We’ve all done it; I know I have. See a police car and we hit the brakes. Doesn’t matter if we’re going 5 mph at the time. It’s a reflex action.
So on this day, I was walking into town and saw the police car, with its little blue light on top, and thought I’d take photos of the cars braking as they saw it. Never mind that the police car is clearly targeting vehicles heading out of town. Never mind that I didn’t see any car speeding. They saw the police car, they hit the brakes. Every single car!
I find this kind of action fascinating. And on this subject, it’s common here for drivers to flash their lights at other vehicles to warn them of a police speed trap up ahead. This is something that drives me nuts.
First up, these drivers might have passed the police car some miles back. On numerous occasions, I’ve been warned in this way and never seen a trace of a police car. Secondly, these drivers flash their lights at anyone, never mind if the oncoming cars clearly aren’t speeding. They still get the warning. And thirdly, and most irritating, It’s widely understood that the police here won’t pull you over if you’re going 5 mph or so over the speed limit. They’re looking for drivers ripping along well over the limit. So these light-flashing drivers want to warn speeders like that. I don’t. Frankly, I’d like the police to pull them over and ticket them. I don’t want cars whizzing through town at 40 or 50 mph. Give them a ticket and hopefully they’ll slow down a bit.
Posted for Becky’s Squares: Simply Red. See more responses here.