Police should drive
by the rules, too

It happened again. It often does.

Driving home Saturday night, I'm putting along at 35 -- the speed limit on this part of Kailua Road. Suddenly, a black Camaro swoops by, accelerating to well over the speed limit. It's a cop, roof light turned off, no apparent reason to be going 60 in a 35 zone. I catch up to him at the next light and almost yell something, but decide that if he doesn't have to follow traffic rules, I don't either. I gun the motor and screech around the corner at the stoplight, leaving the cop in my dust. He doesn't seem to care.

Every day I see police officers violating traffic rules. They speed through residential areas, zip through red lights and -- like many isle residents -- seem to think that using turn signals will make their electric bills go up.

The police department claims to be cracking down on bad drivers. Everyone wants to blame the boys in little import cars for the speed-related accidents and other problems on our roadways. But if the cops don't follow the basic rules of the road, why should anyone else?

Nancy Christenson McNamee

---