Breaking Laws to Prove Obedience Isn't Always Good

Jay Fitzgerald points to an interesting video, here, made by a bunch of 20-somethings who were attempting to demonstrate that laws should not always be obeyed.  Let me say two things up front: 1. I agree that laws should not always be obeyed; 2. I think the 55 mph speed limit is ridiculous.  The irony is that they broke more laws than they obeyed, utterly invalidating their own point.

The people who made the video think they have performed a great service, and proved their points about obedience and the 55 mph speed limit, by videotaping their four-car rolling roadblock on a major interstate highway.  They haven't.  All they did was create a danger on the highway and break the law themselves.

In most states, as in Georgia where they pulled this illegal stunt, laws prevent driving in the left lane unless passing. Even where laws don't, courtesy does.  Not these morons.  They staked out all lanes, in a line, and held up traffic at 55.  So they broke at least one law (likely two or three) while demonstrating obedience to another, undermining their point.  Also, most states prevent operation of a motor vehicle in a manner that causes a danger to other motorists.  They broke that, too, by deliberately impeding the flow of traffic.  And make no mistake, that was their goal.

Listen to their leader, Andy, at the end, "I honestly was happy that no one did get hurt 'cause, I mean, it really had potential to be dangerous[.]  We were dangerous 'cause we were obeying the law."

No, you're dangerous because you're an idiot, Andy.

Note also that the participants, like Kit and Amanda, knew up front that they were "doing something stupid" and admit it on the tape.  Those were Kit's exact words.  Good move, guys.  Follow your anarchist leader and all his bad plans; no wonder it takes you five years to finish college.

They should be charged with violating the Code of Georgia, specifically O.C.G.A. § 40-6-40, which provides in part (edited for brevity and emphasis added):

(b) Upon all roadways, any vehicle proceeding at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing shall be driven in the right-hand lane then available for traffic...

(d) No two vehicles shall impede the normal flow of traffic by traveling side by side at the same time while in adjacent lanes, provided that this Code section shall not be construed to prevent vehicles traveling side by side in adjacent lanes because of congested traffic conditions.

 

Comments

[Anonymous Leadfoot]

Your argument here is silly. They demonstrated very nicely that the speed limit, which is arbitrarily and aggressively enforced, is arbitrarily set too low, by breaking some other laws that are never enforced. Their case would only have made stronger if they'd been pulled over for violating § 40-6-40.

And § 40-6-40 makes an interesting point all by itself, by using "normal speed of traffic" without any reference to the maximum legal speed of traffic! Can you think of other laws that require law-abiding citizens to accommodate intentional law-breakers for the sake of the law-breakers' convenience and safety?

What if they did this with eight cars, such that the cars on the left were always letting each other in, passing, and then slowing down into the right lanes, but no other cars could get by? Legal by the letter of § 40-6-40, right? So their "civil obedience" would be complete, but still just as provocative and as likely to lead to the law-breakers behind them causing accidents. Would you still call them morons?

[Josh Wardell]

Their point would be even stronger here in Boston than in what I assume is a much more polite Georgia (traffic-wise). Average highway speeds here reach 85mph. People rubberneck the passing lane all the time. But no matter, that road rage-causing offense will never be enforced. The national highway law states that the speed limit should be set at the speed of the 80th percentile of traffic. Can we give the state(s) tickets for violating that?

Speed limits remain at 55 in the face of safety, simply to generate profits.

There's not much anyone can do about it but take every ticket to court, and perhaps particpate in the NMA. http://www.motorists.org/ma/

[carpundit]

Yes, I would. They deliberately engaged in an illegal course of action they knew to be dangerous. They did so in order to make a point whose importance is not commensurate with the danger in the mind of any person with reasonable faculties.

Had they wanted to demonstrate the folly of the 55 speed limit, they could easily have done so in any number of ways that weren't dangerous.

By the way, your proposed 8-car curative method would still violate that law. Read it closely.

And I agree that the speed limit is arbitrarily enforced, sometimes aggressively.

[Ivan]

Back in 1993 during the National Motorists Association's Nationwide Civil Obedience Day (April 25), when we drove multilane Interstates posted at 55 at the speed limit, we kept the left lane alway open so that they couldn't pinch us for "obstructing traffic" or "failure to keep right."

[Luke]

Well said -- these kids are spoiled suburban idiots. I'd love to see them dragged into court for such an idiotic stunt.

Josh: I've lived in both Boston and Atlanta, and when it comes to the highway, Georgians are nowhere near polite. In my experience, they're aggressive, inattentive, and generally clueless. (And on the stretch of I-285 they were travelling on, traffic would generally average 75-80 mph or so.)

[majordawg]

So, Luke, you know these kids? You know they are spoiled suburban idiots? Because, I do know some of these kids and they are not. The best you could do to drag them into court would be the obstruction of traffic charge, which would fall flat in court. These kids obeyed the law. The only reason there MIGHT have been an obstruction would be if all the people behind them wanted to break the law. Outside of breaking the law, there is no way there should have been any traffic back up. If 55 is the maximum speed on the road their roadblock just turns into four cars next to each other in the flow of traffic and no one notices it. If the limit is 75, this thing goes mostly unnoticed, which I THINK is the point...

[Piet]

Searching the internet for pictures of characteristic American driving, I stumbled upon this article. I just moved to the Seattle region from Europe, and American (or local) driving is driving me NUTS! Why doesn't the police enforce people to keep right?! I have found myself chewing my steering wheel numerous times when all 4 (FOUR!) lanes were filled with people doing exactly what these kids did without any practice!!!

I have already put together a bumpersticker, openly wondering what it is that people do not understand about having to keep right. This is MUCH MORE dangerous than driving at 70 where you are supposed to do 60!! This causes a lot of under-equipped maniacs to slalom around all the laggers! KEEP RIGHT!!!