Re: Traffic - Signal Devices Threaten Chaos

On 9 Nov 2003 13:20:27 -0800, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Proprclr) wrote:
>aunt millie wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
>> On Thu, 06 Nov 2003 05:13:01 GMT, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (gsomers) wrote:
>> They need to outlaw gadgets like this and enforce the ban with
>> super-stiff penalties.
> That worked wonders with narcotics.

This is an invalid argument. Banning murder has also not stopped
murder so why not make it legal as well? It is the same principle.
Making something illegal will not stop it but it allows the legal
system to catch and punish someone for doing it. That is very useful
when the general consensus of society is that something is bad, such
as murder. The more universal the consensus the better the enforcement
of the law. The police normally searches for murderers much more
diligently than they do for pot smokers. 

I suspect the consensus on banning the gadgets will be greater than
for banning pot especially if the use becomes widespread and people
find their commute snared up more than normal as a result. I also
suspect that the use of the devices is useful only when few people
have them. The more of them in use, the greater the chances that
mulitple people will try to use them at the same time. The result
should be even more traffic gridlock. So using the devices may well
become self-punishing. 

So I suspect banning the devices with additional penalties for using
them will work. It will affect only a small number of people that most
people would love to lynch. :-)

Danny

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