- Published: November 16, 2021
- Updated: November 16, 2021
- University / College: University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
- Level: Secondary School
- Language: English
- Downloads: 39
Crime I have never committed a serious crime in my whole life. However, all of us, at times, compromise upon laws especially in petty matters, or because we think such matters are petty, even if they are not. In relation to my life, I have observed that people in general, me included, tend to follow and abide by laws just as seriously as the law enforcing agencies are serious about implementing laws and holding the criminals accountable.
In my homeland, I have never passed a traffic interchange at a Red signal. I attribute this to my awareness that if I do pass the road when the traffic signal is Red, I would immediately be followed by a traffic police agent and it would not be long before I would be fined. I have observed this happening with other people, and this has induced a consciousness in me to try to avoid this mistake always in my conscious mind.
Once, I was in India on a holiday. There I observed that while traffic rules were the same as they were in my homeland, yet people were not very serious in abiding by the rules. I often saw people crossing the interchange while the traffic signal was still Red. This behavior was particularly executed by the motorcyclists in India. Occasionally, I would see a traffic police officer taking a car to a side and investigating why the driver broke the rule, but the number of offenders in my observation far outweighed the number of traffic police encounters.
Having observed this trend, I also crossed a traffic signal at the Red light once in India. While at that time, it felt like an adventure having dodged the traffic police, yet now when I reflect at that experience, it does not leave me with a good feeling in my heart. I feel that although I was not traced by any traffic police, yet it was very irresponsible and careless of me to have broken that traffic rule despite knowing it. Although that did save me few minutes that I would have otherwise wasted waiting for the signal to turn Green at the interchange, yet by breaking that rule, I did a dishonesty to the nation and the state. In addition, I could have been caught had a policeman chased me and I could have been fined in addition to facing the embarrassment.
The extent to which people of a certain nation observe and respect traffic laws reflects the tendency of the whole nation to respect the laws and avoid crimes. This is so because traffic is essentially made up of people belonging to a certain society. My observation of the behavior of the traffic of India and my homeland has led me to the conclusion that people in my homeland respect laws because the law enforcing agencies are quite strict at holding the offenders accountable for their actions. Even I hardly ever see an Indian breaking a traffic law in my homeland. So the process of correction commences from the top.