Update 7/2/21: This blog was posted 5 years ago when I would see several wide-tire cars. The wide tires and darkened windows trend seemed to have stopped. I post now because I'm seeing wide tires again. It appears that if one driver gets away with it for a while then others try.
Posted January 28, 2016:
A Hawaii law states that tires must not extend beyond the fender. One of the reasons for the law is so that gravel doesn't get thrown back on to another's windshield.
I see dozens of vehicles with extra-wide tires that extend beyond the fender. A driver who ignores this law holds the rest of us, including the police, in contempt. They know from experience that police (many of whom are school buddies) won't warn or ticket them.
Most would agree that someone who doesn't obey one law probably doesn't obey others (such as vehicle insurance, safety inspection tags, or legal license plates). A police chief who doesn't rigidly enforce one or more laws also supports infidelity within his/her department—such a Chief has not attended a Leadership Training Program—there are no exceptions to this phenomenon.
Supervisors know that if an employee does sloppy/incomplete work, (in this case, a police officer consciously choosing to allow wide tires) that they, the officer, have one or more other perpetrations for which they have yet to be acknowledged (caught). It's called setting it up to have another (a supervisor) restore ones integrity, to do complete work. A supervisor who is not conscious, who him/herself supports sloppy work, does not inspire respect.
Put another way, "wide tires" are a driver's way of unconsciously requesting to be caught, to be supported in restoring their integrity. They are unaware of the correlation between their personal integrity and the results they produce.
The absence of illegal license plates or wide tires are an excellent indicator of the integrity of a police department. Another indicator is accurate (all pukas filled in) legible reports consistently handed in on time. Police always mirror the integrity of their supervisor and of its community members. It could be said that wide tires in a community reveal a
breakdown in communication between supervisors, officers and the community. A police officer who operates with integrity does not choose to thwart a respected supervisor.
Update: 9/18/22 I've notice far fewer wide-tire vehicles.
Last edited 9/18/22
