When laws are made is there a blurb in them somewhere I am unaware of that says ‘except for you’ or ‘unless you don’t agree’? Or, am I correct in my thinking laws apply to everyone the same?
When you come to a traffic signal and the red light is lit that means stop. When there is a sign by the traffic signal that says ‘No turn on red’, that means even if you stop, look and things are clear you still are not supposed to turn. It certainly doesn’t mean just ignore the red light and sign altogether and keep going. Right?!? Well, beware in Oregon , there is a driver of a silver Lexus that this doesn’t apply to apparently. Because not only did he not stop for the red light, he didn’t even slow down. Of course, if I did something like this, intentionally or not, there would be a cop right there waiting to nail me.
We have a fire hydrant at the edge of the street in our front yard. Now I know and I thought it was common knowledge you do not park in front of a fire hydrant. In the state where I live you are suppose to leave a distance of 15 feet, but city ordinance says 3 feet. Should my house or any other house on my block catch fire it would be really nice if the fireman can get to the hydrant, right? Another thing that common sense dictates to me, yet there is law backing my way of thinking up. We have found out there are many others that don’t share our way of thinking and don’t know the law or think it applies to them. We have asked our neighbors not to block the fire hydrant, when our request was ignored it was pointed out to them it is against the law. The response was the curb is not painted red so it doesn’t matter. WHAT!?! I wonder if it would matter if their property caught on fire and the fireman were delayed in hooking the hose up because of a vehicle blocking their access to the hydrant. There have been many incidents where people have parked in front of the hydrant, so it must not be common knowledge it is against the law. It doesn’t matter if it is for a few minutes or days…it is against the law. But, that must be one of those laws that does not apply to everyone.
In our city, as I am sure in most, there are restrictions for parking. In our city a vehicle can not be parked over 24 hours in the same place. Of course, that is 24 hours from the time you report the problem to the city. There is only one way to get to our house, we are at the end of a street with three dead ends. There is a house we have to pass to get to our end of the street that has a minimum of 6 (usually more) trucks and cars parked in front, to the side and across the street. Most of the vehicles are junk which really makes the neighborhood look classy. These vehicles sit there for days, weeks and months. The house in on a corner which makes it difficult to see oncoming traffic from the opposite direction you are driving. Because they park on both sides of the street it, also, makes it impossible for more then one vehicle to get through at a time. So, keep your fingers crossed if there is a vehicle coming from the other direction they aren’t driving like a bat out of he**. We have contacted the city about this house and so have many other neighbors. Somebody comes out talks to them, they move each vehicle from one spot to another and it stays the same. The people that lived across the street from this house have gotten so tired of it, they moved. They have the house up for sale and good luck on selling it with two broken down trucks parked right in front of it. In this instance, not only is it a case of law breaking neighbors but it is a case of officials not enforcing the law. Budget cuts or not, laws should be enforced. IMHO if you ticket this people when they break the law that is bringing in needed revenue. So, enforce the law and may be people will learn to obey it.
I could probably go on with my bitchfest about breaking the law, but I will call it quits for now. Although, this subject will more than like come up again and again.
