Are you above the law?
We face a lot of different laws throughout our lives. We have traffic laws, criminal laws, property laws, corporate laws, labour laws and of course the big one – the laws of attraction. Okay, maybe the last one doesn’t really fit here. However, the rest that I listed here, and the many others I haven’t listed, are designed to protect people within our society. They protect people against people in many cases. So now the big question; are you above the law?
My main focus is of course, driving, hence the name The Safe Driver. As I make my daily commute I witness many drivers who either don’t think of laws or feel the laws don’t apply to them. Umm, try again. I’m not just speaking of the laws that govern our roadways. I’m also referring to the laws of physics, mainly inertia and common sense.
There was a recent crash that killed the driver and injured the 3 passengers. The driver took a curve too fast, crossed the centre line and hit a city bus head-on. https://www.thespec.com/news-story/8366483-teen-killed-in-east-end-crash-with-hsr-bus/. The law of inertia won. Inertia is commonly defined as objects which remain moving in a straight line at a constant speed or velocity. The driver who attempted to take the curve at high speed was unable to turn the vehicle enough to avoid crossing over the centre line, which kept their moving in a straight line.
I’m not suggesting that every driver learn physics before they begin driving a vehicle. I’m suggesting they take into consideration that many laws are put in place because there happened to be more knowledgeable people to decide how fast/slow to take curves, how fast roadways should be, how far behind other vehicles you should drive, etc. Common knowledge doesn’t give us this information. Common sense however, should let us know someone with more knowledge made these decisions so we should follow these laws.
We hear of drivers who get caught for speeding well over the posted limit. Did the speed limit not apply to them? Speeding affects all those around the speeding driver as a collision with someone doing the speeding can seriously injure or kill. To the drivers who come nowhere near stopping at stop signs or red lights? Do those laws also not apply to them? Rolling through stops can create a variety of crashes which can also injure or kill others, not to mention the occupants of the vehicle. What’s so important that you need to ignore the laws?
No one is above the law, including the laws of physics. Driving laws were put in place to keep everyone on a level playing field. Could you imagine a sport where only a few people had their own set of rules? Just how chaotic would that be? As parents, we watch our kids play sports and…be honest, when you see other kids playing with their own rules and not following the rules of the game, you get upset or annoyed. You may even question why they would do that. Why is that any different to you having your own set of rules or laws to follow compared to everyone else each time you’re driving? It becomes an imbalance for everyone else and puts you and everyone else at risk.
We may not all agree with the traffic laws, just like we may not agree with all the rules of a particular sport, but we should respect them. My goal is to help you make logical choices to help improve road safety. Perhaps my suggestions should be considered “Marshall” law?