Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill

I have a confession. A friend of mine left his car with me, and I've been driving to work for the past week. A 38-minute commute, as opposed to a nearly two-hour one, proved to be a temptation impossible to resist.

However, as I've noted before, almost nobody observes, much less obeys the rules of the road. Drivers fail to signal, fail to stay in lanes, fail to stop at stop signs; they blow red lights, (I was almost T-boned by a driver running a red light on Tuesday morning) and, worst of all, most travel between 15 and 20 mph over the speed limit, whenever possible. So, while my commute time was reduced, my tension level was ratcheted WAY up.

Here's what I don't understand. Why do the police, and our various public officials involved, fail to enforce the laws? It's as though all our elected officials, and nearly the entire NYPD, (I did see one highway patrol officer stop an especially egregious speeder) feel that motorists should get a free pass. If the laws were enforced, the revenues collected would far surpass those proposed for congestion pricing, so why don't we act on this? Enforcement could increase revenues, make our streets safer, lower insurance rates, improve traffic flow (by reducing accidents) and encourage some to use mass transit. So why not?