One thing one notices about driving through the country (in the United States) is the relentless expansion of local highway systems. There is a constant widening of lanes, addition of lanes, construction of new ramps and overpasses, and a variety of other structural features catering to the car. One sees the construction everywhere.
This is accompanied by the proliferation of work zones and their accompanying reduced speed limits, along with menacing signs that have penalties posted for speeding in these zones. The issue seemed especially acute in a state like Illinois, which had penalties like a $10,000 fine and up to 14 years in jail for injuring or killing a worker. However, penalties like these are popping up everywhere.
The urgency and harshness of these punishments were not entirely surprising, given that anecdotally nearly everyone on the road was driving aggressively, oftentimes well over 20 mph over the speed limit, even in the work zones. Police were everywhere, lying in wait to issue their tickets, yet the velocity of the highway was greater than ever.
It is true that there are various cities experimenting with alternative transportation ideas, investing further in their public transit, and encouraging biking and walking, as opposed to doubling down on car-centric transportation layouts. However it is apparent that this experimentation is not enough to affect a quality change, and that in many regions, on the local and federal level, the instinct is to double down upon and speed up what has already failed, and to punish vulnerable or glaring offenders which burst free under the mounting pressure. A vast majority of localities, caught within this dynamic, and lacking the will or means to escape it, have fallen in with it.
Policing in this environment is a society's own constant self-provocation, and a constant infliction of violence on itself, generating ever greater resent and trauma, all of which is backed by reactionary segments of the population that believe otherwise.
