Perception Of Authority
I witnessed something today that made me laugh inside. Along my street I saw a traffic warden writing up a ticket for an illegally parked vehicle. At first I thought it was odd that a traffic warden was booking what appeared to be a police car. I thought the police were allowed to park anywhere - most of these rules of the road don't apply to them, especially when on an emergency call. Apparently not.
On closer inspection, I don't believe it was a police car at all. It looked like one, painted in the same colours and style, with the green and black neon colours, but it said "Security", not "Police". It appeared to belong to a private security company, so they were fair game for traffic warden.
I had seen the car parked in random places in the neighbourhood, illegally, without consequence. The owner must have benefitted from the fact that nobody pays enough attention these days, or that people (including professionals) are easily fooled by such things as the appearance of authority. I wonder how many other enforcement agents, or even civilian drivers, have given this car the pass based on the fact that it resembled a police car. It's similar to those "Polite" vests some motorcyclists wear. It's written in the same style, font and colours as the "Police" vests. Having only one letter different, it's easy to fool the road users who usually only perceive these with their subconscious minds. I'm willing to bet it increases the safety for motorcyclists since people tend to drive better in the presence of the police.
There's a lot of this stuff going on in every sphere of society - characters masquerading as persons of authority, and mostly getting away with it. I'm sure you've probably done it before, even if subconsciously, assume that someone is wise and knowledgable just because they're men over 60 with white hair and a beard (for example). They could be dumb as bricks, but they probably get a pass and assumed to be the opposite. The inverse is probably also true. I just find this quite interesting.
Peace & Love,
Adé
I've never noticed a "polite" vest. You got me curious now and I'll be on the look out. Shame there's not an equivalent for cyclists. 😂
Hey! Long time! hope you're well. Yes, I'm sure you'll notice them now that I brought your attention to it :D
I've been better to be honest.ut Had a really difficult but hopefully things are starting to turn the corner. I've been around but mostly in discord. Recently I started a 100 day project, part of which was to post about it so I'm around and blogging again. Seems like you're still pretty active.
Hope things are good with you.
I pretty much haven't stopped blogging since we forked from Steem. Pretty much every day haha, through the ups and downs. Life hasn't been the best here either but, like you said, things are looking up gradually.
I wish someone would deal with the car that has been abandoned by us. We looked it up and the tax expires soon, so we could report it then. I'm not sure if the police can get a ticket, but they are supposed to obey the rules unless they are actually dealing with a crime.
I know horse riders have POLITE vests too. There are too many idiots on the road, but the police cannot be everywhere.
We have at least two levels of car criminals here. The ones that steal cars and the ones that strip the parts bare without moving the cars. There a few car chasses dotted around the place here. Now and again the scrap metal people come for them (to strip the rest I guess), but it's a big problem. Some of those cars abandoned in your town were probably stolen from London.
I was always thinking that it is only here in Nigeria that the rules don’t affect the cops
I never knew it happens in other countries too
Wow!
The Nigerian case is probably on another level haha.