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The Forum > Article Comments > Putting the brakes on the road toll > Comments

Putting the brakes on the road toll : Comments

By Andrew Leigh, published 17/12/2004

Andrew Leigh argues that there are alternatives to P-plater programs to reduce road tolls.

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I was outraged at the extraordinary contradiction just thrust in my face by the police. So I quickly stopped and went for a run. I have been a runner for years and it is an excellent way to clear one’s head and dissipate anger and frustration. I just happened to run past these two officers sitting in their car at the other end of the carpark. This prompted them to slowly follow me back to my car and then give me the complete checkover.

Now I am of the opinion that the police should be able to do checks that are prompted by suspicious or illegal behaviour. But they should not be able to do checks that are prompted by completely innocent behaviour. I asked them why they chose to check me out after my run and why this prompted a different response to the initial encounter. They said that I had made myself conspicuous. What?

I had not done anything illegal, offensive, cheeky or out of place. They made no suggestion that I had. They didn’t ask me what the run was about at all.

Well, as far as I am concerned, that demonstrated erratic and unjustifiable behaviour from the police, and was unacceptable.

I gave direct confident and polite answers to their questions. My licence, rego and everything else checked out okay. They let me go. But not before the officer in charge said almost apologetically that they were just doing their job regarding the seatbelt. Yes, sure.

continued
Posted by Ludwig, Friday, 30 June 2006 10:05:39 PM
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Well at least they were cool-headed and polite and they didn’t book me or find some incredibly pedantic thing about my car to cause me trouble over. So I suppose they were somewhere in the middle ground between how they should have behaved and how they could have behaved if they had had the inclination. But.... why can’t the police just behave in the best manner possible all the time?

They certainly presented an awful side of the police, as being just completely above the law and proper procedure, or what you would think would be proper procedure. They demonstrated the most extraordinary discretionary powers, based on nothing. Now while police do have wide-ranging discretionary powers, they need to be very careful about abusing them.

I would also question the legality of their actions on a number of points - driving against a no entry with no good reason to do so, reprimanding me for not wearing a seatbelt in a situation completely off the open road, speaking to me in a far less than polite, courteous, respectful or even neutral manner on that issue, and using a completely benign action of mine to trigger a licence, rego and general check.

Most people have very limited contact with police and it only takes minor interactions that are less than proper to generate very strong feelings. I think it is EXTREMELY important that the police stick to totally tactful, polite and neutral interaction with the public, until they have a very strong reason not to.

Respect for the law and hence compliance depends very strongly on respect for law-enforcers. When the law-enforcers are seen to not respect the law, major problems can and do result
Posted by Ludwig, Friday, 30 June 2006 11:28:39 PM
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Lahhhhdwiiiig, are you kidding me?

You can’t really be serious about this. Don’t you think that the police have all sorts of crappy things to deal with? Don’t you think that the experience you have just had is really right at the minor end of the scale and not worth worrying about? Don’t you think you should cut them a bit of slack?

Talk about them being pedantic in chatting you about your bloomin seat belt, don’t you think you are being pedantic with your criticism of them? Afterall, you did say that they were cool-headed and that they could have behaved in a much worse manner.
Posted by Ludwig, Monday, 3 July 2006 12:01:47 AM
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Oow ullow Luddie, me ol’ alter-ego arch-enemy. Long time no chat. Thought you’d dropped off the perch. O well, wishful thinking.

Well, I think my arguments are crystal clear. I have given the police credit where credit is due.

But to clarify, just for you…..

YES I am bloody serious about this. No two ways about that.

Yes the police have all sorts of crap to deal with, but that doesn’t excuse them for one moment from being fully polite and decent to everyone, until they have good reason to take a more forceful approach. Rudeness, or speaking to someone in a belittling manner, straight-up without cause, is just simply not acceptable. There are police who get off on aggressive and intimidatory conversation. My experience reeked of that.

Yes that experience was right at the minor end of the scale. So given the absolute triviality of the issue, why weren’t the police just simply polite and decent about it? Why would they be pig-headed about such an incredibly minor thing? I conclude that it was the power-trip mentality in this instance.

Most people have very rare encounters with police. The occasional interaction can count a great deal towards their perception of not only those specific officers, but also the whole police force. What the police would consider an extremely minor interaction with a member of the public could very well be perceived as anything but minor from the opposite perspective. The police do afterall represent the whole police force of their state or territory, and indeed represent their government as they are public servants, every time they say anything to anyone. And that is how most people perceive it.

There is nothing pedantic about my approach to this issue Luddie. It is very serious. If people in general think as I do, then encounters like this mean a hell of a lot in terms of respect for the law and law-enforcers.
Posted by Ludwig, Tuesday, 4 July 2006 12:07:05 AM
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The Nebo – Dingo road, central Queensland, used to be a minor back-road. But with the development of numerous mines and towns in the Bowen Basin coalfields, it has become a highway, every bit as good and as busy as the Peak Downs and Bruce Hwys.

Speed limit – unsigned, therefore 100kmh. Today I sat on 100 to 110 on the stretch north from Middlemount, which is 111km long up to the Peak Downs Hwy. A steady stream of vehicles passed me at great speed. Once they had overtaken me and were travelling at their cruising speed, I matched their speed briefly to determine how fast they were going. Every vehicle was doing 115 to 130kmh.

It became patently obvious that the locals know that the police turn a blind eye to the speed limit on this road. I even passed a police vehicle, which had obviously come past many vehicles doing in excess of 20kmh over the speed limit.

Then, on the Peak Downs Hwy, the story was completely different, with every vehicle keeping it down to at most 110kmh in the 100k zone.

So, here we have another perversion of the road rules and the policing thereof (on top of several that I mentioned on this thread).

Again I ask, what on earth is with the police and their random decisions to allow this sort of thing? Or alternatively, what is it about the police that they feel complete impunity to misuse their discretionary powers to this extent?

And again I point just how little respect normal people have for the law. And that the only thing they respect is what they can get away with.

And again I point out just how hopeless it is for those who respect and obey the law, and even for those who observe the entrenched 10kmh leeway, but who still suffer vehicles coming up very rapidly behind, tailgating and often dangerously overtaking if they get caught up behind you.
Posted by Ludwig, Friday, 7 July 2006 10:42:02 PM
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Following on from my first post of 29 June:

NO I didn’t go to the cops.

Another incident of the most blatant type, involving a young driver with three of his mates in the car, driving in a totally aggressive and dangerous manner on the Bruce Hwy, tailgating to the max, dangerously overtaking and then slip-streaming a large truck by following it with a one car-length gap at 110kmh for many kilometres…… and I still didn’t go to the cops!

Well, I did actually, to the nearest police stations in both Ayr and Home Hill… but would you believe it, both were closed… at about 2pm on a Thursday!….and there was no notice to say why, or when they would reopen… just locked front doors.

Needless to say, I was and am appalled to the highest degree.

I could have gone to the police further down the road, or perhaps put in a written complaint. But….. the feeling of alienation presented by the police force again outweighed the impulse to do something about an obvious accident looking for a place to happen.
Posted by Ludwig, Friday, 21 July 2006 11:09:01 AM
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