Seeing Red for the Holidays

I hope you’re commute is better than mine this morning…and arguably, I’ve got it pretty easy, coming in before most of you are even out of the sack. Still, there are challenges in traffic, even at 4am.

Like the moronic paper route drivers, who insist on driving on the wrong side of the street with their high-beams on; they’re also the worst about running stop signs—not just rolling through them, but just blatantly disregarding them.

Then there are the coffee sippers who typically sit in a lane traveling at exactly the same speed as the dork next to them, effectively creating a rolling road block at 27 ½ MPH. I know what they’re thinking: “Hey, it’s hours before the sun comes up, what’s the rush?” That, or, “I’ve been out all night already, why hurry home now?”

I had a pretty uneventful commute today.
Buddy was stuck in a freeway closure between a cement truck and an Exxon Tanker.
Luckily, Buddy doesn’t smoke.

I nearly ran into a fella in a large, extended-cab pick-up truck—actually, he nearly ran into me, as be blazed through an intersection with a barely-amber light. It was about two shades from red, truth be told.
Again, it’s frickin’ 4am.
Where’s the fire?

Running red lights in my town is so insidious the local constabulary has installed red light cameras at many key intersections. Obviously, this one was not one of them.

I have mixed feelings about red light cameras.
As a rule, I generally don’t run red lights on purpose, so they’re not there for law abiding folks like me. I’m not convinced they’re that much of a detraction for people who are flagrantly ignoring traffic signals, either. And I do have a problem with police agencies resorting to Big Brother tactics to ensnare traffic scofflaws.

The City where I live recently had a black-ops test flight of a drone aircraft. No media were invited, and in fact, those that found out about the test were bluffed by the police to back off. The media didn’t back down, and the police brass had to come clean that, yes, they were testing drones, and no, they wouldn’t rule out using the spy craft to generate traffic enforcement revenue.

Hold on, Chester, this may be where I decide to move to some wide spot in a rural intersection. I love the big city, but I’m not too keen on Big Brother keeping an eye on me or anyone else.

Paranoid?
Not me.
Just dislike sneakiness.

Back the point of the red light incident this morning. Read where some ya-hoo in Knoxville, Tenn. actually shot-out a red light camera with a .30-06 rifle. He could be fined and have his gun confiscated if convicted.

By a jury of his peers?
Might not be too tough to prove…but would anyone blame the guy?