Setting a bad example

New Jersey governor Jon Corzine, on his way to see Don Imus apologize to the Rutgers women's basketball team a couple of weeks ago, was involved in a traffic collision. The SUV he was in went off the road (in a way that SUVs are not meant to do) and Governor Corzine was seriously injured. This is old news, of course, provided here for background.

It turns out that the governor's SUV was going 91 miles per hour, a fine speed on parts of the Autobahn but approaching twice the legal speed limit on the Garden State Parkway. That contributed to causing the collision. It also turns out that he was not wearing his seat belt. That contributed to his injuries — the others in the car, who were wearing their belts, were not seriously injured.

Now Governor Corzine, just out of hospital, publicly apologizes “for setting a bad example” in not wearing his seat belt. That's good, it really is.

But what he should apologize for is breaking the law. He needs to stand up there and say, “I allowed my driver to drive like a bat out of hell on a public highway, I didn't wear my seat belt, and those are crimes. I broke the law. I won't break the law again.”

That would be setting a good example.