by Peter Quaqua
On Friday night (January 23), I came frighteningly close to a collision with a VIP convoy on Tubman Boulevard, near the construction site by the Ministerial Complex. A police escort vehicle, leading a convoy of no more than two cars, nearly rammed into my vehicle.
Anyone who frequents that stretch of road understands the current challenge. With lanes partially blocked for construction and traffic heavily compressed, the situation demands caution, not speed. Yet, the escort driver chose aggression over care. There was no deceleration—only blaring sirens, mounting pressure, and a reckless push through an already congested thoroughfare.
I was shaken, as were the three colleagues in the car with me. The escort vehicle brushed past us, dangerously sideswiping my rear tire and forcing us to pull over to check for damage. By the time we stopped, the convoy had vanished. Thankfully, there was only a minor scrape.
What troubled me most was not just the near-miss, but the message it conveyed: that some lives matter less when the road must be cleared for a VIP—even when conditions clearly demand restraint.
Too often, sirens and force are deployed not for genuine emergencies or credible security threats, but for mere convenience. In those moments, public safety is treated as a privilege reserved for the powerful.
While police escorts are justified for certain officials, the routine use of force just to save a few minutes for a VIP cheapens public authority. It transforms state power into a tool for the elite. The roads belong to all of us—motorists and pedestrians alike. We pay taxes, we obey traffic laws, and we deserve the same respect for our safety.
Ethics demand that the police protect all lives, not just those being escorted. No position, title, or convoy is worth the life of an ordinary citizen. When public safety is sacrificed at the altar of convenience, we all lose.