Shitty

I read this letter in the paper today.

Editor, Daily News:

This letter is for the education of local drivers who are unaware of Florida State Statute 316.126(1) (E31), as I was the other night at 10:15.

My wife and I were returning from Naples on U.S. 41 in moderate traffic. We noticed two police cars with flashing lights parked back-to-back on the side of the road near Rattlesnake Hammock Road. The police officers were in their cars; there were no other vehicles or people near them.

I was unable to move into the adjoining left lane because of a vehicle beside me, so I passed the two police cars by continuing in the same lane.

Wrong! I had just violated the statute cited above for passing an emergency vehicle with lights flashing without vacating the lane next to it. I was unaware of that statute so was guilty as charged. This resulted in a citation and $120.50 fine.

The entrapment procedure of the Collier County Sheriff’s Office is shameful, at best. There was no other purpose for these police officers to be parked by the side of the road. They were able to arrest three of us within five minutes. I have no idea how many others were ensnared that night.

I guess this is a good source of income for Collier County, as they feel the pinch of lower property taxes.

I now understand why local drivers tend to clog the left lanes. But I still haven’t figured out why they rarely use turn signals.

I think this is pretty shitty.  To have cops sitting in the middle median with the lights flashing for no other reason than to nab people unaware of an obscure law is rather ridiculous.  I would certainly hope there were more pressing needs for the sheriff’s department to attend to.