DO TRAFFIC COPS MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

Apr 18, 2013 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

A letter writer asked a question that has had me thinking hard, far more than I have ever done on any subject in recent times. That question should also have you thinking.
The letter writer – whose name I unfortunately cannot recall at this time – asked whether without traffic cops there would be any difference on the roads. Or to put it another way, what function do traffic cops serve in Guyana.
If these cops were to not be on the road, how much of a difference would be made?
I have to confess that I never quite considered the subject from that angle. And the more I think about it, the more I believe that the letter writer has a point about the general impact that our existing traffic cops make to safety on our roads.
The records would suggest that since the introduction of the zero tolerance campaign, there has been a sharp reduction in road fatalities. But how can we establish that this is not merely correlation and not a causation effect? How do we establish that this reduction was caused by the traffic campaign?
Anyone who uses our roadways would confirm that there is still a great deal of reckless driving taking place. There is still speeding? Road accidents are occurring but the numbers of fatalities are not as frightening as before. So is the campaign working and that because of the zero tolerance campaign our roads are becoming safer? The jury is still out on this question.
If you ask the vast majority of public transport operators whether they think that traffic cops make a difference to road safety, I am certain there will be a divergence in the results. What you will also find emerging from any such survey are a number of stories about the harassment to which public transport operators are subjected on our roadways.
I had one interesting experience on our roadways which tends to confirm what I believe to be the overriding perception that many have of traffic cops on our roadways.
I was returning home one day when I was stopped by a group of traffic cops, one of whom had a radar gun aimed in my direction. Since I was not travelling above the speed limit – which is ridiculous in any event – for that roadway, I was not worried.
What I wondered was why would I have been pulled over when I was going far slower than any of the other vehicles.
A very friendly cop came over and said, “I see you pass here earlier with your face straight. How me and you living so?”
I really did not know what the hell he was referring to since I had not passed anywhere near there for hours. Clearly he was simply trying to make small talk, for what apparent reason I did not know.
I soon found out. “The boys out here in the sun. They need some water,” the cop added
I was waiting for him to suggest that I should leave a “freck” with him and his fellow officers. But he noticed that I was serious and he simply sent me on my way saying, “I don’t know how me and you living so these days.”
I was tempted to inform him that I never saw him before and that I did not know him or care to know him, and couldn’t care less of his views about how we were living. But I said goodbye, conscious of the humiliation that these underpaid cops have to endure each day, having no doubt to do and say things which they would be ashamed to let their children know about. I felt for him having to humiliate himself on the job.
However hard things are, no person with self-respect should bring himself or herself to this level. It was sad indeed to see someone, who is supposed to uphold the law, having to humiliate himself in public like that.
I was also conscious that there are some very nice traffic cops on our roadways. Not all traffic cops should be painted or tainted with the same brush. There are some of them who are extremely professional and who are more understanding than others who only see their positions of power as granting to them the right to harass motorists for their own personal gain on the roads.
These professional types would most likely give an erring driver who has committed a non-dangerous infraction on the roads, a chance. They would send you off with a warning, rather than seeking to haul you down to the station. They make a difference because they show how a professional and considerate cop should behave.

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DO TRAFFIC COPS MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

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