A light on the Israeli police situation.

On my way home from school tonight I was getting speeding off the ramp from Kvish 1 towards Bet Shemesh when the inevitable happened: the red and blue lights came peeking out from behind me from afar.

I recognize that I can be a bit of a speed demon when in the right mood. When I’d get pulled over in the States, I was always polite and well-mannered; I believe in taking responsibility for my own actions. The cop, after all, didn’t do anything wrong by pulling me over. And aren’t I also the one who watches the other speed demons (the faster ones) and prays they get caught as soon as possible?

Anyway, I see the old red-and-blue and of course, I slow down and turn off the radio in order to listen for sirens. The cop was still far away at this point and I thought there was a chance that maybe he wasn’t even noticing me or maybe he will let me off for slowing down. A few minutes continue, with the lights still coming after me but he doesn’t slow down or call out for me to pull over.

I became very confused. I often see Israeli traffic cops driving through the streets or highways with their lights blazing; but they never stop anyone, they are just cruising for the most part. Why do they do this? And if they are going to pull you over, why don’t they turn on the sirens so at least we could know?

For some reason, the uncertainty of whether or not he was aiming to pull me over made me nervous. Was I now the forefront of a car chase? Was I supposed to pull over? I decided to test it and keep driving, even speed up a bit. Nothing in the way of audio signal.

Finally, I pulled over as my heart leapt in my chest. I’m caught, and I don’t even feel like playing the Anglo game because I’m too proud for that. I sigh and wait for him to pull in front of me (for some reason, the cops pull in front of you here, too).

…But he doesn’t. He just passes me. And keeps the lights going. I feel like a surfer with a bloody leg who just got brushed against by a shark. Then I just get angry. Why do you have to toy with me like that, police dude? Why not just give us all lights and we can have block parties on the highway?

I ended up driving through Bet Shemesh right behind him, staring at his revolving, tormenting lights. I picked up the speed after I made the turn towards the black hills of back-end Bet Shemesh and sped the whole way home.


Posted

in

by

Comments

Whadya got: