Traffic officer offers poor example

ON Monday, 15 February, while reading Rainbow Man’s thoughts on traffic officers and then the editor’s response, a memory I had seen recently popped into my mind: ‘Stereotypes: they exist for a reason’.

Allow me to share this anecdote to make my point.

On Thursday, 11 February, at about 5pm I was driving along the John Ross Highway on my way to Meerensee when I noticed that the cars in front of me were moving into the right-hand lane to overtake a slower-moving vehicle.

As I followed suit, I noticed that it was a Traffic Department vehicle.

‘Shame’, I thought to myself, ‘people don’t have a lot of respect for traffic cops’, but in a way it’s their own fault.

Would he really chase after me if I chose to speed past him? This little monologue in my head made me look at him as I drove past, and lo and

behold!

What I saw so shocked me that, without thinking, I threw my hands up in the air in stunned surprise.

I immediately grabbed the wheel again, but for a few seconds my mind just couldn’t process a coherent thought.

You see, as I drove past I saw that the driver wasn’t really paying attention to the road.

And why would he? For there, spread open and resting against the steering wheel was a book!

It’s been a week now and I am still shaking my head when I think about it.

GOBSMACKED