous, etc, etc, etc. In New York State, it is illegal for a police car to
>display a blue light. Why? Because blue is reserved for volunteer
>firefighters. When I travel in other states where the cops all use blue
>lights, in the fast lane, in my pickup truck with blue lights on the bumper,
>invariably drivers look in the mirror, and unsafely cut back into the slower
>lanes, just through conditioning.
>
>There are many cases on the books where seemingly unfair enforcement tactics
>have occurred, and I am talking just traffic related stuff, and it's true
>that the reasonably person would agree with the defendant's argument, but
>traffic law is a legal world unto itself, based on the premise that I stated
>up top of this diatribe: "privilege, not right".
>
>a p bloom
>
>
>
>
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Oct 08 2001 - 10:58:57 PDT