Reaction to canyon racing




So, given the fact of unsafe driving along “the snake” portion of Mulholland, authorities, faced with the option of ticketing unsafe drivers or prohibiting people from standing around in the vicinity of unsafe drivers, have made the decision to ban the bystanders.

In other news, the FAA has announced a prohibition on citizens gazing skyward as a deterrent to unsafe flying.

I have an idea. Howzabout encouraging police to enforce existing laws in order to, well, increase enforcement of existing laws? Wouldn’t that be better than criminalizing the parking of vehicles or engaging in chit-chat?

Am I to understand that it’s too hard to catch the law-breakers, so the fix is to make innocent behavior illegal? If chit-chat is now a public safety hazard, may I assume a crackdown on hair salons is in the works?

Though chit-chatters are admittedly easy targets, the racers aren’t really that hard to find. I live on Mulholland; they fly by my house night and day. An officer at the bottom and another at the top should do the trick. I’d be happy to see them pulled over and cited.

I’m decidedly less happy to hear that soon, should I pull over anywhere near my house to hike with my kids or just relax and enjoy one of the most beautiful views in Southern California, I will have become the menace to public safety.

The law is a blunt instrument. It should be wielded thoughtfully, and always in a way that punishes only lawbreakers. Punishing honest folks by criminalizing innocent behavior is never the right answer.

David Sturgis
Cornell

I have been an Acorn reader for some 30 years, and I think I just read the stupidest piece of information ever. It seems they are putting a ban on “gawkers’’ parking along Mulholland Highway to stop the cars racing along the highway, especially along the “snake.’’

I’ve lived here for four years and have yet to see a sheriff’s deputy or CHP stop any of these morons in their overpriced gocarts for anything.

I have noticed and have been harassed by officers for things like loud pipes, even loud stereos, but a car doing 80 mph through the turn in front of the old place is acceptable.

I think if our law enforcement would actually do their job other than waiting for freebies at the Canyon Grill, Jack in the Box and any Starbucks, or napping at the top of Lost Hills, the gawkers that threaten our personal safety would go away due to boredom.

Chris Collins
Cornell



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