If you’ve ever been a parent to a teenage child, you may believe that teaching your child to show respect for authority figures is crucial to maintain relationships. Respecting people implies acknowledgement of their existence and is a way of being good and kind to others. When someone has respect for others, he/she treats them in the same way he would want to be treated, right?
In Texas, state lawmakers are concerned enough about how teenagers act with authority figures, such as police and security, that they have proposed legislation to teach teenage drivers how to interact with police officers when they are pulled over while driving or other interactions. Texas Senate Bill 30, which now goes to the House, has the goal to avoid or defuse confrontations, such as deadly encounters between law enforcement and civilians seen in recent years throughout the entire country. In Texas specifically, the legislation comes after the high-profile case of Sandra Bland, an Illinois woman arrested in Waller County, Texas, after a traffic stop, whose videotaped confrontation with an officer became national news after she was found hanged to death in her jail cell.