The Kinship Of Speeders
Yesterday on the way to work a minivan coming the other way flashed his headlights at me repeatedly.
After I checked to make sure that I didn’t have my brights on, I surmised that the minivan driver must have been warning me about a police car lurking up ahead. Sure enough, as I turned the corner I saw one waiting in a side street looking to catch speeders.
The phenomenon of drivers feeling compelled to warn others about the presence of cops has always been intriguing to me. On some level, I know that it’s not necessarily a good thing to help other people avoid being caught by the law, but at the same time, I like the feeling of camaraderie that I experience every time someone flashes their headlights at me in warning.
In that spirit of camaraderie, I present the following picture from FAIL Blog, which I thought was hilarious:
12 comments:
Funny!
Luke, I have thought a lot about the ethics of warning potential speeders by flashing one's lights. I have heard about people being pulled over by police for so doing (although I cannot vouch for the veracity of those stories). My point would be that if I flashed my lights to warn someone about a speed trap, I would only be encouraging them to obey the law. After all, isn't that what the police officer is also trying to do?
Solid point Robb,
I deeply enjoy warning and being warned by others as well... Great post!
You just reminded me about an unusual photo of a police cruiser that I took in Haines Junction (Canada) last week.
Watch for it on my blog next Monday!!
It is against the law to flash your lights to warn about a cop running radar here in Ohio, but we do it anyhow.
Meg,
Yeah, I laugh every time I see the picture.
Robb,
My feelings are basically identical to yours. I've always heard that you can get pulled over for it, but have never known of anyone who actually did.
It seems like the police should only really have a problem with it if they were more concerned about generating speeding ticket revenue than getting people to slow down—but you and I know of several local towns where that is probably exactly true. :)
Justin,
I figured you to be a "warner". I'm glad I wasn't disappointed.
David,
Hey, good to see you.
I hope you've enjoyed the trip to Canada so far…I'll be looking for the photo!
WIXY,
Welcome to the blog, and thanks for commenting.
I tend to think that it's against the law here too, but as I mentioned above, I don't think it should be, since it ultimately just serves to get people to slow down (i.e. obey the law).
You got a lot of comments on this topic - maybe a lot of speeders out there?
Mrs. D,
Ya, I'm thinking that's exactly it.
I dunno why my baseball posts don't generate many comments—baseball is so much better than speeding. :)
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