Be careful what you wish for

Drove to Lancaster today. And as usual, there were the normal drivers on the road. Those looking at their cell phones. Those driving like they are the only ones on the road. Those that drive like you are in their way and you need to make room for them. All told, it was a normal day driving in the AV.

With the move to “Defund the Police” we can plan on not seeing as many patrol vehicles out on the roadways. Let’s face it, with less manpower and less equipment (i.e., patrol vehicles), there will be less patrols on the road for traffic enforcement. Less traffic enforcement, less reason to obey the traffic laws. More speeders (like speed limits mean anything anyway), more people failing to stop for stop lights and stop signs, and less yielding to pedestrians.

More traffic laws being ignored. Less enforcement of traffic laws. Increased traffic accidents. More people being injured and transported to the hospital. More opportunity to end up in court involved in a lawsuit. No wonder the legal world likes the idea.

I can see auto insurance going up because of the increase in accidents. And lawsuits will cost the insurance companies more, so they will have to increase your insurance for that also. More people driving without insurance because they can’t afford it. So, the cost of insurance will go up in that category also. AVTA may want to start planning now for the increase in mass transit ridership.

The moral of this story: Think carefully about what you want. The unintended consequences are always there and many times more impactful than the original situation. Greg Carlson Rosamond