To Serve and Protect? or Intimidate?

We all make mistakes. It's a natural part of life. Unfortunately, I recently had one of those moments while behind the wheel. It was a rainy Monday afternoon and my husband and I were randomly driving around in a small community not far from where we live. I was looking at street signs, trying to figure out where to turn next, rather than noticing a stop sign. Oops. Crazy thing is, I actually noticed the creepy looking cop car parked there as I checked the intersection and slowly made my turn.

A moment later I heard the infamous, "Whoop, whoop," and saw the flashing lights in my rear view mirror. I've been pulled over several times in the past, each time for not doing anything wrong. Once, the guy was just bored and pulled me over with the lousy excuse that one of my back lights might go out soon. The next couple times were for headlights that were out. I get the fact that safety is the most important thing on the road, but is it really necessary to give drivers heart attacks?

Here's the thing, the car that pulled me over this time, was one of those angry looking black mustangs. The point of having police is to maintain order, and to protect people when something bad happens. Unfortunately, these days, seeing an officer is more likely to induce fear than a feeling of safety. Even if I know I'm doing everything right when I'm driving, I instantly get nervous when I see them out there. It's kind of sad really.

I'm not normally political in any way shape or form, but I must admit I'm getting a little tired of being overly regulated. Shouldn't we be smart enough to do things like wearing seat belts, and not writing text messages while we're driving without having to have laws about all these things? I mean, honestly, I don't think we should have to be scared that the police out there are looking at us all like we're probably going to be doing something criminal. I'd rather have them doing service projects than parking on the side of the road with their radar guns out trying to fill quotas.

I completed online traffic school today, really the only option with my current work/life schedule. I can appreciate that I did something wrong, and therefore have to pay for it. It sucked, and wasted a few hours, but it is important to stop at stop signs, and I do want to do that. I just wish we could all be treated like we're responsible adults, rather than feeling like some one is out there, just hoping we'll do something wrong so they can pull us over and feel powerful.

Rant complete :)