An article in today’s Pensacola News Journal piqued my interest because of a matter that was brought to the attention of the Pensacola City Police, three times.
The article is about a growing trend started by a local entrepreneur that builds and sells battery-powered golf cards that are legal to drive on public roadways and are subject to the same traffic and motor vehicle laws that apply to cars.
A commenter there, Paul Utter said “if they are on the street, they need a tag and insurance..if not get off the road.”
After reading that, I had to reply . . .
There’s one caveat to that Paul. The Pensacola City Police apparently have one exception to the law. You see, if you’re a hard working guy, or gal, in the landscaping business, of course your vehicle and the trailer you tow both have to be registered and street-legal. But if you work for a big company like, or say, UPS, you’re allowed to drive on the roadways in your unregistered vehicle AND unregistered trailer. No problem.
Of course, Paul is correct. All vehicles driven on the public roadways must be legally registered and tagged, including any trailers being towed.
But there seems to be a double-standard within the Pensacola City limits. I’ve personally never seen landscapers driving around in an unregistered vehicle towing an unregistered trailer. Or any other occupation for that matter. Only reason I use landscapers as an example is because there are so many of them around. (A testament, perhaps, to the need to make a living in a lousy economy. But that’s another subject.)
Maybe you have seen a UPS driver delivering packages in your neighborhood? Maybe he was doing it legally? Clearly, this one was not.
And clearly, the city police were ineffective in enforcing the law. Because repeated calls about the same offense on different days resulted in no effective action. And calls to Police Chief Chip Simmons went unanswered and unreturned.
This writer has no problem in UPS finding more economical ways to conduct their business. But I want to believe that the City Police would agree that the rules of the road actually do apply to everyone on the road.
