Priorities, Priorities, Priorities.

I want to preface this post with the clear statement that I appreciate the police and what they do. Theirs is a job that combines the worst of public service, odd working hours, customer service, unrealistic expectations, and unreasoning hatred, all spiced with a liberal sprinkling of danger. Society cannot exist without the police, and I thank them for (usually) fulfilling their often thankless tasks as well as they do.

That said, there are moments when I wonder about their priorities.

This past weekend, during four separate trips that I drove over the course of a single day -- total elapsed time of approximately 10 hours -- I witnessed, and/or had to maneuver my vehicle to avoid, all of the following:

• At least three vehicles showing only running lights -- no headlights! -- well after sundown;
• One vehicle being driven well after sundown with absolutely no lights on at all; 
• Several vehicles with various combinations of only one headlight, only one tail light, and/or no working brake lights;
• One large red SUV come to a complete stop in the middle of a block in the left-hand travel lane of a multi-lane road, sit unmoving for almost a full minute, then make an illegal U-turn;
• Two vehicles run a red light in tandem, pushing through a crowded intersection when only the turn signals were green;
• One small blue import whose driver decided he wanted the left lane - no, the right lane... no, the left... the right! The left! The right! Then make a left turn through traffic from the center lane of a busy road;
• One large blue SUV and one silver compact sedan (at different times and in different locations) attempt to move into my lane while still directly beside my vehicle;
• One large, brown, 1980s vintage 4-door sedan driven by a prototypical little old man move down a clear, straight, well-marked 2-lane road at a maximum speed 10mph below the posted limit;
• A dingy white van of late 1970s vintage come to a complete stop at every intersection in a residential neighborhood, regardless of whether or not a stop sign was present;
• A small red SUV come to a wheel-locking, tire-squealing sudden halt in traffic and then veeerrrrryyy sllloooowwwwwwly make a right turn onto a side street;
• A large single-digit number of vehicles whose drivers insisted on following me so closely (at speed) that I could only see the hood of their car, not the front bumper; and
• A respectably large two-digit number of drivers make lane changes without signaling or apparently bothering to see if there was already another vehicle occupying the spot they were trying to move into, often followed by amusing-if-they-weren't-so-dangerous episodes of hand waving, gesticulating, and (in one case) screaming out an open window shared with the drivers of those other vehicles.

Somewhere in the middle of all that, while I was driving my parents home from a family event no more than 10 minutes from their house, my rear view mirror was suddenly filled with flashing red and blue lights. It took a moment for any of us to realize what was happening but yes indeedy, I was being pulled over.

Had I forgotten to turn on my lights? Had I driven through a red light or a stop sign? Had I blocked the flow of traffic, caused another vehicle to maneuver suddenly to avoid a collision, exceeded the posted speed limit by more than 2.5 mph, not engaged in proper lane discipline, or followed another vehicle at a distance or mere inches?

No.

I was pulled over (and thankfully given only a verbal warning) because one of the two bulbs illuminating my rear license plate had burned out.

<sigh>

(And my parents wonder why I, who used to make up wild excuses for a chance to get behind the wheel, now find driving a Major Annoyance.)

Priorities, people, priorities...!