The Law and Civil Society

When we read reports of people breaking the law, getting caught and going to jail (sometimes), we feel safe and secure knowing there are law enforcement personnel and a judicial system in this that protects us. We occasionally relish reading about a top executive or regulatory official who abused their position, stole millions of dollars, got caught and "got what was coming to them". David beats Goliath - again. So, why don't we obey traffic lights and especially crosswalk signs?

I walked two blocks from my hotel this morning to get breakfast. Part of a street next to my hotel is blocked with construction on the water system and a nice, middle-aged policeman is on duty to regulate traffic. The downtown intersection has crosswalks in both directions with "Walk/Don't Walk" lights on all four corners. The signs start with the green symbol for "Walk" then turn red with the "Don't Walk" symbol and begin a countdown from 10 to 0 to let all know when the light will turn red. The message is pretty clear. When you see red, stop. Green means go.

So, why did the two young women who came upon the intersection start across with one second left on the light? And, then walked against the red light in front of four waiting cars? They barely seemed to notice and didn't care. I watched at least 20 other people do the same thing.

I stopped to ask the policeman who was there at the intersection if that happened all the time. He said, "Yes, all day long. They just walk across all the time whether the light is red or green." I asked him if he ever stopped anyone or wrote them a ticket for Jaywalking? "Yeah, I actually arrested a guy the other day. I told him to stop and he kept going. I put my arm in front of him to stop him since trucks were coming and he brushed me off and kept going. Arrested him for Obstructing a Police Officer. Jaywalking? No, not for a while."

I asked him why he didn't write tickets for Jaywalking. Weren't people getting hit or killed walking against the lights? "Yeah, about 30 people a year are killed here in the city. Maybe I should write a few..." I agreed with him and suggested that maybe he'd be doing those who decide to flaunt the law. He could think of himself as a guardian angel bringing pedestrians a message: "I'm going to give you this warning - a jaywalking ticket - as a reminder to stop being unsafe. You can get killed walking against the light - especially when you have your iPod nibs in your ear, reading your iPhone messages, sipping on your latte paying no attention to what you're doing. I want you to live a few more days."

He would also be stopping people in front of their friends, co-workers, families and strangers. THEY would see someone else getting a ticket and it might be a deterrent to them. Maybe a news reporter would see this happen and write a story for the newspaper and others would read about it. Maybe, just maybe, someone will read this blog and stop for red lights.

If we truly want to be a law-abiding country, and want to be proud of our safe and civil society, we owe it to ourselves to obey the law - even if it costs us 30 seconds of waiting at a red light. Then you can have an extra 30 seconds to check your iPod messages.