🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <35941A85.7310@erols.com>, Jim Titus <"JJTTIITTUUSS_remove
doubl_spmblock"@erols.com> writes
>In our various discussions of aggressive driving, a number of possible
>policy options have been overlooked.  One solution would be to simply
>arrest anyone who drives more than 10 mph under the speed limit--better
>yet, anyone who drives less than 5mph over the limit.  That would leave
>much more room for people who want to go fast, and thus, they would be
>less likely to be aggressive because they would be having a better day
>with no slowpokes on the road.  Moreover, it is probably easier to
>enforce than other solutions because these slow drivers are so easy to
>catch.THIS WOULD ALSO LEAD TO MORE DEATHS DUE TO DANGEROUS DRIVING
>
>       This policy is being tested in Frederick County, Maryland. 
>Unfortunately, the only description I have is a biased editorial from
>the Washington Post, which opposes this policy--which one would expect
>from a liberal DC paper.  Still, this conveys the general gist of this
>innovative solution to aggressive driving.
>
>See
>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-06/26/038l-062698-idx.html
>
>Friday, June 26, 1998; Page A26 
>
>   ESTER MARIA Pena's going to think twice before venturing into
>Frederick County,
>Md., again. Perhaps so should most motorists if they, like Ms. Pena,
>happen to drive
> under the speed limit and might be likely to mistake a sheriff deputy's
>siren for an
>  ambulance. Her harrowing June 12 experience with three county officers
>is one that
>ought to have county leaders and other citizens up in arms.
> For driving 38 mph in a 55 mph zone and not pulling over when she heard
>a siren --
> which she thought was coming from an ambulance she couldn't see --
>Frederick
>                 
>        County sheriff's deputies, one with gun drawn, descended upon Ms.
>Pena, a D.C.
>   schoolteacher, manhandling her as if she were public enemy No. 1. It
>was a stark
>  case of an excessive use of force and police overreaction. It was also
>a dumb thing
>  to have done, made only dumber by the explanations from the sheriff's
>department.
>
> "Older ladies that are confused and scared unfortunately cause
>accidents," said
>  Maj. Francis Tully in the sheriff's office. He was referring to the
>58-year-old Ms.
>Pena. Consider the possibility, however, that Maj. Tully has it
>backward. That
> maybe Ms. Pena -- who was driving slowly along the highway looking for
>an exit so
> she could get to her ladies' church group on time for lunch -- ended up
>scared out of
>her wits by the behavior of his deputies. Maybe driving slowly looking
>for a left exit
> does impede traffic flow. But does it warrant being pulled over,
>ordered to put your
> hands behind your head by officers -- one with gun drawn -- yanked out
>of your car
>by your arm, made to bend over the trunk, handcuffed roughly, and then
>hauled off
>to the county detention center, where you're kept in leg shackles for
>hours while
>waiting for a bail commissioner? We'd say Ms. Pena had good and
>sufficient reason
>to be terrified, disgusted and mad as hell to boot.
>
>                  Frederick County leaders ought to be all over the
>sheriff's department. How in the name of sweet reason could Ms. Pena
>have been arrested, shackled and charged
> with "fleeing and eluding" when she was driving 17 miles under the
>speed limit?
>And how, in the face of such official excess, could State's Attorney
>Scott Rolle
> defend those officers? Ms. Pena didn't deserve to be treated like a
>dangerous felon.
>The danger that existed came from the other side. 
>
>                             � Copyright 1998 The Washington Post
>Company

-- 
UncleSam