Safety vs. Revenue

I’ll steal the motto of the Los Angeles police department here..”To Protect and Serve”. I think it is basically what most law enforcement agencies believe is their mission. A noble mission it is and I admire those that that put their lives on the line each day. But there a few flies in the ointment here.

All law enforcement agencies need to make money to pay the officers, service personnel and maintain vehicles, that’s why a speeding ticket, or a rolling through a stop sign ( also known as a ‘California Rolling Stop’) or a close lane change cost so much. But what is the purpose of a Highway Patrol? To keep the highways and biways safe? That’s what I have always thought. I think I may be wrong…to a point.

Over the past few years ‘Stealth Cars’ have become much more prevalent on the Highways. Here in California we have had unmarked Mustang’s, Camaro’s, Caprice’s and Crown Victoria’s all in plain colors, no markings and lights hidden behind tinted windows . Kind of cheating don’t you think?

If you want to protect and maintain the safety of the highways, make the cars look like Highway Patrol cars. Have you ever noticed while you’re riding that even though a Highway Patrol car is on the side of the road giving someone else a ticket (luckily not you) traffic slows down, or when you see a ‘Black and White’ on the road ahead of you or coming up behind you, you maintain the speed limit, use your signals and do whatever is safe so you don’t get pulled over.

So here is my thought for the day…and my question…
What is more important? Revenue or Safety. If the states would paint all these new ‘stealth cars’ in Highway Patrol colors and put them on the Highways, drivers / riders would obey (well, maybe) the traffic laws because they would see more enforcement and then hopefully the roads would be safer. But wait, that might mean less tickets and therefore less revenue. So what is really more important to the state? Safety or Revenue?? Think about it.