American vs Brazilian: The Cross-Cultural Argument

Mr. Rant and I got into a battle yesterday. We both walked our 12 paces and positioned our opinionated guns.

His Position:

Not dangerous: Stopping by the side of a two lane road (that enters into a busy tunnel), even with kids in the back seat. The traffic at that point is slow, we were visible, and were far enough from the turn on.

Dangerous: Leaving his Father and Brother alone to talk to police officers that pulled them over.

My Position:

Not dangerous: Leaving your adult brother and Father to talk to two officers who pulled them over. It was broad daylight and on a busy street.

Dangerous: Stopping in a lane (no shoulder available) on a street with kids in the car. Unnecessary.

Back Story: My Father-in-law got pulled over while driving to the Feira São Cristovão. We were following him and my brother-in-law in our car. Mr. Rant stopped behind the police officer's car after he was pulled. I was not comfortable with this.  

There was no need to stop in a lane of traffic with both our kids in the car. Mr. Rant said that it was not a big deal as it was the on-ramp of sorts and that traffic was slow. More importantly, he needed to be there as a witness.

Here is where culture and where you were raised comes into play. I was raised with the idea that stopping on the shoulder, much less a lane, was never an ideal situation. Mr. Rant was raised in a city where bicyclists, people, cars, and whatnot are all over the roads. People are, in theory, more aware of random street movement or lack there of.

Mr. Rant was raised in a culture where police cannot be trusted. The more people involved in a minor or major traffic meeting with police the better. It's our words against theirs and more family there to back up the FIL shows that he was not actually stealing a car. For me, if you get pulled over by a cop on the road, you must have done something wrong. Talk to the officer, figure it out, and get your ticket.

I cannot mentally process how I was wrong in this situation but Mr. Rant insists that I was overreacting and that he should have stayed with his Father. He was nice enough to pull out and drive away when I insisted that it was not safe.

I disagree, it only would have taken one crazy-ass driving bastard to rare-end us. It's not like we lack them here. Yes, the speed is normally slow at that point in the road and people are aware of their surroundings, but again, one driver.

So the argument ended in a ceasefire. My Father-in-law was fine and so were we. No harm no foul. But really, this was a hard end for me to take. I am not comfortable with disagreeing on general safety rules. Then again, I pretty much disagree with the entire country on general safety rules so why is this one bothering me?!

Let's get 3rd parties involved. Who was right?