[SteveA]

Though obviously people are subject to the law, I don't think all laws were created equal.

They could arrest someone for spitting on the ground, show me a videotape of the guy spitting, read word for word the law that declares such to be illegal and if I were a juror in the case I'd say "Not guilty", though it was truly obvious he violated the law.

In the case of the person leaving his car parked in front of a fire hydrant, yes I agree there's a reason why we need hydrants to be accessible and this should be enforced but if someone stopped for a little to pick someone up there's no reason to harrass them over it because in the off chance a fire truck really needed to use the hydrant, the person could simply move.

I could probably list a lot of other things that though technically are illegal, they don't deserve that definition.

So though yes we need laws and enforcement for them. The mere fact that something is a law doesn't always mean people should follow them or they should be enforced. To me it would seem better if the hydrant laws at least acknowledged the value of being able to quickly park in front of one. Who knows, maybe the laws do? How many people truly know what even a small fraction of the laws truly say?