I wrote about this topic about a half a year ago and was lambasted on Facebook. Men wrote me the nastiest emails. One of my images was a black pickup truck. Boy were these guys mad! I am continuously astounded by the dangerous driving I experience every day. To prove, I am not imagining an increase in reckless driving, an article I read a few days ago validates my feeling.
From the New York Times, police are engaging in fewer traffic stops which often caught reckless drivers. The reduction in stops is due to the pandemic and cries for police reform after too many incidents in which police officers shot and killed people of color at ordinary traffic stops. According to the article, it is difficult to make a direct correlation between less police monitoring and the rise in traffic fatalities, but the data concerns experts in transportation.
The police were criticized for years for stopping people for equipment failures, like headlights that need new light bulbs. These stops were often associated with racial profiling and caused unnecessary violence due to escalation of the situation on the part of citizen and police officer. Local police departments could focus on catching dangerous drivers instead of filling out forms for expired registration, however, this is not what has occurred. A shortage in police staffing has also affected the lack of police monitoring.
Other strategies employed by cities to curb reckless driving are crosswalks, bicycle lanes, traffic cameras, speed bumps, roads designed to make speeding more difficult, educational programs, and signs posted to reduce speed. These methods vary around the country. Traffic cameras are banned in Austin, Texas. New policies in Los Angeles and Philadelphia have curtailed certain traffic stops, such as broken taillights and expired tags which police often used to illegally search for drugs or weapons. Speed cameras have popped up like weeds here in this suburb of Washington D.C. The latter city had the highest number of traffic fatalities in 2023 since the mid 2000's.
According to the newspaper article, some experts believe there has been a breakdown in the social contract. I tend to agree. As I drive, drivers pass me on the right and left within a lane or when a lane ends. At night, one can hear cars racing. Sometimes, two cars actually race in traffic on an urban street. Speeding, running red lights, hit and run accidents, and pedestrian fatalities have all risen. Some drivers are seemingly oblivious to the danger they create. Drivers are not always at fault. Pedestrians and bike riders take unnecessary risks or do not pay attention. The police are in a position to increase adherance to the rules of the road. But the traditional traffic stop seems to be a source of egregious police misconduct.
Stricter laws have helped reduce traffic deaths with some success, as well as programs such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). But the decline seems short lived. Now there are fewer arrests for drunk driving. Of course, there is a right wing view on safe driving enforcement and a left opinion. The right views police safety as the number one priority. The left has focused on the deaths of black drivers stopped for malfunctioning equipment.
As Damian Kewitt of Los Angeles pointed out--"There's been a lot of injustice. But there's also an injustice when people die because of speeding drivers." Mr. Kewitt lost a leg when a driver hit him on his bicycle, another hit and run.
I tend to drive at the speed limit. In my jurisdiction, one can drive 10 mph over the posted speed limit without being cited. As drivers whiz by, they are going at least 20mph over the limit. I like speed cameras because they remind me to slow down if I forget. Why do drivers consider these devices an invasion of privacy? Even if one is driving to meet a lover, let's say, the citation is very confidential. Of course, if your partner reads your mail....If one is a law abiding citizen, there does not seem much to fear. To me, what is more important--safety or complete confidentiality when you are driving down a road? Safety wins out for me.
Me first is clearly playing a part in the dilemma. I observe this attitude in different contexts. I live in a condo with an underground parking. The spots begin as one enters. I have lived here 3 years. Boggles the mind, that residents need to be told monthly by the resident manager to watch cars moving in front and leaving the garage. Drivers just speed in, never mind someone in front is trying to get into a parking space. More serious is that half our country supports a candidate who exemplifies the me first attitude to the nth degree.
I read an essay on Medium about a couple in Arizona whose infant daughter died due to heat exposure. They took the baby on a boat ride in 120 degrees! Then adding insult to injury, they posted a Go Fund Me campaign to raise money for I don't know what purpose. The couple's family supported them by saying, it was God's will. I say the couple should be arrested for manslaughter.
Let us hope, police departments solve the problem. The solutions are varied: massive public education, so when an officer stops a car no one pulls a gun; roads designed to make it difficult to speed; and all of the techniques already in place.
©Karen Levi2024
コメント