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Thursday, August 9, 2007
There’s a cop! Slow down!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Imagine being a police officer in a marked car. You are trying to get somewhere. Not an “emergency” somewhere, with your blue lights flashing and siren sounding, A “regular” somewhere - say, to headquarters, to lunch, to take a report.
But everywhere you go, people hit the brakes and slow to a crawl.
I’m guiilty of it. On Ronald Reagan Boulevard recently, I glanced in my rearview mirror and experienced that momentary panic that most authority-fearing individuals feel when they see the top-mounted lights directly behind.
Was I going too fast? Is he going to stop me? Immediately I slowed down. So did everyone around me. Luckily I was able to move to the right-hand lane, and he passed, allowing me to breathe again.
But I noticed that he soon landed behind another car, which slowed down, along with all the cars around him. Immediately, a two-lane rolling caravan was formed — no one wanting to speed up, no one able to move over. The police car was stuck - for miles.
A few days later, I was heading down a Snellville two-lane, when I looked back and saw a police car. The speed limit was 25, though I rarely see anyone driving under 30 there. There was very little traffic. I wondered if I should take pity and speed up to a daring 29. But, no, the law was 25, and the lawman was behind me.
Police have got to hate that, I thought!
This would probably not be an issue if all roads had speed limits that seemed reasonable to responsible drivers. Some do. But on certain roads, the posted limits feel unnaturally slow.
I’m not advocating speeding. Neither do police.
The official line is that everyone should always follow the posted speed limit. But police know that most people drive above the prescribed rate. And if it is just a few miles over and there is no other violation, police don’t usually stop you, said Cpl. Illana Spellman of Gwinnett Police.
Still, most of us slow down when we see an officer.
“It can be frustrating at times,” acknowledged Spellman who said most travel by officers is non-emergency rather than “running code” with lights and sirens. “But you kind of accept it.
“People get on their best behavior when they see a marked police officer.”
I’m curious, though. What things do we do that drive police nuts? Would police prefer motorists to continue with a more “normal” rate of speed, even if that is above the posted limit? What do you do when you see police?
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