Now that I know what a Traffic Warden is, I have another Question?

Question

If you know that what you are doing is breaking the law by parking in the wrong area, and you also are aware that by so doing this, you are subjecting yourself to getting a ticket from the Traffic Warden, why the hell do you people still do it, and why do you hate someone that is ONLY enforcing the traffic laws?
I asked this question, originally to see what all the comotion was about regarding these traffic wardens, and ALL of the replies that I got were from people that had knowingly broke the law. Do you also hate police officers for enforcing the laws? How about the mail man delivering the mail? The milkman or the Dog Catcher, is no public servant safe from being hated by the public?
When you knowlingly break the law and get caught and fined for doing so, rather than accept your punishment and not do it again, you take out your unjust anger on the person whoes job it is to enforce these laws and give you a ticket, when you should b mad at yourself for doing such a stupid thing!

I know that sometimes there are circumstances that deserve an explanation, and there should be reasonable excuses that should be accepted by the Traffic Wardens, but have you ever taken into consideration that they MUST follow the Rules or be fired? Put yourself in their position: You are a traffic warden who has a family at home that is depending upon you to feed and cloth them, keep the rent paid and make sure all the bills are paid, are you going to risk losing your only job because someone who broke the law is asking for a break from getting a ticket for doing something they knew was wrong in the first place? Your fairly intelligent people, or at last I think you are, why not use common sense, don't break the law then you have nothing to worry about from the Traffic Wardens,
do you? Aren't the Laws of the Land there to keep order in the society in which we all must live? If you were to shoplift and got caught, would you hate the cop who arrested you for doing his job? THINK!

Answer 1

Here here! It's a shame there aren't more sensible people like you in the world!

I very often bear the brunt of the very thing you are highlighting when I'm at work.

I tend to find that that people who hate authority figures are the ones breaking the laws and those who think that they can go around doing exactly as they please with no regard for anyone else.

It's about time people realised that rules are there for the good of everyone and if you break them you should expect to face consequences.

Answer 2

I agree that if you don't break the law you wont have a problem but I can see why people do get fed up with the attitude of some Traffic Wardens.I was in the police for thirty years and though most of the time the Traffic Wardens were a great help sometimes they could be a bit jobsworth.I once arrested a driver and told a Traffic Warden not to ticket his car as I had caused it to stop the reply was 'I will do my duty' and a ticket was issued causing me paperwork to squash it.I have seen stolen cars abandoned with half a dozen tickets on when a simple radio call would have established it was stolen and got it back to its owner in good time without making the police look bad because the owner had to appeal all the tickets.There are always idiots in all jobs where authoriy is given but the majority are just doing what the public pay them to do.

Answer 3

England used to be a place where knowingly breaking the law was not a problem, recently the law has become final and all encompassing. We are the only country in the E.U. that follow these ridiculous laws, we are the only country where one is charged a fee to park outside one's own home, where one was not allowed until recently to call a pint a pint, a pound a pound nor an inch an inch, we have to pay a tax or face a fine to watch public television (as good as the B.B.C. is), we pay more for our public transport system than any other country (tomorrow I am going to have to pay $25 to go in and out of town for work) and I only live according to the train company 28 minutes from my workplace (weird that as the journey takes about an hour and a half on a good day and three on a bad day).

Answer 4

I think we all have a love/hate relationship with traffic wardens! It possibly started when Traffic Wardens were first recruited, from "ordinary" members of the public, who had no special qualifications or training at a special college, as do the police. People never really minded being booked by a policeman for illegal parking( he was a`trained` officer and qualified to do this) However when we found ourselves being booked by the man who used to work in the grocery store, we were to say the least, a little bit `miffed`! "How dare he? the jumped up little**** " was our reaction. I think it is really that most people do not consider Traffic Wardens, to be figures of responsibility, as they do with police officers. Of course, I absolutely adore them! They look so gorgeous in their uniform ( even although it does have a yellow stripe on it) !

Answer 5

Excellently said Fire n Ice. I dont hate traffic wardens i think they do a very good job. You get the good and bad in all jobs. However I dont agree with giving traffic wardens bonuses related to how many tickets they give, i think that is awful.

Answer 6

Because Traffic Wardens have no discretion and are very officious. Their whole attitude is one of aggravation.
Perhaps you are not old enough to remember the time before traffic parking meters. but in most cities there were places where we could not park because it was considered dangerous. Guess where the first meters went. I reckon that his was the point at which motorists started to hate traffic wardens. It is all to do with certain aspects of law being discredited.

Answer 7

I don't hate traffic wardens simply because they are enforcingthe rules, I hate them because they are jobsworth type people.

Parking in violation of rules doesn't happen in all cases intentionally. If you live in london, the times for parking is at times confusing. for eg: you will have a sign which states "monday 0700 - 1400 - no loading" "tuesday 0800 - 0830 no parking" - "match days no loading/ parking 1600 - 2300" the list on a particular sign goes on and on and on!!! and in order to read those signs and decipher whether or not it applies to you you need to leave your car and have a look, in the meantime, the CCTV camera has noted your car and sent you a ticket. In relation to the traffic wardens - they literally measure distances from kurbs and go over and above what is expected of them. at first they were given targets, now that has changed - thank god!!!

it's not as easy and straight forward as you think, when you get a ticket for something then you will understand and it will happen when you are being careful not to park in violation of restrictions. You will then understand the frustration!!

Answer 8

In a fast moving country like this is you sometimes break the parking laws as you nip into the chemist only to find a big queue and then find a parking ticket on your car or you are delayed and find you have overstayed your time limit by ten minutes only to find you have a parking ticket.Some of these silly penaltys are not nesessary that is why we hate these people.Some people delight in inflicting other people with penalties causing unnesesary problems with money at home It is not the men who yhey are hurting as he will still get his pint and pkt of fags it is the mother and CHILDREN who have to do without.This money is only going to the government so just think tomorrow Traffic Wardens before you write out your ticket what you are doing and who you are hurting .Its a very CRUEL WORLD out there dont be a part of making it worse.

Answer 9

Ronald575715 - no offence but that was a load of b*llocks to be fair. If you don't want to incur a parking ticket, don't park illegally. Simple as really. If you're in a rush - go to the Chemist another time. Just because you're in a rush, doesn't give an excuse to park illegally, any more than it gives you an excuse to exceed the speed limit.

Some people - amazing.

Answer 10

I can see your point, but to be fair to those who have a thing against traffic wardens (I don't personally) sometimes then can be a bit over-zealous in the execution of their duties, and sometimes the signs to indicate a specific parking restriction in an area are not too obvious so you might not be aware of them.

In Torbay, Devon the traffic wardens have been outsourced to NCP so are no longer working for the local authority, and have been given targets to meet or face losing there jobs, so they tend to ticket anything they see for the minutest of offence, like one wheel over the edge of a parking pay or similar.

But wheel clampers are worse IMO as they usually work for private companies.