I had an interesting conversation yesterday on a message board regarding the ethics of blinking your headlights to alert traffic of a nearby police car. In a poll, 60% of Christians said they practice this warning system while 40% said they do not. I defended the majority position, but I was also playing devil's advocate a bit. The following arguments were made in the thread:Reasons we should not blink
~ we should submit to governing authorities
~ It saves lives
~ It's like warning a bank robber of a nearby cop
Reasons we should blink
~ In my opinion, the role of a police officer was never intended to include parking and waiting for speeders. I find this practice quite corrupt and all about making money for the governments. Many Cops have a ticket quoata they are expected to reach each month. I question the motive of the practice. To me, it seems they are more interested in making money than in making the streets safer. For example, in my town everyone pleads down their speeding violation to a parking ticket. Why? Because parking ticket revenue goes to the town instead of the state. That's revealing. That's corruption. I won't honor corruption with my obedience.
~ One person gave a hypothetical scenario of a warned driver slowing down for a mile and then speeding back up and killing a kid. But I responded by saying that if I didn't warn people, they could hit a kid between me and the cop! Again, what is the 'purpose'? To get drivers to slow down or to hand out tickets.
~ I argued that it's nothing like warning a bank robber. It was mentioned that speeding is a civil offense and theft is a legal offense. But beyond that, warning a bank robber allows the crime to continue whereas warning a speeder actually stops the offense from occuring (at least for a while).
What are your arguments for or against this practice? Do you alert traffic about upcoming cops?
7 comments:
calgary is full of speed traps. while waiting at one light i saw four people get pulled over. There were two cops with radar guns, and the road went from 80 to 50 before a light (which makes no sense at all if you ask me...there's a light, we have to slow down). I think that's just looking to fill ticket quota. I don't see a problem with warning people, it makes them slow down, so it could actually be seen as encouraging people to obey.
note to self....do not move to calgary
Here's my thought - maybe they do set up speed traps to fill quotas or because they have nothing better to do, BUT, if we were not speeding (as the law dictates we shouldn't anyway), why do any of us care????
i care because there are a lot of better things they could be doing. There arenumerous grow-ops in calgary, there is gang activity, there are muggings, beatings and missing people. Instead of sitting all afternoon and handing out tickets they could be taking care of things that are more important
People flash their lights when cops are around?????!!!! Whoa....
I don't flash my lights to warn people. Most people speed 5-10mph over the speed limit which is still relatively safe and won't get you pulled over (in most cases). If they are going faster than that, it will be good for them to get pulled over and learn a lesson. Regarding cops and corruption and quotas. Unavoidable, there is going to be corruption. However, all cops are not out to reach quotas. My dad is a cop, when he runs radar, he looks for people that are driving at unsafe speeds, usually 12+mph over the limit. I think it is good to have cops looking for speeders. One, while parked and out in the city, they are doing something constructive. If a mugging or robbery comes up, it takes a call on the radio and they are off. I think as general practice, Patrol cops observe people en mass and don't go looking for muggers etc (unlike detectives.)
The police are not perfect but they are important. Again, safety is the issue even though it is painful to admit that we too often value speed over safety.
Thanks for that perspective Joe. You balanced out my extreme views quite well :)
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