A Red Light for Scofflaws译文.doc

A Red Light for ScofflawsBy Frank Trippett1Law-and-order is the longest-running and probably the best-loved political issue in U.S. history. Yet it is painfully apparent 2 that millions of Americans who would never think of themselves as lawbreakers, let alone criminals, are taking increasing liberties with the legal codes that are designed to protect and nourish their society. 3 Indeed, there are moments today amid outlaw litter, tax cheating, illicit noise and motorized anarchy when it seems as though the scofflaw represents the wave of the future. 4 Harvard Sociologist David Riesman suspects that a majority of Americans have blithely taken to committing supposedly minor derelictions as a matter of course. Already, Riesman says, the ethic of U.S. society is in danger of becoming this: “Youre a fool if you obey the rules.” 2Nothing could be more obvious than the evidence supporting Riesman. Scofflaws abound in amazing variety. 5 The graffiti-prone turn public surfaces into visual rubbish. Bicyclists often ride as though two-wheeled vehicles are exempt from all traffic laws. 6 Litterbugs convert their communities into trash dumps. Widespread flurries of ordinances have failed to clear public places of high-decibel portable radios, just as earlier laws failed to wipe out the beer-soaked hooliganism that plagues many parks. 7 Tobacco addicts remain hopelessly blind to signs that say NO SMOKING. Respectably dressed pot smokers no longer bother to duck out of public sight to pass around a joint. The flagrant use of cocaine is a festering scandal in middle and upper-class life. And then there are (hello, everybody! ) 8 the jaywalkers. 3The dangers of scofflawry vary widely. The person who illegally spits on the sidewalk remains disgusting, but clearly poses less risk to others than the company that illegally buries hazardous chemical waste in an unauthorized location. The fare beater on the subway presents less threat to life than the landlord who ignores fire safety statutes. 9 The most immediately and measurably dangerous scofflawry, however, also happens to be the most visible. The culprit is the American driver, whose lawless activities today add up to a colossal public nuisance. 10 The hazards range from routine double parking 11 that jams city streets to the drunk driving that kills some 25,000 people and injures at least 650,000 others yearly. 12 Illegal speeding on open highways? New surveys show that on some interstate highways 83% of all drivers are currently ignoring the federal 55 m .p.h. speed limit. 4The most flagrant scofflaw of them all is the red-light runner. The flouting of stop signals has got so bad in Boston that residents tell an anecdote about a cabby who insists that red lights are “ just for decoration ” .The power of the stoplight to control traffic seems to be waning everywhere. In Los Angeles , red-light running has become perhaps the citys most common traffic violation. In New York City , going through an intersection is like Russian roulette. Admits Police Commissioner Robert J. Mc Guire: “ Today its a 50-50 tossup as to whether people will stop for a red light. ” Meanwhile, his own police largely ignore the lawbreaking. 5Red-light running has always been ranked as a minor wrong, and so it may be in individual instances. 13 When the violation becomes habitual, widespread and incessant, however, a great deal more than a traffic management problem is involved. The flouting of basic rules of the road leaves deep dents in the social mood. Innocent drivers and pedestrians pay a repetitious price in frustration, inconvenience and outrage, not to mention a justified sense of mortal peril. The significance of red-light running is magnified by its high visibility. If hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue, then furtiveness is the true outlaws salute to the force of law-and-order. The red-light runner, however, shows no respect whatever for the social rules, and society cannot help being harmed by any repetitious and brazen display of contempt for the fundamentals of order. 对违反法律者亮红灯弗兰克特立皮德1法律和秩序是美国历史上持续时间最长的、也可能是政治上最热门的话题。然而，显然令人烦恼的是，数以百万计的美国人尽管从没有认为自己会违反法律，更不用说会成为罪犯了，却正在越来越随便地对待那些专为保护与造福他们的社会所制定的法规。当然，现今确实有些时候似乎无视法律代表了未来的潮流。哈佛大学的社会学家大卫莱斯曼怀疑，大多数美国人喜欢犯那种他们认为是无关紧要的玩忽职守的错误。莱斯曼说，美国社会的伦理道德已经处于这样的危险之中，即“如果你遵纪守法，你就是个傻瓜”。2支持莱斯曼观点的证据是再明显不过的。违法乱纪者屡见不鲜、无奇不有，达到了惊人的程度。墙上的乱涂乱画把公共场所的外观糟蹋得不堪入目。骑自行车的人横冲直撞，似乎两个车轮的交通工具可以不受任何交通法规的束缚。乱丢垃圾的人把他们的生活区域变成了垃圾场。正如以前的法令未能扫除危害公园的满身酒气的流氓阿飞一样，广泛宣传的法规也未能消除公共场所的高分贝便携式收音机。吸烟成瘾的人们对“不准吸烟”的告示牌熟视无睹。衣冠楚楚的吸大麻的人再也不像从前那样躲开公众的视线偷偷摸摸地传递带大麻的香烟了。在中上层人士中毫无顾忌地使用可卡因已成为令人烦恼的丑闻。而且，(好家伙，人数真不少啊!）还有随意横穿马路的人呢。3违法行为的危害差别极大。在人行道上随地吐痰当然令人厌恶，但是很明显，比起那些违法地在未经许可的地区掩埋危险化学废料的公司对他人造成的危害要小得多。忽视防火安全法规的房主对人生命的危害当然要比在地铁逃票的人大得多。然而，最直接和最引人注目的违法行为恰恰就是最常见的一种社会现象。首当其冲者就是美国的司机们。今天，他们无法无天的行为给公众造成了极大的灾难。其危害既有日常多见的造成城市街道堵塞的并排违章停车，也有司机酒后开车造成的每年死亡大约25000人，伤残至少650000人。那么高速公路上的违章超速行驶呢？最新调查显示，在一些州际公路上83%的司机现在根本无视联邦法定的每小时55英里的时速限制。4所有违章行为中最厚颜无耻的要数闯红灯了。在波士顿，人们对这种停止通行的信号的藐视已经到了这样的程度，以至在当地人中竟然流传着这种笑话：一名出租汽车司机居然坚持说，红灯信号仅仅起装饰作用。禁止通行的红灯控制交通的效力在各地都在削弱。在洛杉矶，闯红灯似乎已经成为最常见的违反交通法规的行为。在纽约，过十字路口就像俄国轮盘赌一样。警察局局长罗伯特杰麦克盖尔承认：“现在人们在红灯面前是否停下来是50%对50%的抛硬币的概率。”同时，他自己属下的警察们也大都对这种违章行为熟视无睹。5闯红灯一直被认为是微不足道的小错，所以这可能是个人的小事。但是当这种违章行为成为习惯性的、广泛的和没完没了的时候，那么所涉及的问题就远远不仅是一个交通管理的问题了。这种对道路基本交通法规的无视极大地危害了社会风气。无辜的司机和行人们一而再、再而三地为所遭受的挫折、不便和伤害而付出很大代价，更不用说他们无法摆脱不安全感了。闯红灯之所以成为重大问题，就是因为这种现象比比皆是。如果说虚伪是邪恶向美德呈献的赞美，那么偷偷摸摸就是违法者向法律和秩序的威力所表示的衷心的敬意了。然而，闯红灯的人却连这点对社会法规的起码的尊重也没有，而这种一再厚颜无耻地蔑视秩序的基本准则不能不极大地危害社会。6这种无视法律的风气无处不在。所以当有些学校发现，孩子们入学时经常连最起码的集体生活规则都不懂时，就不足为奇了(有些学校的确是这样认为)。尽