Because it's ok to break the law if you enforce it right?

I agree. On all three points.

"(A majority of) Americans have no respect for authority. It's really disgusting." Maybe it's because we realize that law enforcement holds the law itself in contempt. It's hard to respect people who taze teenage Wendy's employees over a disagreement about the amount of change due. It's downright galling when the cop gets suspended with pay when it's found that the Wendy's employee gave the correct change. If you think that was an isolated incident... Google. It's hard to respect people who claim to "visually estimate" your speed, especially when their word passes for proof of your guilt beyond reasonable doubt in most courts of law. It's hard to respect people who write tickets for speeding, but speed themselves because they know that they won't be getting a ticket. How can you respect a group of people who do not hesitate to punish you for disobeying laws that they themselves do not obey.

mooneydriver, Damn right! Just the other day I saw a cop car speeding and tail-gating someone....

I really doubt people are thinking of all that. They're just thinking "Here's the jerk who pulls me over and makes me pull money out of my pocket". There are so many things wrong with that type of thinking - people never think that it's their fault. Then again, there are the bad cops - unfortunately it's a job that accepts more uneducated people who can often be ignorant - but they are definitely not the majority. I repeat myself: There is no doubt that the average American mindset does not respect authority. Just go back to how the nation was founded, and every step after that up to today. Americans have never shown respect to authority; sometimes it's been a good thing, sometimes it's been a bad thing. But when people diss cops just because they're doing their jobs, it's definitely a bad thing.

"It's hard to respect people who claim to "visually estimate" your speed, especially when their word passes for proof of your guilt beyond reasonable doubt in most courts of law. " Actually if you doubt them, you can ask to see the radar gun. If they don't let you, or say that they already cleared it bring it up in court and your ticket will be revoked.

#171, no it really won't.

"Actually if you doubt them, you can ask to see the radar gun. If they don't let you, or say that they already cleared it bring it up in court and your ticket will be revoked." That is definitely not the case in New York.

Mooneydriver: I agree so much. Law Officers seem to think that just because they enforce the laws they are above them. Look up the name Robert Dziekanski it's just a sickening story of police brutality and it's just being draged on and on because no one wants to say the cops did their jobs wrong, if not illegally

You're all making huge assumptions, including the one who claims most americans lack a respect for authority.

Assumptions? We're talking about things that have actually happened. The internet and cheap video cameras have exposed the huge amount of police brutality that occurs all of the time, everywhere.

Yeah? And compared to the amount of good police do? - I'm sorry if you were a victim of crooked cops, but I doubt the vast majority are dodgy (Unless you live in Springfield.) And the headline 'Police brutality, three left dead' tends to make the headlines as oppose to 'Policeman prevents the mugging of grandad'. Just because there's a few bad seeds doesn't mean you can condemn the entire force. There's assholes on power trips in every profession.

I've done it. A friend has done it. Legally they need to show you the radar gun if you ask. If they can't or won't provide it, then in court it's basically he said/she said and the ticket can get thrown out.

DrunkenValor, it's really naive of you to believe that there are just a "few bad seeds" in the police force. Have you heard of the Lucifer Effect? Power corrupts. Even if people don't want to do the wrong thing.

"And people wonder why every generation gets worse." It doesn't. There are texts from the 11th century where old farts were saying the same thing. Every generation just gets old and cranky and more likely to spout "back in my day" bullshit as they age.

Yup, we should all just blindly follow every law and never question authority. Then one day we might wake up to find ourselves living in a completely different country than the one we know today. You know, the one with all sorts of personal freedoms that other people had to fight for and which we all enjoy. Imagine all of those being taken away. I'm far more concerned about corrupt politicians taking our freedoms away than the damn terrorists. Not to mention, this is the USA, we became this independent country because the founders did not respect authority.

Until the founders became the authority, of course.

Yes, you have indeed posted a reply to the FML that you intended.

Nobody is saying that speeding is completely without risk. Driving is not completely without risk either. You think that the limits are reasonable and put in place with the best of intentions. A huge chunk of society disagrees. Many people look at the arbitrary nature of the speed limits, combined with the huge amounts of revenue earned by state and local governments from speeding tickets, and they call bullshit. There are lots of other risky driving behaviors: Impeding traffic, failure to yield the right of way, distracted driving. Why is it that there are more tickets issued for speeding than for all of those combined?