HARRY SHEARER

Right on to Harry Shearer’s “Drive Better, He Said” (Dec. 23/30). I remember attending traffic court when judges meted out substantial fines to drivers who stopped with their wheels over the limit line or bluffed a pedestrian. Time was, when the pedestrian put his foot into the gutter at a corner or marked crosswalk, all vehicles came to a stop. Likewise, when you applied for a California driver’s license, the examiner impressed upon you that here we respected the pedestrian, and woe to the motorist who did not.

Now officers in their vehicles turn their heads the other way so as not to see the right-on-red-turner barely missing a pedestrian or the vehicle next to him with his front wheels over the limit line. It seems the doughnut shop around the corner is worthy of more attention than the errant motorist.

ROBERT MUES

Mission Viejo