[jeffnc]

That's something that normally would bug me, but I'm a little nitty about it in the opposite direction. I feel that cops should be able to move more freely in traffic than all other cars, because that's their job.

This is much different than, say, an ambulance with no one in it to turn on it's lights for an illegal right on red. Their job is to transfer sick people in an emergency. No sick people, no need to bend the rules.

Cops, on the other hand, are often traffic cops, and need to move with more freedom in traffic, and sometimes need to be somewhere else, without it really being an emergency. For the same reason, they should be allowed to speed while not in an emergency, for the simple fact that they need to maneuver themselves in traffic differently than we do, so they can monitor traffic.

The lights are a way to warn us they are moving in an otherwise illegal fashion, which is what they should do.

If the cops were really bending the rules because they're lazy, then I take it all back (and I'm sure some do sometimes.)