Metro police breaking the law

by Nic Haralambous on 12/05/2008

I have a pet hate. It involves cars breaking the basic rules of the road. I am fairly rebellious when it comes to rules and regulations but when it comes to the road I think that rules are there for the protection of the masses.

What breaks me even more is when the people who are meant to be upholding those laws break them. It gives me a sense of powerlessness. It makes me think that I am unable to do anything or turn anywhere when others break the rules of the road. I hate it.

So when I was driving down Katherine Street the other day I decided to take a different course of action. It is possibly the worst part of my day, driving down Katherine and going under the Grayston Bridge. If you have ever done this trip in peak hour traffic you will know that two turning lanes (out of three) fast become three turning lanes with none to left to those wanting to carry on straight. This creates more congestion and frustration. And no, it is not just the taxis that do this.

There are clearly drawn lines (literally) on the road that define the lanes, which goes where and what lane you need to be in. I need to go straight, not turn right. However many cars feel the need to get in to the straight lane to cut out their time waiting to turn. I get screwed, they get through.

In front of me I found a metro police car who seemed to be going straight. I had a feeling he was turning right. He did. And in the process he crossed a solid white line and caused major congestion and a very dangerous situation for other drivers. As far as I know crossing a solid line is a R500 fine. Who’s going to fine those who hand out the fines? There was no emergency and he didn’t have his emergency lights on so I can only assume that he was blatantly breaking the law and thus allowing others to think that they can do the same.

Here’s the pic. Notice the indicator light on the right is on (at least he was courteous about it) just before he crosses the white line and goes through the red on top of it all.

Some may say I am being petty but I don’t think so. I think that if the metro police can’t obey the law we are headed for some dangerous times on the road. Keep an eye out for this car, check the number plate and if you know anybody who can do some good with this photo then send on this blog post to them.

nharalambous@gmail.com

There are 4 comments in this article:

  1. 13/05/2008cath says:

    I dont think you’re being petty at all Nic.

    Frankly, if you’re tasked with upholding and enforcing the law, don’t frigging break it! I would think that’s rule number 1 in the training of police and public servants but, hey! who knows!

    Cath

    (btw. nice new look. i guess we know what you did on your first day off! hehe)

    x

  2. 14/05/2008carls says:

    where are the pictures of the new tatoo?

  3. 22/05/2008Kerry says:

    Next step: take this photo and your story to the Metro police… surely they’ll be able to track down the perp. Mention who you work for – and that you’re dying to put a team of investigative journalists onto the story to see what did or didn’t happen…

  4. 2/01/2009Dean says:

    Well done Nic, I agree with you fully, just today I had a Metro officer driving on the highway at around 160km/h, where is his ticket? I find it very unfair that they can do as they please with no repercussions while with us normal motorists, simply rolling over a stop street with no oncoming traffic gets you a ticket.

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