Don’t Break Two or More Laws At Once

My father taught us one rule that has stuck with me for more than 30 years. That rule is; don’t break two or more laws at once. It sounds kind of mundane but it had a huge impact on me.

What he was really saying was if you are going to break the law, don’t be stupid and flaunt it or compound it so you will get caught. For instance, if you were going to drink and drive, don’t speed or fail to put your headlights on because you will dramatically increase your chances of getting caught. Or more simply, if you are going to drive a car that is seriously late on its registration renewal make the headlights are operating properly. My brother’s favorite example is; if you are going to transport illegal herbage in the car, don’t flip a U turn in front of a cop. Yes it really was my dad that taught me this.

At the time I didn’t think much of this but I often refer to it and change my course of action so I don’t do two or more illegal things at once. I have said on more than one occasion “If I hadn’t followed Dad’s advise I would have gotten caught __________________________”. I also comment how often others seem to get caught violating this simple principal.

For instance take this guy driving along I-15 who made an illegal lane change in front of a cop (although it doesn’t seem like it, it is illegal to change lanes on the highway without signaling). The cop pulled him over and smelled the odor of marijuana. He called the pot sniffing dog over and they found 50 sealed bags of the green gold. The guy and his girlfriend are going away for a long time because he violated the dumb criminal principal.

One final note, it seems this guy compounded the problem beyond just illegal lane changing with 200 lbs of dope in the car. The smell couldn’t have come from the sealed bags so the guy was smoking while making an illegal lane change with 200 lbs of dope in the van. He deserves to get caught.