Traffic lights and the attitude of the Police

[Skyryder]

Saw exactly the same thing down here in CHCH a couple of weeks ago. Biker cop waiting for the green and car running red. Cop just ignored it and drove off. Few months back when the police were trialing the bikes I pulled up beside a biker cop on red. No sooner had I stopped and he took off. Did the good citizen duty thing and reported through the 'dob a driver' thing don't know the right name, can't remember. Never heard a word back. As I understand the law you can go through an orange light providing you get 'across' the intersection before the light turns red.

Skyryder

[Usarka]

swabnet, you did the right thing man, take it one step further and right your mp with that story tell them they've got it all fooked up and the cops are dangering our lives. it aint unusual, though im surprised at a bike cop, usually those guys are traffic - u can sort of understand with gd crew but it still aint good. U shoulda got his reg.

Telling the mp might not do squat, but then again it might and it'll likely do more than posting here though glad you did.

[craigs288]

No, the law didn't hurt them at all. They hurt themselves by trying to tell others how to run their lives.

On the whole, as much as I find religious nuts annoying, they aren't quite as annoying and dangerous as your government. Religious nuts don't get to make and pass legislation that people don't like, and then enforce it on you anyway. Only the government gets to do that, but maybe we should let sleeping dogs lie (lie).

Plus, religious nuts can be fun to have conversation with.
If you tell them they are wrong, where is their proof, all they can come up with is "God said 'whatever', therefore it is so, therefore you should do it because it is right".
I generally start with "When was the last time God spoke to you?" , followed closely by "So you admit to hearing voices in your head, that aren't you?", "You can get drugs from a doctor to help with that, or psychiatric treatment".
The second most common argument is that it is in the book of God, the bible so it must be right. I usually ask to see it, because I am curious to see what God's handwriting looks like. In the end it is always just another book written by humans, and there are so many variations that contradict each other, it is hard to tell which, if any, are correct.
I end by saying I have a religion, it is called motorcycling.

[Grub]

I think the police need to remember who they work for.

Nothing personal, but I wish people would stop thinking like this and spouting this rubbish.

They have never worked for you, they never will.

BTW I don't agree with the cop and I hope you have filed a complaint - he's so wrong!

[Patrick]

I think the police need to remember who they work for.

Where is my raise then???? I'm still waiting.....

I pay taxes, so am I self employed then? Hope so, so I can get that raise...

I think you will find your taxes actually go toward keeping BURTON and other oxygen thieves fed in prison....

[Patrick]

Nothing personal, but I wish opeople would stop thinking like this and spouting this rubbish.

They have never worked for you, they never will.

BTW I don't agree with the cop and I hope you have filed a complaint - he's so wrong!

I agree... those cars could have stopped as the lights changed and if they proceed through an orange, able to stop, then they can be ticketed for it... $150 a pop. That cop is wrong. Easy quota....

[swbarnett]

Nothing personal,

No offence taken. I love the to and fro of opposing ideas - somewhere, in the continuum between lies the truth.

but I wish opeople would stop thinking like this and spouting this rubbish.

They have never worked for you, they never will.

This depends on how you look at it. No, I don't directly pay their salary but I do buy police services from the government via my taxes. This makes me (and every other tax payer) a client of the police. I apply this philosophy in my job - my employer pays my salary, I work for my clients (and in the case where my client is a hospital I work for the patients).

Where is my raise then???? I'm still waiting.....

I pay taxes, so am I self employed then? Hope so, so I can get that raise...

There is an argument for not taxing anyone that is paid completely out of taxpayers money. This would cut down on a lot of treasury bureaucracy.

[Pumba]

Does this not lull drivers into a false sense of security? People get to know that they've got a couple of seconds after the red so they use it. I may be wrong but when the gap was introduced it seemed that more people started running the red. At least when there was no gap people knew when the opposing green was active.

BTW: Thanks for clarifying the gap situation.

I see the logic in the point raised, and is probally a fair argument. Im not familiar with the time when the was gap introduced (hell Ive only been driving for 8 years and working as ane engineer for 3 or 4, im not that old) but such a system would have been introduced becuase of two reasons:

1. Technology

2. Accident Reduction

If it didnt reduce acidents and show zero to minimal increase in conjestion (statisitcly at least, real world it may be quite different but the paper pushers, and policy makers in the road controlling authoritys dont seem to give a dam about this) the system wouldnt have lasted for long.

[Skyryder]

On the whole, as much as I find religious nuts annoying, they aren't quite as annoying and dangerous as your government. Religious nuts don't get to make and pass legislation that people don't like, and then enforce it on you anyway. Only the government gets to do that, but maybe we should let sleeping dogs lie (lie).

Plus, religious nuts can be fun to have conversation with.
If you tell them they are wrong, where is their proof, all they can come up with is "God said 'whatever', therefore it is so, therefore you should do it because it is right".
I generally start with "When was the last time God spoke to you?" , followed closely by "So you admit to hearing voices in your head, that aren't you?", "You can get drugs from a doctor to help with that, or psychiatric treatment".
The second most common argument is that it is in the book of God, the bible so it must be right. I usually ask to see it, because I am curious to see what God's handwriting looks like. In the end it is always just another book written by humans, and there are so many variations that contradict each other, it is hard to tell which, if any, are correct.
I end by saying I have a religion, it is called motorcycling.

If Zed ever comes back you'll have some fun.

Skyryder

[Sanx]

If Zed ever comes back you'll have some fun.

Skyryder

Arguing over religion is like arguing over who's got the best imaginary friend. In fact, it's the same thing.

[carver]

And the government is there to work for 'us' and to serve our interests, theoretically. But they don't. In reality they serve their own interests.

What makes you think a government that doesn't serve our interests is going to put the police to work doing it??? The police are made to serve the government's interests, not ours. Sometimes though, there is a small effort made by the government to give the appearance of doing something for the public good.

Like um,.... um,.... um,... wait, I've got it. Passing legislation for less than 2% of the country so that gay people can feel more normal by getting hitched. No wait, more than 2% of the politicians are gay. Does that make them over-represented. Perhaps they only did it to serve their own interest so they could get hitched.

Bring on the insults about homophobia. Unless there are no gay kiwibikers. Does that mean we under-represent these people. That would make this website politically incorrect.

P.S. Not trying to offend anyone. Except maybe the government.

vote libertarianz

[swbarnett]

If it didnt reduce acidents and show zero to minimal increase in conjestion (statisitcly at least, real world it may be quite different but the paper pushers, and policy makers in the road controlling authoritys dont seem to give a dam about this) the system wouldnt have lasted for long.

The thought occurs to me that the gap system may actually reduce accidents at a given intersection (I have no hard evidence either way) but it certainly raises driver stress levels. This can't be good for the accident rate in general.

[Grahameeboy]

Arguing over religion is like arguing over who's got the best imaginary friend. In fact, it's the same thing.

That's why I don't argue.......but I agree with your analogy.

[SlashWylde]

...and his answer was that if the light turns red after you have crossed the white line you're legal. I pointed out that you're technically supposed to stop on a yellow if you can do so and he replied that if they ticketed every occurrence of this they'd have to ticket everybody in Auckland (fair enough to a point).

Bollocks. If your light had already turned green and there were still two cars crossing the intersection then they were too late in getting there and should have stopped for the orange or red. Their intent was to get through the intersection no matter what, rather than doing what is safest for them selves and other members of the community. The officer should have pulled one of these motorists over and ticketed them.

His policing is also inconsistent with that of his fellow officers. On a number of occasions I have seen BikeyCop parked at intersections in east Auckland snapping people who run the red.

His claim that if the police ticketed every occurrence of this then they would have to ticket everybody in Auckland smacks of laziness and misses the point.

If they did that then people would quickly get the idea that there's a real possibility of getting a ticket for rushing an orange light or running a red light. This is what the police are supposed to be doing. If they can pull me up for making a momentary mistake and doing 69 on a straight stretch of 50kph zone after just coming off a state highway, then they can damn well improve the safety of intersections by policing them properly.

[Holy Roller]

More red light cameras are needed lightening the wallet has a behaviour modification componet incorporated. Much better than a sudden intrusion into ones own private space to modify ones behaviour. This is one situation that cameras have a true safety purpose.