Wait… Red Means Stop?
The Seattle Times reports a neat experiment in private roads:
Sgt. P.J. Beaty watches people in this upscale development breaking traffic laws, and sees plenty of them. But he can't pull them over. A man swerved head-on into Beaty's lane, and then back out again and Beaty couldn't lay a glove on him.
For years, he and the department's 10 other sworn officers could have pulled him over.
But the Sunriver Service District, which governs police and fire departments, voted in February to tell officers to make Sunriver's roads, which are private but open to the public, exempt from minor vehicle infractions….
Seator said the association, which owns the roads, told the district that its roads are private, but open to the public.
That means police have limited power in what they can enforce, much like in a supermarket parking lot, Oregon State Police Lt. Carl Rhodes said.
The rest of the article suggests that civilization as we know it will be coming to an end, and a new order will arise in which drunk drivers will rule the streets, terrorizing radar gunless police officers.
