Garth Rattray | Please fine-tune traffic policing

It may appear as if I’m majoring in the minor stuff, but the way that some motorists are being prosecuted will lead to distrust of and animosity towards the police. It is noticeable that the police are making a concerted effort to increase their monitoring of breaches of traffic laws in light of the high number of automobile crashes and fatalities.

I recently encountered two sets of traffic police within a 12-hour period. The first encounter was near the traffic lights at the intersection of Trafalgar Road and Knutsford Boulevard. I was travelling in the left lane of Trafalgar Road, heading easterly. As soon as I entered the intersection, a young policeman stepped out from the sidewalk and raised his hand to stop another vehicle travelling in the same direction but in the right lane.

I was forced to stop where I was, otherwise, I would have driven into the policeman. I waited for the vehicle that he stopped to park to the left, in the direct path of where I was travelling. As soon as that happened, I checked to see if anything was approaching from Knutsford Boulevard and began to inch my way forward with the intention of passing the parked vehicle.

But then there was another policeman to my left, and he shouted at me to stop. I did. He approached, announced himself as Constable So-and-so, and proceeded to tell me that I had disobeyed the traffic light. He was very firm in his accusation and scowled while telling me that I had broken the law.

I explained that I had to stop for the safety of the police officer who stepped out in front of me and that I ended up under the traffic lights and, therefore, had no way of knowing their status. He repeated his accusation and was saying something more along the same lines, but I confess, I didn’t hear him because I was busy planning what I was going to tell the judge in court, and I was also planning to show my dashcam recording of the event.

Eventually, after a protracted period of admonition, he said that he was not going to write me a ticket. Frankly, I didn’t care because I knew that I had done my duty in protecting that other young policeman, that I could not stop under those traffic lights forever, and that I had checked that it was safe to proceed. I did not thank him for anything and asked permission to leave.

There is a bad habit of stopping motorists where it is unsafe and where doing so will cause traffic congestion. Stepping out in front of drivers is dangerous, and ordering them to stop near traffic lights is a bad thing. If they were operating several metres along the roadway, there would be no problem.

Later that same day, around midnight, I was travelling along Balmoral Avenue and had just turned onto Maxfield Avenue when a policeman, who was standing on the left sidewalk, stepped forward and ordered me to stop on the far right.

As usual, I obeyed his order, rolled down all the windows and turned off the engine. He approached my side and announced himself as Constable So-and-so. He proceeded to ask me if I was driving with my high beams on.

I was taken aback because I knew that I was doing nothing wrong, I thought that it was one of those routine checks. I told him that I did not have my high beams on because I am not in the habit of driving with them on and only use them briefly in situations where the road is dark.

He repeated his question and glowered at me as if to intimate that I was a liar. That really got to me. I was looking at this young cop who was questioning my veracity and demonstrating all the facial features that one would use when accusing a child of something. I had to restrain myself from telling him how I felt about his approach.

First, I was not driving with my high beams on. Second, I was proceeding along Balmoral Avenue then Maxfield Avenue, both of which are one-way roadways. What if someone were travelling with their high beams on? Doing so is not illegal, and there is no oncoming traffic to ‘blind’.

The traffic police have obviously upped their game, but they need fine-tuning. They seem to be approaching motorists with a rehearsed line that states their rank and name. However, over a 12-hour period, I was stopped for no good reason and could have been wrongfully ticketed.

Several people have been saying that recently, the traffic police are prosecuting motorists at an increased rate but for too many questionable or very benign alleged traffic violations. Yet, at the same time, we are not seeing traffic police where there is blatant, constant flaunting of the traffic laws.

Nowadays, going into the mandatory right-turning lane then cutting into the head of the line at traffic lights is routinely practised by taxicabs and regular motorists alike. So, too, is disobeying traffic lights and stop signs, especially among motorcycle operators. Forming an overtaking lane is common. All these infractions go unabated everywhere. That’s where the focus should be.

The expensive tickets, demerit points and/or time-consuming, multiple court appearances to establish innocence encourage corruption by way of bribes. The rogue cops out there know this and take advantage of the prevailing circumstances at every opportunity.

Garth Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice and the author of The Long and Short of Thick and Thin. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com.