To serve and collect - guest columnist

[Treblehook]

Idiocy. Pure unadulterated idiocy. The writer starts out by blaming a police officer for a fatal accident because some stupid driver was not wearing her seatbelt and had an accident because she was trying to buckle up while on the move!!! Give us all a break. This notion is over the top stupid. The rest of the drivel in this column is no better and is full of BS. It is bad enough when this kind of stupidity appears in the rantings of primarily obsessed people who contribute to forums, but even worse when it appears in this format in Castanet.

[cutter7]

Idiocy. Pure unadulterated idiocy. The writer starts out by blaming a police officer for a fatal accident because some stupid driver was not wearing her seatbelt and had an accident because she was trying to buckle up while on the move!!! Give us all a break. This notion is over the top stupid. The rest of the drivel in this column is no better and is full of BS. It is bad enough when this kind of stupidity appears in the rantings of primarily obsessed people who contribute to forums, but even worse when it appears in this format in Castanet.

The writer was not blaming the cop for the accident he said the driver was so afraid of getting a seatbelt fine she panicked and caused the accident.

What part of the rest of the article do you think is bs? it all looks pretty accurate to me

[Roadster]

Funny, I was just gonna post this topic. I call BS on it too, If that person had put her seat belt on she'da had nothing to worry about and coulda saved some lives. It is the speeders and cell phone users and other law breakers who have to think this way and panic because they got in the car planning on doing whats not right in the beginning. Wanna talk on the cell? Do it then pull out. Wanna drive without a seat belt? Don't try to put it on cos you saw a cop! Wanna drink a few? Don't worry when a cops pulls you over then, Just pull over and see if he has anything to say about it. Hey maybe yer not in the wrong so why try to act like you are while doing 90 down a highway cos a cop is now behind you?

Its all about decisions and then facing up to them if called on it. I still see lots Yapping on the phones while driving. What is good is I do see lots more pulling over, even in front of my house to talk and that is good. People are getting it, just not as fast as we would like.

"To serve and collect from the stupid" should be the title.

When I see a cop I do check what I am doing too, never once found my seat belt off or a phone stuck in my ear but we all check don't we? Checking is OK, Trying to right a bad decision while in a moving vehicle is not. Now how would you deal with this situation of a cop behind you if you decided not to buckle yer kid in the back seat properly and now yer doing 90 ???

[Captain Awesome]

The amusing part of the story is that the author is reminiscing about good old days when you weren't afraid of the cops, and how police now like to give out tickets and collect fines, and how everybody is afraid of police now (who the hell is afraid of police?)...

Yet the accident he's describing happened more than 20 years ago during those good old days.

[cutter7]

Funny, I was just gonna post this topic. I call BS on it too, If that person had put her seat belt on she'da had nothing to worry about and coulda saved some lives. It is the speeders and cell phone users and other law breakers who have to think this way and panic because they got in the car planning on doing whats not right in the beginning. Wanna talk on the cell? Do it then pull out. Wanna drive without a seat belt? Don't try to put it on cos you saw a cop! Wanna drink a few? Don't worry when a cops pulls you over then, Just pull over and see if he has anything to say about it. Hey maybe yer not in the wrong so why try to act like you are while doing 90 down a highway cos a cop is now behind you?

Its all about decisions and then facing up to them if called on it. I still see lots Yapping on the phones while driving. What is good is I do see lots more pulling over, even in front of my house to talk and that is good. People are getting it, just not as fast as we would like.

"To serve and collect from the stupid" should be the title.

When I see a cop I do check what I am doing too, never once found my seat belt off or a phone stuck in my ear but we all check don't we? Checking is OK, Trying to right a bad decision while in a moving vehicle is not. Now how would you deal with this situation of a cop behind you if you decided not to buckle yer kid in the back seat properly and now yer doing 90 ???

If everyone obeyed the rules we wouldn't need people to enforce them now would we? this stuff happens .

I see people speeding or talking on the phone every time I go out I also see people hit the brakes when they see police. Just because I obey traffic laws doesn't mean everyone else does.

[Roadster]

The amusing part of the story is that the author is reminiscing about good old days when you weren't afraid of the cops, and how police now like to give out tickets and collect fines, and how everybody is afraid of police now (who the hell is afraid of police?)...

Yet the accident he's describing happened more than 20 years ago during those good old days.

Good catch, I didn't even spot that timing thing of the incident, but true.

I hope she had to do something to pay for that decision she made back then. Now you would, back then maybe not so much.
Only time I was ever afraid of a cop was when one came up on me with lights and sirens blaring, I thought for sure he figured I was his target till I pulled over and he whizzed by me, WHooo, what a rush!

[Roadster]

Funny, I was just gonna post this topic. I call BS on it too, If that person had put her seat belt on she'da had nothing to worry about and coulda saved some lives. It is the speeders and cell phone users and other law breakers who have to think this way and panic because they got in the car planning on doing whats not right in the beginning. Wanna talk on the cell? Do it then pull out. Wanna drive without a seat belt? Don't try to put it on cos you saw a cop! Wanna drink a few? Don't worry when a cops pulls you over then, Just pull over and see if he has anything to say about it. Hey maybe yer not in the wrong so why try to act like you are while doing 90 down a highway cos a cop is now behind you?

Its all about decisions and then facing up to them if called on it. I still see lots Yapping on the phones while driving. What is good is I do see lots more pulling over, even in front of my house to talk and that is good. People are getting it, just not as fast as we would like.

"To serve and collect from the stupid" should be the title.

When I see a cop I do check what I am doing too, never once found my seat belt off or a phone stuck in my ear but we all check don't we? Checking is OK, Trying to right a bad decision while in a moving vehicle is not. Now how would you deal with this situation of a cop behind you if you decided not to buckle yer kid in the back seat properly and now yer doing 90 ???

If everyone obeyed the rules we wouldn't need people to enforce them now would we? this stuff happens .

I see people speeding or talking on the phone every time I go out I also see people hit the brakes when they see police. Just because I obey traffic laws doesn't mean everyone else does.

Thats right so now why write a column about the cops being the bad guy here, it is the law breakers who make them do for us what should keep us all safe, including the law breaker if he/she didn't panic and cause a crash instead, Bet that woman drove with a seat belt after that tho. Now how many people here would not move the car till everyone is buckled up? How many here still Yap on the phone and have to worry when a cop suddenly appears? What if that cop wasn't there to collect and remind you today and you crash instead? The whole story stinks of blame to me.

[sooperphreek]

its not "serve". the saying is harrass and collect. at least get the joke right.

[KL3-Something]

If Mr. Duquette had presented some viable alternative solutions that would effectively entice people to comply with the laws governing road safety then I probably would not have formed my current opinion of him as just some guy with a keyboard who has had a few tickets he wasn't happy with.

[Roadster]

If Mr. Duquette had presented some viable alternative solutions that would effectively entice people to comply with the laws governing road safety then I probably would not have formed my current opinion of him as just some guy with a keyboard who has had a few tickets he wasn't happy with.

I hear ya on this one, For a writer, this piece is a fail for my reading entertainment. He does sound like one with an old chip on the shoulder.

[Treblehook]

"What part of the rest of the article do you think is bs? it all looks pretty accurate to me'

In reply to Cutter7's question above, I think it has been answered by all of the posts that followed on this topic. Nevertheless, I will respond briefly as to what else is BS in this piece. The guest columnist paints a picture that suggests that all of the cops are out there on the streets, overzealously seeking out traffic offences [minor and otherwise] so they can write up tickets with the objective of collecting as much fine money as possible. The truth is [in most cases] it is the uniform cop, attached to the Traffic Unit at any Detachment, Police Station or Department, who normally writes almost all of the traffic tickets that are written. Although traffic enforcement is almost always one of the responsibilities of the general duty police officer, it is normally so far down their priority list that it gets little or no attention whatsoever. Why? Because the general duty cop has [for many years] been so overloaded with calls for service and investigations that he/she has no time, no interest nor inclination to do traffic enforcement. Usually if they do write someone a ticket, it was because the infraction was serious or so "in your face" that there was no choice but to do so. Interesting, albeit outrageously assinine, the columnist suggests that the bike squads were formed to participate in the revenue collecting scheme by government through the police. Either this guy is horribly misinformed or has a chip on his shoulder as someone put it; or has some other issues. I stand by my initial thought that the columnist is full of it.

[Roadster]

Idiocy. Pure unadulterated idiocy. The writer starts out by blaming a police officer for a fatal accident because some stupid driver was not wearing her seatbelt and had an accident because she was trying to buckle up while on the move!!! Give us all a break. This notion is over the top stupid. The rest of the drivel in this column is no better and is full of BS. It is bad enough when this kind of stupidity appears in the rantings of primarily obsessed people who contribute to forums, but even worse when it appears in this format in Castanet.

The writer was not blaming the cop for the accident he said the driver was so afraid of getting a seatbelt fine she panicked and caused the accident.

What part of the rest of the article do you think is bs? it all looks pretty accurate to me

Accurate if you have had some kind of chip on your shoulder too, I guess. The whole thing is BS IMO. We'd have no tickets or fear if we made good choices but we don't all do that. I got to say thanks to a cop today. I am glad they do what they do to keep most of us safe. If you fear them then you have a reason. I don't.
I stand by my first thought, she shoulda pulled over and let the cop decide if she should get a ticket or not. Instead she killed people over it. SHE was not a good example for him to use in the story.

[Mr. Personality]

(who the hell is afraid of police?)

Based on previous incidents, I am.

[Roadster]

(who the hell is afraid of police?)

Based on previous incidents, I am.

Agreed, based on the previous incidents I would worry some just because that is still fresh in the mind but I wouldn't be struggling to slap on a seat belt (would already be on), I wouldn't be struggling to rush a smell of booze or pot out of my car or slap pieces of gum in my mouth to mask a smell as was the point of the story that was written. It was about collecting for tickets for breaking the law while on the road. The police have some work ahead of them to clear up what has happened with a few cops but it doesn't come into play here. This is about people fearing what they are doing wrong and trying to avoid getting caught and paying a fine for it.
What we have to realize is the majority of them are good cops and they will ticket us till we get it right. That is never gonna happen cos there are too many idiots out there.

[grumpydigger]

they will ticket us till we get it right

You do realize that should work both ways