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Now that our legislature is set to convene -- there are some things that you might wish had collapsed with the arrival of Y2K -- it's time to propose certain matters that the General Assembly should consider.
The first is to get rid of those Fines doubled for
speeding
signs.
What's the point? Assume that fining people for
exceeding the speed limit is supposed to serve as a
deterrent. On a clear day, you might be tempted to hit 90
mph on U.S. 285 between Antero Junction and Fairplay, but
if this logic is true, you'll resist the temptation with
the thought that I could get pulled over and ticketed,
and I'd rather keep that fine money in my own pocket. So
I'll obey the speed limit.
If those fines must be doubled in certain zones in order to discourage speeding, then it stands to reason that the normal fines in the other zones are not of sufficient magnitude to serve as a deterrent.
In other words, if a $50 fine doesn't deter speeding, but a $100 fine does, then why not raise the fine all over if it's important to keep motorists from speeding?
Or, if it's not all that important to deter speeding in those $50 zones, why not raise their speed limits?
And what of the people who live along the $50 zones? It
seems obvious that they aren't getting as much protection
from speeders as the residents along the Fines doubled
for speeding
$100 zones. Doesn't this violate the
concept of equal protection under the law
?
The state seems to be saying Speeding is illegal, but
it's more illegal in some places than it is in
others.
Try as I might, I can't fathom the logic behind these signs, and it's time to get rid of them.
The next automotive matter is an invasion of privacy
that occurs when you register a vehicle. Last week I
ventured to the county courthouse
for some
adjustments in the family fleet.
(We call the building the courthouse,
as though
it still held the courtrooms and chambers, but the county
and district courts actually sit next door in the
judicial facility.
Perhaps the county clerk's
office should be housed in a county office building,
but the inscription over the front door says the clerk is
in the courthouse. This problem with nomenclature might
also be worthy of legislative attention someday.)
My trip to the clerk's office came about because we had given the 1965 Dodge Dart to a daughter, who later bought an '83 Subaru. Meanwhile, our 1987 Cavalier died en route to Trinidad last fall, so Martha and I needed the Dart back until we could find another car, and I was transferring the title.
In the process, I was asked What color is the
Dodge?
Mostly rust,
I said.
We've got to do better than that,
she said.
It's the law.
Now, what business is it of the government what color my
car is? Whom am I supposed to notify if I get it painted,
and what's the penalty for failure to report a
car-painting? And what's an acceptable color name -- do
they require the usual Roy G. Biv
spectrum, or can
you use colors like Dawn Mist
and Fecal
Brown?
How do they handle it when a blue car has a
yellow door and a red hood as a result of replacements from
a salvage yard?
And finally, why bother with this when nobody checks? I could have just lied and said the old Dodge was neon purple, and nobody would be the wiser.
The legislature can serve us all well this year if it eliminates this nuisance.
Another reform concerns the new license plates, which will not identify the car's county. In 1932, Colorado began placing county numbers, in population order, on license plates (Denver was 1, Chaffee was 31, etc.). Then came the two-letter codes (HY for Weld, ZN for Hinsdale, etc.) in 1959. Californication flowered with the recent three-letter codes (EBE for Baca, VVV for Rio Blanco, etc.).
It took a while with every transition, but one could learn the codes and thereby differentiate between local cars and out-of-town cars.
But the new tags will not offer any county
identification. Some migrant who just bought a house in
the suburbs will be the license-plate equivalent of a real
Coloradan who had attained the honor of ZB-1
or the
like.
Clearly this is an outrage, and the General Assembly should correct the problem by restoring county identity to our license plates -- and do it quickly, before too many of these horrible new generic tags get issued.
Or are we going to see bumper stickers that say I'll
give up my XJ-2555 when you pry my cold dead fingers off
it
?
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