Stop - Police

Coming back from a night's work in Tauranga, I mused about how boring my driving habits had become over the years. Mentally bashed by years of road safety advertisements, and anti drinking propaganda, here go I; driving at the speed limit, with an absolute zero blood alcohol limit; It is a good thing I suspect.

The Police here in NZ want to drop the current legal limit even further, saying it will go a long way to reinforcing the idea that drinking and driving is a bad idea - I just can't agree with that logic. Most people caught DUI in New Zealand are often measured at more than twice the legal limit. I fail to see how that figure changing to three times the legal limit will do much more than make the government more money. Recidivist offenders are the problem here, not those who keep below the existing drink driving blood alcohol levels.

My own brushes with the law have, fortunately, been few and far between. The last time I was stopped for exceeding the speed limit was over eight years ago - Yes, I've been effectively neutered. Funnily enough my two most stressful run in's with the law involved IG.

The first time I was 'radar'd' - IG admitted to seeing the Cops in the distance. Later, when asked why he didn't say anything IG looked embarrassed before stating "I was just working out how much the fine was going to be".

The second time, a Cop stopped me for not coming to a complete stop at a "Stop Sign". When I got out of my car to talk to the Officer I had no idea why I was being pulled over.

"You failed to stop at that Stop Sign back there sir" he said

"He did stop" - offered IG, before I could say a damn thing. This statement obviously raised the ire of the Cop who said in a loud voice "NO... he didn't".

I hurriedly intervened, stating that I was unaware of my actions, and would take more care to stop completely in the future.

The Cop looked down over his moustache, and weighed up the evidence before saying "Well just make sure from now on - let the car roll ever so slightly backward after you stop - that way you know you have completely stopped"

Breathing a sigh of relief, and having avoided a ticket, my calm was shattered an instant later by IG immediately stating "BUT HE DID STOP". It was obvious from that point onward that IG and I had no psychic connection; unless, as I mentally projected SHUT THE FUCK UP with all my will, he simply elected not to hear me....

Actually, I wouldn't put that past him .....

They kill

Getting over myself for a moment - I've decided to make a comment on the boy racer debate.
Background to this story can be found here, but to distill the story somewhat I will simply say that last weekend a young man died during a street race in Mt Maunganui, when he was hit by a car at over 100 kilometers an hour.

This, and other deaths from street racing have captured the attention of the media here, and there are calls to ban this and ban that all over the airwaves.
While it is a sad fact that young men and woman find increasingly new and exciting ways to kill each other, this is hardly a new problem. Those people making the "ban this" comments, were, twenty years ago, probably doing the same sort of thing as their modern day counterparts; And therein lies the point.
The "adults" of this society are hell bent on saving the lives of the "younger" generation, and by doing so are eroding the same quality and freedom of life that they enjoyed, when they were younger.

The ideas of creating a racetrack, drag-strip, or drift track is a moot point. Part of the desire to street race comes from the fact that it is, in itself, illegal. Having been involved to some degree in track racing I can tell you that such an event will involve scruitineering of cars (that may not pass the test), safety equipment (costly) and rules. God forbid if anyone dies at a track meet - as the organisers will be held responsible and charged to the full extent of the law.

Perhaps the solution to this problem is to stop civilian traffic from venturing into the "race zones" after hours, thus eliminating any chance of an innocent bystander being killed. To the rest of those who chose to take their lives into their own hands; it was nice knowing you. Maybe you'll make it - maybe you wont.

And that way the kids of today can have something they are continuously denied - responsibility.