Intention and objective
IS IT ILLEGAL to warn motorists of speed traps and police road blocks? A person who calls himself Pigspotter has been threatened with prosecution in Gauteng for doing just that, using the Twitter service over the internet. A similar tweeter in KwaZulu-Natal had apparently been doing the same but has since stopped.
On the face of it this looks like defeating the ends of justice – except it can be argued that by putting out the alert one is encouraging motorists not to break the law. Speedsters slow down, a tipsy driver might decide to take a cab.
Michael Green, retired editor of our sister newspaper, the Daily News, recalls a case in Cape Town where a motorist was prosecuted for obstructing the police in their duties by flicking his lights to warn other motorists of a speed trap.
It went to court and the defence case was straightforward. Far from obstructing the police, the accused argued, he was assisting them by preventing crime. He was stopping motorists from speeding and this, surely, was the intention and objective of the police.
"As far as I can recall, the magistrate was persuaded by this argument, and the accused driver was acquitted."
I suppose it hinges on "intention and objective". If the intention and objective is to boost municipal revenues by imposing fines – as many of us suspect - I can see the police wouldn't consider the flasher/tweeter to be on their side.
And if their objective – as Pigspotter himself told a radio station – is to corruptly shake down motorists for bribes, even less so.
It could be an interesting test case.
Anarchy rules!
THE ABOVE recalls an anarchist I once met, who would deliberately put his foot down when he spotted a speed trap because he enjoyed confounding the system when it came to court. I encountered him at the annual get-together of the Society of Libertarians, which was a cover name. They had difficulty booking hotels under their real name, which was League of Anarchists.
This anarchist operated mainly in Gauteng. When caught speeding he would deliberately tear up the ticket in front of the police officer. But he would obey the summons to appear in court, where he would proceed to butter up the beak, calling him "Milord" as if he were a high court judge.
"Milord, I would like to know if this is a court of justice or a court of law."
"What is the difference?"
"A court of justice, Milord, seeks abstract justice. A court of law seeks to enforce the will of government and to extort money from citizens."
"Then this is a court of justice."
"I am gratified to know that, Milord."
But he would be pig rude to the prosecutor, asking if he'd matriculated and what his grades were. He was worse to the traffic police. For instance:
"On the day in question, did you run out into the road and wave your arms at me?"
"Yes."
"Are you aware that in the 18th century I would have been legally entitled to shoot you as a highwayman?"
It kind of threw them. Then there was his clincher.
"Milord, I in fact own the road on which I was speeding. I have paid for it with the taxes that have been extorted from me over many years."
The beak: "No, you can't say you own the whole road network."
"Not the entire network, Milord. Just that section on which I happen to be travelling at any particular time."
He said he always got off. The worst he ever did was a caution and discharge. The prosecutors and traffic police loathed him. The magistrates thought he was a bit of a wag.
In fact he was an anarchist using the system against itself.
Check-out time
IT WAS FUN when the anarchists checked out of wherever they were holding their conference and they told management they could not pay the bill because they did not recognise the government or the currency it claimed to issue. But they could mow the lawn or paint the building in recompense.
Eventually it would be settled by credit card – a fiction which seemed to satisfy both sides.
Tailpiece
WHAT happened when the cat swallowed the coin? There was cash in the kitty.
Last word
Criticism is prejudice made plausible.
GRAHAM LINSCOTT
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