Of Air Fresheners and Cell Phones
Philadelphia, the cradle of liberty, where did you lose your way. Ben Franklin, a very famous Philadelphia resident, once said and I'll paraphrase "Those who would give up Liberty for Security deserve neither." If the city government breaks the law day in and day out how can they reasonably expect the citizentry to respect the rule of law. Philadelphia has become a joke, it's own little feifdom, with it's illegal ordinances that completely violate state law. First they pass a city ordinance banning the hanging of air freshners off of rearview mirrors, a shaky ordinance at best. Legally it can only be a secondary ticket i.e. they can't stop you for it since it's not a moving violation. State law says that in the state of Pennsylvania you can be stopped only if a duly appointed officer observes you making a moving violation, after that he can then cite you for other secondary violations. However the PPD saw this as an oppurtunity to stop and harass it's citizens when it can't find anything else on you. I have mixed feelings about this ban, first I did read that it allows hands free devices and it does not target those who are parked. I think it is dangerous to try and study a phone on your ear with one hand and drive with the other, I don't think the act of talking in and of itself is dangerous, to me if you have your hands free it's no more dangerous than talking to your passenger. I am worried however that this ban is gonna be used to further harass citizens in the poorer neighborhoods who are already unfairly targeted by the PPD. I wish they would put the same effort into figuring out how to fix our school system as they do dreaming up these crazy ordinances, that's an idea that would actually solve more problems than it causes.
Stay Safe
BadBoy