Why do people think the law doesn't apply to them?

[Cephus]

I just got home from picking up my kids from school. In front of the school is a fire hydrant and a clearly painted red zone, right in the middle of a whole line of yellow curb clearly marked as no unattended car loading zone. While I'm standing there waiting for them to get out, some lady drives up and parks directly in the middle of the red zone so I ask her why she thinks that she's special and the law doesn't apply to her. She gets mad at me and makes a bunch of excuses. I tell her that she either moves her car or I call the police. She moves.

It can't be more than 30 seconds later that some moron in a brand new Lexus pulls in to the same spot, locks his car and LEAVES! He's clearly sitting in front of a fire hydrant in a red zone, also violating the city statue about the full block loading zone. I'm about to go do the same routine with him when I see this police car driving down the street so I flag it down and direct him to the moron flagrantly violating the law. Ticket time and the idiot is yelling at me like it's MY fault he's getting a ticket. Hopefully he got two tickets for violating the unattended car law too.

Since when did the entire planet start revolving around these self-absorbed assholes? And can we shoot them?

[Morgan_Freeman]

LoL... that's the spirit! We need more people like you, Cephus.
My girlfrind is the opposite. She saw a meter maid about to give someone a ticket, and managed to distract the officer long enough for the owner to show up.

[ibm]

Quote by: Cephus I just got home from picking up my kids from school. ... Since when did the entire planet start revolving around these self-absorbed assholes? And can we shoot them?

lol, good for you. not sure if i would do the same thing though.

but no, we can't shoot them i'm afraid. if you do, you probably will end up in jail. funny how you were promoting law-abiding but want to break to law yourself and shoot them.

[Cephus]

Quote by: ibm lol, good for you. not sure if i would do the same thing though. but no, we can't shoot them i'm afraid. if you do, you probably will end up in jail. funny how you were promoting law-abiding but want to break to law yourself and shoot them.

It's not so much the shooting part but I just want to stop these brain-damaged morons from breeding and passing on their damaged genes to the next generation.

Although, since it's happening at a school, it's already a little too late for that.

I still think we should have a bag limit of 5 stupid people per day. You just have to prove that they were actually being stupid, then you can mow them down. :)

[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?

[tman_ndsu08]

Quote by: Cephus I just got home from picking up my kids from school. In front of the school is a fire hydrant and a clearly painted red zone, right in the middle of a whole line of yellow curb clearly marked as no unattended car loading zone. While I'm standing there waiting for them to get out, some lady drives up and parks directly in the middle of the red zone so I ask her why she thinks that she's special and the law doesn't apply to her. She gets mad at me and makes a bunch of excuses. I tell her that she either moves her car or I call the police. She moves. It can't be more than 30 seconds later that some moron in a brand new Lexus pulls in to the same spot, locks his car and LEAVES! He's clearly sitting in front of a fire hydrant in a red zone, also violating the city statue about the full block loading zone. I'm about to go do the same routine with him when I see this police car driving down the street so I flag it down and direct him to the moron flagrantly violating the law. Ticket time and the idiot is yelling at me like it's MY fault he's getting a ticket. Hopefully he got two tickets for violating the unattended car law too. Since when did the entire planet start revolving around these self-absorbed assholes? And can we shoot them?

Wow.

Who....the....hell....are...you?!


Why don't you mind your own god damned business you asshole?

[RickSp]

Was there a fire? Did it make one tiny bit of difference if these folks parked their cars there for a moment to pick up their kids? Did their presence block or even delay a firetruck's access to the hydrant? My guess is that there is not any adequate parking for parents picking up their kids, right?

And remind me, who exactly is the "self-absorbed asshole"?

[Pooeypants]

Those people were breaking the law, are you saying that as a good citizen, you should let it be? Why don't we just abolish these laws if they seem obsolete? Or is really pointless?

[PatrickHenry]

Do you obey every law, Cephus? Or only the ones you think apply to you?

[tinybear]

I try to obey every law and so far I think I've succeeded. I don't rule out the possibility, however, that someday, somehow, somewhere, I might fall foul of the law either through ignorance or carelessness. But I'm pretty sure I won't deliberately do so. :)

[SteveA]

Bow down to your rulers, Celphus:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/ocregiste...acramento.html

I don't have much complaints against the fire hydrant laws, though I do think the laws should only regard leaving a vehicle unattended in front of one, but something similar that's even worse are the mandatory handicapped parking spaces.

I can't think of all the times I've gone to a store where the parking lot was full, only to see a few prime handicapped parking spots right in front of the entrance.

Let's say there were 3 empty spots and if you happened to park in one for a short time, what are the odds that 3 people would want to use them, especially considering the parking lot is already full or close to it. And then what's the worse that happens anyway? A single handicapped person had to park normally, just like things were for close to a century. Most the time, the people that use the handicapped spots don't even seem to be handicapped in any obvious way.

I prefer common sense over the law. Admittedly, we're a country in short supply of common sense though (maybe because we don't spend a lot of time using it).

-------------------------------------------------

So let's say you were in China, where they have a law against having too many children. Would you be one of the people giving the lethal injection to kill the unborn child, like another thread was about?

I still think we should have a bag limit of 5 stupid people per day. You just have to prove that they were actually being stupid, then you can mow them down.

I'll assume that's a yes.

Sure, there's a difference between stopping in front of a fire hydrant and killing someones child, but doesn't that require a common sense judgement? You should be asking what laws should apply to people, or how can we make them better, instead of why some people don't think all laws apply. Could it be that if people used more common sense in applying the law we'd have a country that made more sense?

Maybe here's an even better way to look at it. If our laws are intended to protect or benefit us, then if we find violating a law provides an overall benefit, shouldn't the law be different? Who was harmed in this example? In the example of the person parking to likely pick up their child from school, the streets were already crowded so having a car not part of this backup benefits other people too. You can't claim any personal damage either and I'm going to hazard a guess that it didn't impede any fire services. So how was any damage done, other than to your feelings? Yet you want to make sure people are harmed, simply because they didn't the follow the letter of the law.

It actually makes sense that a police officer was waiting to give someone a ticket there too. Instead of giving a ticket to someone who left their car unattended in front of a fire hydrant in an area that had little need for anyone to park there. So the officer was enforcing one of the most questionable aspects of this law.

Maybe if fire hydrants had the nozzle pointing to the side instead of out to the street we wouldn't even need such a law (or is this already the case?) And how many times do fire trucks just park in the street anyway?

[RickSp]

Quote by: Pooeypants Those people were breaking the law, are you saying that as a good citizen, you should let it be? Why don't we just abolish these laws if they seem obsolete? Or is really pointless?

Yes, let's start shooting jaywalkers. That'll set a fine example! Or how about jail time for late library books?

Come on. The reason for making parking in front of a fire hydrant illegal is so, if in case of a fire, a fire truck can connect to the hydrant. If a parent uses the space to drop of his or her kid at school, is there really any damage done? What is the practical alternative- double parking? - also illegal, which ties up traffic and is less safe for disembarking kids.

If someone parks a car in front of a hydrant and walks away for an extended period, by all means, ticket and possibly tow the car. Public safety is an issue. But if a parent is dropping off a kid at school and briefly blocks a hydrant, let's be practical and human about it. Launching into a harangue because someone is "breaking the law" is ridiculous and offensive. It is hard enough to get kids off to school anyway without a parking vigilante stalking the sidewalk.

I think we should all take a breath and use a little bit of common sense, which regrettably is to often uncommon.

[Cephus]

Quote by: RickSp Was there a fire? Did it make one tiny bit of difference if these folks parked their cars there for a moment to pick up their kids? Did their presence block or even delay a firetruck's access to the hydrant? My guess is that there is not any adequate parking for parents picking up their kids, right?

Actually there is plenty of parking. The first person simply pulled forward about 30 feet to another free spot. Oh the horrors it must be for their kid to have to walk a whole 30 feet to the car after school. Or they can park on the other side of the street where there is ample parking. But these parents are just too important and special to actually have to... *GASP!* follow the established traffic laws.

And remind me, who exactly is the "self-absorbed asshole"?

That would be you.

[RickSp]

Interesting that I ask questions and get called an asshole. Guess it just comes with the territory.

Well Cephus, I am sure the other parents appreciate having a parking nazi on the prowl.

[Jack]

I can't think of all the times I've gone to a store where the parking lot was full, only to see a few prime handicapped parking spots right in front of the entrance. Let's say there were 3 empty spots and if you happened to park in one for a short time, what are the odds that 3 people would want to use them

But SteveA, you'd be denying prime parking spots to all those able-bodied, apparently healthy people with the little "hadicapped" placards in their windshield. Don't jerks who use someone else's handicapped placard deserve consideration, too?

[tman_ndsu08]

Quote by: Pooeypants Those people were breaking the law, are you saying that as a good citizen, you should let it be? Why don't we just abolish these laws if they seem obsolete? Or is really pointless?

OH MY GOD!!!! NOOOO!!!! HE PARKED IN THE FIRE LANE!!!!!! WHYYYYYYYYYY?!?!?!??! GOD, WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!?!?!??!!?!??!?!?!?!??!?!?!??!?!?!?!



Hey look, that guy over there is jay walking!!! GET HIM!!!!!

[Cephus]

Quote by: PatrickHenry Do you obey every law, Cephus? Or only the ones you think apply to you?

Yup, or if I don't, then I pay the consequences. That's how society works.

They didn't, they paid the consequences.

[Cephus]

Quote by: tman_ndsu08 OH MY GOD!!!! NOOOO!!!! HE PARKED IN THE FIRE LANE!!!!!! WHYYYYYYYYYY?!?!?!??! GOD, WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!?!?!??!!?!??!?!?!?!??!?!?!??!?!?!?! Hey look, that guy over there is jay walking!!! GET HIM!!!!!

Grow up.

[PatrickHenry]

Cephus, you remind me a little of the Andy of Mayberry episode in which Gomer is chasing a car crying out, "Citizen's arrest, citizen's arrest!"

You might want to consider the consequences of your actions. Was anyone suffering any actual harm from the "law violator?" It's not like informing store employees of a shoplifter. You darkened someone's day so you could feel righteous. I think you have your own issues.

[Osborn F Enready]

While I fault Cephus for his choice of laws to be active in, I do understand a bit of his anger at the philosophy that is becoming so prevalent in our society.

The disrespect for the law, comes from laws the deserve no respect. The more laws there are enforced that deserve no respect, the more the general disrespect for the law.

You want people to be respectful of laws, start helping to insure that only respectful laws are created and enforced, without favoritism.