This is an interesting post. I liked the part where RESton Peace talks about how he hates the cops. My feeling is that if you were not always trying to skirt the law or run just over the edge of legal you wouldn't have to hate the cops. You want to hear something funny, or maybe it isn't. The cops that you have come to hate more than likely hate you. Not that they hate everyone that they serve, just you and those like you. The ones that think they are better than the law. The ones that think while the speed limit says 55 it is ok for them to do 70, 75, 85, or 90 or any other speed they feel like. The last time I looked a law was a directive, not a suggestion. It says Speed LIMIT, not Suggested Speed.
The issue with the front license plate, that comes from the Federal Government. The department of Home Land Security is requesting that all states require two license plates. (And last time I looked Maryland did require two) And for all states to enforce the two license plate rule. You don't have to like it, you just need to know that it is a rule and if you want to drive you need to follow the rule. And for those who were not aware, I believe that some one said it already, but why do you think they give you two. And no, tossing it on your dash is not an acceptable way of displaying it.
Just in case anyone other than Gravis thinks otherwise, driving IS a privilege. If it wasn't a privilege that could be taken away from you, If you didn't have the threat of going to jail for driving 100 MPH on the beltway or for driving on a suspended license then people would drive however they wanted and our highway death toll would be 10 fold what it is now. Which by the way was over 1600 people in the state of Virginia last year. The number one contributor to fatal accidents is speed.
So like the officer said, the laws are here to protect you, to protect you from the ignorant and the selfish. Even if the ignorant and selfish they are protecting you from is yourself. And if common sense doesn’t dictate what is write and wrong for you, you can find the law on the internet at
http://leg1.state.va.us/000/src.htm or at your local library.
You know, we just recently had a guy join my office from one of our sister offices in another part of the area. After being there a while he commented that he was much happier with us and that our office was a much better place to work. The difference he said was that the little things mattered to us. We took care of the little things and the big issues just seemed to take care of them selves. I think that as a society that is our problem. The little things no longer matter to us. It is just a license plate. I was only going 15 over the speed limit. The light was only red for a second. Well driving, life and work all have one thing in common. If the little things matter and we take care of them then the big things will take care of them selves. I bet if you start caring about the little things while you drive you might find that you don’t hate the cops and that you both actually want the same things in life. Funny how the average motorist never has an encounter with a police officer and that so many people have multiple encounters with them. Could be a hint.