Skip to content

‘Internal’ police are all we need

Most of us behave ourselves because of our social contract – and that works for HOV lanes, too.

I wish to congratulate letter writer Sandra Steffan (May 11 edition) for her purchase of an electric car. However, I would caution her on her premise that use of the HOV lane now adds the responsibility of policing it.

It is not our job as citizens to police the many “selfish, mindless, elite-thinking individuals” of the world. That is the thinking that allowed the Nazis to flourish, as well as  the Stasi in East Germany. That friends, neighbours, even family members were willing to “rat” on each other to the authorities is what permitted those authorities to grow in power.

Most of us behave ourselves because of our social contract, the collection of written and unwritten rules that bind us together by instilling us with internal surveillance in the form of conscience and aspiration. We don’t need dash cams on our vehicles in order to police each other.

C.A. Archibald, Surrey