The Top Ten Other Traffic Laws to Ignore

Gary West

January 21, 2006

 

 

There is a lot of serious business to be handled each year by our Legislature.  This year alone there appear to be no fewer than twenty – and there may be more – bills before either the House or the Senate just for the creation and sale of special license plates (from School Choice to Parrot Head, and most everything in between). [1]  There does not appear to be any bill, however, that would eliminate all special license plates – come on, folks; the display of your political opinions is what bumper stickers are for.  (Oh, well…)

 

In addition to the license plate bills, Senators Leventis and Knotts have introduced S1027 [2] – a bill that gives motorcycle and moped [3] drivers the right to run any red light that does not change fast enough to let them get a green light. 

 

No; that’s not a joke.  In press reports [4], Senator Leventis was quoted as saying, “The responsibility is on the motorist proceeding [through the red light].  This is the ultimate in driver responsibility.  You do it wrong and you’re going to get smacked.” [5]

 

Senator Knotts indicated, in the same press reports, that the bill would make driving safer.  He implied that he could stop doing the “Lexington slide” – his term for simply turning right on a red light (which is already legal) and then making a quick U-turn to go through the green light on the cross street or road.  (He didn’t mention the cuts across the gas station corners or other strategies for saving a few seconds here and there.)

 

Actually, S1027 would require a motorcycle or moped driver to stop for 20 seconds at a red light – then, that driver could make the decision about how safe it would be to proceed.  After making that decision, the driver could then proceed straight through or make a left turn through the red light – just like the rest of us can do with a right turn at a red light.

 

Well, if “ultimate driver responsibility” is the primary goal of the bill – and if saving a few seconds (or even a minute or two) is also a goal of the bill – then, here are the top ten other traffic laws [6] that should be ignored if, in the judgment of the driver, it is safe to proceed:

 

Number 10:   If bikers can roll through red lights, let me do it in my car, too.  My time is just as important as the biker’s time is – and I’m at least as smart as Senator Knotts about when it’s safe to proceed (and even if I’m not, you can’t legally hold my handicap against me).

 

Number 9:    Eliminate the 20-second stop rule during both biker weeks at the beach and close all streets leading to Ocean Boulevard (except at both ends of the strip).

 

Number 8:    Legalize “California stops” in South Carolina – meaning it’s not necessary to actually stop for a stop sign – you just slow down enough to be sure you can beat the other guy.

 

Number 7:    When approaching a four-way or all-way stop sign, there is no need to stop if there is not already a car stopped at the sign to your right.

 

Number 6:    Eliminate all littering laws so I can multitask in my car – I can get to where I’m going and clean my car out at the same time.

 

Number 5:    On the Interstate, you are not required to allow merging traffic into your lane if it will cause you to have to knock off your cruise control.

 

Number 4:    You are not required to pull over for emergency vehicles if you really believe you can beat it to wherever you’re going.

 

Number 3:    If the driver in front of you is going slower than 10 mph below the posted speed limit, you may flash your lights and honk your horn three times – then the driver has 20 seconds to pull over to let you pass.  As you pass, you are required to show that driver the universal one-finger salute for “Thank you.”

 

Number 2:    If you don’t see anybody working, you don’t have to slow down for road construction zones – and if the work zone signs have been up for more than three days with no sign of work taking place, the driver can declare the area a no-work zone and can ignore the signs forever.

 

Number 1:    How about just enforcing the noise laws – “rolling thunder” is only cool if you’re riding the damn thing.

 

Now, let’s get on to those lesser bills facing Legislative review and consideration – like health care, education, jobs, industry.  How about auto insurance reform based on “ultimate driver responsibility”?  You know, all that other stuff that just makes every Legislative session so boring.

 

 

Endnotes

[1]      Go to http://www.scstatehouse.net/cgi-bin/web_subject.exe and choose “Motor Vehicles” from the list of topics.  Scroll through the list of bills dealing with motor vehicles to find those for special license plates.  You’ll be amazed.    Note:  Don’t choose “License Plates” from that list – at the time of this writing, that choice said there were no bills indexed for license plates.

 

[2]      Senate bill S1027 (http://www.scstatehouse.net/sess116_2005-2006/bills/1027.htm). 

 

[3]      Moped drivers??  Aren’t they driving mopeds because they already didn’t make a good driving decision at some point in the past??  Why else would they be driving mopeds??

 

[4]      “Bill would give bikers green light to run on red,” by John O’Connor, The State (Columbia, SC); January 12, 2006.

 

[5]      ABATE of South Carolina (http://www.abatesc.com) presses for maximum sentences for car drivers involved in accidents with motorcycles.  ABATE also opposes cameras at red lights to catch drivers who run those red lights (http://www.abatesc.com/legislative/issues.htm).

 

[6]      After all, if we can have individually specialized license plates for everybody’s special reasons to live, there’s no real reason we can’t have individually specialized traffic laws for everybody’s special reasons for going somewhere.  It’s the ultimate in accountability, after all.

 

About the Author

Gary West has lived in South Carolina for more than 30 years.  Not even Senator Knotts believes more in individual freedom than does Mr. West.  All of us want what we want when we want it – and that’s the American way, for sure.  Mr. West also believes that each freedom comes with a set of responsibilities to ensure the same freedom for others – including each freedom that is enhanced through public safety.  He believes the time at a stop light could be well-spent considering the safety factors of wearing a helmet.  Mr. West does not own a motorcycle and has never had to drive a moped. 

 

You can reach Mr. West at garywwest@earthlink.net. 

 

This article and others can be found online at http://home.earthlink.net/~garywwest/.  Permission is granted to share this article in electronic or printed format as long as you don’t change it or charge for it.  Read – and drive – responsibly.