Traffic violations other than speeding, are they really enforced?
Today after fueling up at the Twin Lakes market, I entered highway 3a going southbound toward Yellow Lake. The two southbound lanes merge just past the market so I entered and immediately moved to the the left lane. The speed limit on the southbound side is 80 while on the northbound side it's 90. When I entered the highway there was absolutely no vehicles headed southbound.
Just after the merge point I noticed a police cruiser heading northbound. Just after noting the cruiser I was surprised by a white Toyota blazing past me on the right, actually off the road, and I'm guessing by my speed doing at least 110. There is no way the officer could not have seen this happen. I thought that for sure the cruiser would turn around and go after the guy. I watched in my rear view mirror for a moment but nothing.
The thing was that this wasn't the only problem. As the white Toyota approached Yellow Lake another vehicle was in front of him and he tailgated until he rounded the point, crossed the double yellow line and sped past the slower vehicle narrowly missing an oncoming car. By the time I rounded the point the guy was half-way to the other side of the lake and by the time I got to the Silmilkamean valley bottom I could just barely make out that he was near first curve perhaps 10K away.
Obviously the driver was in a hurry to get some place and wasn't going to let a little thing like traffic laws get in his way.
I don't know whether or not the officer had anything better to do, but obviously he wasn't up to traffic enforcement. I wish that I could say this was a one off, but it's not. Just 2 weeks ago there was an RCMP cruiser that allowed a bicyclist to ride against the traffic (in other words towards the cruiser on the left side of the road) and the cyclist was riding without a helmet. The officer wouldn't have had to give the cyclist a ticket, but at least stop him and let him know that he was violating traffic laws, else the cyclist might never know!
It doesn't look good on the face of it, does it? A constable in a marked police vehicle ignoring an obvious violation. I can think of a few reasons for it, end of shift, other duties, or maybe even just thinking about something else at the time. I know that this happens to all officers at some time, you simply look at what is going on and decide that what you are seeing is not worth pursuing in your current context.
I've done this myself in past and one reason you may not think about it to prevent an issue. I've been so wound up after dealing with a really belligerent driver that I knew if I were to stop the next one without time to calm down I would jump all over them. Not fair to them at all. So, I've chosen to take time to wind down and try and restore a proper frame of mind first. Yes, I may have missed a driver like this, but my crystal ball still doesn't work as well as I want it to and if I had known that the behaviour I saw would continue, I might have to choose otherwise.
There are also reasons for non-police personnel to be driving a marked vehicle as well. More often these days detachments are covering the light bar and putting Out of Service signs on the sides, but not everyone does it. You can't expect a mechanic out for a test drive to write tickets!
Finally, yes, it could just be that the officer was being lazy. This happens too, but less often than most people think.
If you think on the balance of all that you saw it needs to be addressed, you are always able to make a complaint about it.
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May I ask just who would you make this complaint too? I have witnessed RCMP ignore traffic violations and also ignoring these raised pickups with oversized tires, no fender flares, no splash guards and light bars above the cab roof with uncovered lights. Lets not forget noisy exhaust sytems.
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It would depend on who was doing the ignoring. These days all of the marked police vehicles have their ID written all over them. For instance NA3001 is a Nanaimo general duty car and NA3401 is a traffic car. The 4 in the second spot usually denotes a traffic vehicle. Unmarked cars are most often, but not always, traffic enforcement vehicles as well. They might be a bit trickier to decide on as sometimes the units overlap. In this case a licence plate number will do just fine.
The next step is to either write to or make an appointment for a chat with the head of either the detachment or the unit as the case may be. Express your concerns politely and invite an explanation.
You are more than welcome to post the outcome of your inquiry here.
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Most law enforcement, especially with the RCMP tend to back up the police officer unless of course the police officer is not well liked or is on their sheet list. That's just my observation and experience. And btw. Make no mistake, the peace officer will know how you are and your personal details.
In my opinion, there really is not much the general public can do unless the offence is somewhat serious, like the peace officer having sexual relations in the back of his cruiser and you have a video of it.
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My Answer