It's the Law

South Dakota's Title 32 Act which covers all vehicles and traffic laws only has 42 chapters. Get that? "Only" 42 chapters. On any given day a driver has the potential to break a hundred or more of these laws. Law enforcement could have a hay day with all of these regulations. Just think, a 10-ton vehicle driving over an eight-ton bridge. Could the driver be cited for that? That would make an entertaining court scene.

There used to be a TV show called, "It's the Law." Contestants were shown a strange video, then asked to determine what law is being broken. These movies were really strange. One, in particular that I remember had a lawn mower running around in circles because the mower was tied to a rope attached to a stake. The mower had no one watching the lawnmower. What law was being broken? The lawnmower was spreading cut grass on the sidewalk. The mower being attached to a rope and running around by itself was ok.

Another segment from that show I remember, again these movies were strange, was a building and the exterior door was missing. All kinds of other things were going on. What law was being broken? The exterior door was missing. Definitely a serious offence.

With the literally thousands of laws on the books it really is almost impossible to not break one law or other at one time or another. Police officers have to overlook most of these laws and focus on the ones that are most likely to be a danger to the person or other people, i.e.: speeding, reckless driving, Driving Under the Influence (DUI), Driving While Impaired (DWI), Driving while Distracted (DWD) a much newer problem, and so on. For myself I find that I really only need two laws: obey all signs and drive according to conditions. Chicago is a prime example of "Drive According to Conditions." The speed limit signs are irrelevant. If traffic is going 10 MPH, then drive 10 MPH. If traffic is going 80 MPH and the speed limit is 55 MPH, drive 80.

The writer has had some experiences with obeying signs. The first event happened early one morning while it was still dark and there were no streetlights on that street. For two years parking was allowed on both sides of the street where I parked. One day my car was gone. I called the police department. My car had been impounded. After I left the parking spot the day before, "No Parking" signs had been put up. All the cars on that side of the street had been hauled away. No warning. There had not been an announcement, or a sign put up indicating the parking was going to be changed. Thanks. I had to pay a fine to get my car back.

Another occurrence was an intersection very near where my residence had been. The intersection was open. No Yield or Stop sign either way. There is a slight hill coming down to the intersection and a tree very close to the corner of that intersection. As I neared the intersection and just got passed the tree, here was a big beautiful red octagon shaped sign. There was not time to stop. I was thankful there was no law enforcement officer right there. Again, no warning that the sign was going to be put up. No warning that the sign had been put up. And the sign was behind a branch of the tree. Really good planning.

Many times I worked second shift from 3:30 PM to midnight. I often took different routes home. I was on an open road, speed limit 55 MPH. Just like that I was in a town and the speed limit was 25 MPH. An officer pulled me over. I told the officer that there is no "Reduced Speed Ahead" sign. I assured that officer that if he wrote me a ticket, I would take him and the city to court. Many years later there still is not a "Reduced Speed Ahead" sign on that road that instantly becomes a street. That street is a fund raiser.

There are other people who have been in similar situations to these. Some have had to pay fines. Some have spent a night or two in jail. There was a man, Kent Mead, who had cerebral palsy. He refused to carry an ID Card that explained his condition. More than once, he has been arrested for drunk and disorderly, his brother or sister called to bail him out, and him being released in the morning. He was neither drunk nor disorderly, he just looked that way. An ID card would have prevented having this happen. He would not carry that ID card.

An occurrence happened again coming home from second shift. I had recently hit a deer with my car. The front end was quite damaged. The car was drivable. I replaced the headlight while waiting for the parts to come in and my car could get fixed. An officer pulled me over. The officer told me, "Your headlight is out." Couldn't be. I had just replaced it. I got out, we walked to the front of the car. The headlight was indeed out. However, there was a BB hole in the light. The BB was inside the light. The officer saw that. I assured the officer that I would get the light fixed in the morning...again!

There are many laws in many states that are still on the books although not enforced. Here are a few. It is illegal to wear a fake mustache in church if it causes people to laugh. In another state it is illegal to drive a black car on Sunday. Sorry Henry Ford who said, "They can have any color they want as long as it's black." In another state it is illegal to wrestle bears. This is a great one. It is illegal to kill Sasquatch. The man who created Sasquatch showed the movies of himself build the costume and putting it on. In another state it is illegal to give your pet a lit cigar. Cigarettes must be OK. The reader could look up laws that are still on the books in any state and have a good laugh.

"It's the Law" was a show that didn't last long but had some interesting looks at humorous laws. What "laws" has the reader broken and not been aware of that law?