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I was an application computer programmer. Last years were spent mainly in support of Payroll applications. I usually tried to do a 'walk around' of my Payroll 'customers' each day. (Justifying why I was away from my desk goofing off.) Wandered into the Payroll Supervisor's office while he was hurrumping his way thru a letter from an employee. The employee was declaring himself exempt from taxes. (He was already living in Texas which has no personal income tax, so no withholding for this.) He was directing Payroll to stop withholding of Social Security/Medicare and Federal Income Tax. Quoting a string of the ultra-right wing nonsense that you noted. I asked the supervisor what he was going to do about the letter. He said he would just forward it to the legal department and let them deal with him.
As you said, it's unbelievable what some people actually think is true, or will attempt.
What I was trying to explain is a flaw in logic, if one tries to infer from the stats that show 80% of accidents happened at legal speeds and 20% at super-legal speeds, that it means speed is not a contributor to accidents. Or that going faster than legal speeds is somehow safer, in general, than going at legal speeds.
That's all.
I also discovered something yesterday - if I go about 10-15 over, I can make many of the lights that are usually red. Our "traffic engineers" at work.
To be used judiciously, of course. :shades:
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Where in SEA, you can go 1 over and be the fastest car on the road.
But if it were to cause some stains, well...
I've noticed that right where it goes to three lanes with the barrier on the left it really picks up in speed. A few weeks back I did catch myself approaching 85 in the middle lane in that part of the road. Darn Buick is smooth
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
It had a CB radio and PA system installed on it. I was at a turn-only-on-green-arrow left turn lane back in 1998, second in line, when the light turns green. The lady in front of me, in a fancy car of some sort (memory is failing me now), just sits there, distracted by something in her hands. I went to honk the horn, but it just let out this feeble "e-e-e-e-e-e" noise, barely audible in my own vehicle. Still, she sits there. Desperate to make the very short green, I grab the CB radio, flip it to PA, and yell in this long, wrath-of-God sort of tone, "GOOOOOOOO!!!!!."
Startled, she dropped whatever it was she held, looked up and around, then went through. Sadly, though, the light had turned yellow by that time and I was stuck waiting for the next light, about two minutes later.
This link below provides two links that are very informative and show why they seem to be the only police agency around that do understand traffic engineering and safety when it comes to speed.
http://www.michigan.gov/msp/0,4643,7-123-1564-87384--,00.html
Particularly, look at the Establishing Realistic Speed Limits Booklet link.
Can anyone out there find any police agency/department in the nation that actually publishes and speaks out for realistic speed limits, rather than maximum revenue generating speed limits?
I went to the county seat traffic division in cental San Diego to take the next step in my ticket defense. As noted earlier, the ticket was not submitted because the officer failed to put down a legitimate date on the ticket for "notice to appear by" He put 1/7/12 at 8:00 a.m. which was a Saturday and the courts are closed on Saturday. The ticket has therefore not been entered into the system. He will have to re-write it if he wishes to continue on with his false allegations.
I had the court clerk stamp the back of my ticket " NO RECORD "
She again reiterated the cop had 1 year to reissue the ticket. I kindly reminded the clerk that if he did so it would be a violation of my right to a speedy trial, but that concern was an issue for the judge if it ever came up.
So as it stands, I"m considering this one a victory. I'm 2-0 on Lake Murry Blvd vs. La Mesa PD.
If he does decide to persue his false allegations, I will be forced to remind the judge my Constitutional right to a speedy trial has been grossly violated, and prejudiced my case.
I'm pretty sure he won't dare to do it. He knows he wrote a false ticket, making a false police report, and a false accusation. If he re-wrote the ticket, I'd like to press charges TWICE for filing a false report!
Part of me hopes he re-files. Part of me hopes he doesn't.
All of me hopes you either slow down or get caught again.
A few things: First about your right to a speedy trial, I would be surprised if they didn't take that into consideration when they came up with the one year rule.
Second I don't think a lawsuit regarding filing a false report would go anywhere. You were going well above the posted speed limit.
Finally you seem to have a history on this road. You know what the posted speed limit is and that the police watch it. So why do you speed? Seriously the 15 to 20 seconds you save is far less than the time you spend fighting it and posting about it here.
Slow down, you will live longer and might enjoy life more.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Yes, I was going over the posted speed limit, but I was in no way driving unsafely, not even remotely, and the officer knows it, I know it, everybody knows it. Furthermore, the officer knew the law, and that he had to prove "safety" was violated in court.
First about your right to a speedy trial, I would be surprised if they didn't take that into consideration when they came up with the one year rule.
LOL. :surprise: I would NOT be suprised the issue didn't enter their feeble minds when making the 1 year rule up. The 1 year rule is obviously there to maximize revenue potential, and has nothing to do with protecting people's rights under the Constitution.
Think about this, if you were an innocent man, how long would you want heavy weighty charges hanging over your head? If you are innocent, it seems reasonable to assume you'd want to go ahead and get the trial with over as soon as possible, as you can be sure you'll be found not guilty. The sooner the better. The stress of not knowing is great on an innocent victim. Really, the whole purpose of the "RIGHT" is to not allow the goverment to hold charges against you for a long period of time without standing the test of the courtroom, and dragging it out and prolonging it to maximize harm without a conviction. Memories fade, evidence is lost over time, witnesses move locations or die off due to sickness or old age.
As to this case being judged a tie..... I think it is a clear win for me. As long as he doesn't refile, it has to be a win, because I received a citation, and no conviction was obtained by the State. The scoreboard HAS TO be based on conviction or no conviction. Whether it's a dismissal or a "not guilty" verdict, or some other technicality, all that is simply a footnote to the scoreboard. You are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. It should be as if the charges were never filed/issued.
So why do you speed?
Because the speed limit is ridiculously low and makes criminals out of the majority of drivers. I refuse to blindly obey ridiculousness.
I'm debating who I should write to or call first regarding getting this speed limit changed. I should probably wait until the 1 year statue of limitations is up.
Doesn't mean I was wrong either.
Since less than 50% of the cops' tickets are holding up in court (assuming this goes my way for a year), I think I'm in the right more often than they are. Things have a funny way of working out. I might win some I deserved to lose, and I might lose some I deserved to win.
In this case, I deserved to win, and it appears I have done so baring some miracle by the City of La Mesa.
On a side note, the CA courts of traffic are so corrupt, they recently enacted a rule that people with ticket fines outstanding for over (4 years I believe) may opt to notify the court that they owe them money, and have the outstanding balances reduced by 50%.
This smells of desperation for revenue to me. I hope most people don't fall for the trick, and simply just STIFF the STIFFS.
They probably have faulty and incomplete tracking of these ancient old fines. They probably can't do anything about it except get a penny on the dollar and send it to some equally corrupt collection agency.
I can't believe they are "pardoning" 50% of the punishment simply for having been a deadbeat and not paid your bills/fines over a long period of time.
I'm sorry, I am all for safety especially when it comes to our kids. But School bus drivers and these adult's doing cross gard duty are so inconsiderate!
They wait for these kids walking a freaking block away to either board their bus or cross the road when those kids need to be there on time in either situation.
I pay taxes, schools cost taxes - All I am asking for is a little bit of consideration.
Just about every day this happens, I gotta wait for this school bus and all these kids to take their time (middle school to high school kids) finding their seat, then this other kid about a block away just walks to the bus, no hustle or anything, by this time all those kids have already sat down, so me and the 6 drivers behind me are just waiting for that stupid school bus and that kid with no fire in their pants what so ever.
Leave the damn kid! They will be there on time tomorrow. I gotta get to work on time or I won't be able to pay taxes tomorrow so these kids can get a ride and a free lunch.
Today, car stays in the garage, icepocalypse 2012 has hit the eastern Seattle suburbs.
Note to Seattle drivers: the snow is gone. It's 45F out, and 95+% of roads in my city are either bare and wet or bare and dry. You don't need to go 15mph anymore.
Nah. Everyone would be too busy gawking at the snow... esp in LA and MIA.
Friday in central WI--where people DO see snow all the time--there were several instances of inconsiderate driving. The worst were some that fortunately I didn't see. Driving east on I-94 near the Dells, in a light snow--nothing big, drive lanes were actually pretty good and safe to about 60 mph (65 limit on the road). Everyone was moving along just fine. Then I saw a clump of vehicles up ahead and slowed, then realized they were stopped. Turns out there was a massive incident a few miles ahead. Traffic was stopped for 2 hours while it was cleared. Saw several ambulances, DPS cars, and tow trucks on their way to the scene. I assume the whole mess was triggered as most incidents like this are--someone acting in an incredibly inconsiderate and/or stupid way. All it takes is one such idiot for a mess that kills/injures multiple people, damages several vehicles (I saw half a dozen being loaded onto tow trucks even 2+ hours after the accident, so there must have been many more). Fortunately, all it cost me was a Friday evening with my family.
Then there were the jerks who were much more important than all the other drivers tied up in this mess. Once traffic started flowing, it was funneled into one lane by the DPS because there were still several damaged vehicles plus emergency vehicles on both sides of the road, over a distance of a few miles. The single line was moving along just fine... slowly, but surely. Then the jerks decided their time was more important than the lives of the people lining the sides of the highway and squeezed into a 2nd line. For awhile at least... until they were stopped a few miles ahead by a collection of DPS and tow trucks.
Not far from the pile-up, the snow stopped, skies and roads cleared, and it was smooth sailing for the rest of the trip.
I heard on the radio coming home that there were over 800 accidents in the Twin Cities area on Friday afternoon. And they only got 1" of snow. It seems those light snowfalls are worse than big ones for accidents. People see lots of snow and realize they need to slow down. But 1", heck, just barrel right along as they always do. So I actually like bigger snowfalls vs. the little ones. The bigger ones are plowed to bare pavement, quickly, and people respect them. The little ones aren't plowed, just chemicals (not effective in real cold weather) and then wait for Mother Nature to take care of it. Leading to lots of slippery roads, bridges, and ramps.
Here, there is the gap between people in SUVs and normal cars in the snow - the SUV people fly along and the cars crawl. On TV coverage of crashes, 4x4 vehicles seemed to be hugely over-represented. I like bigger snow too, easy excuse to stay home. Not worth damage to the car or potentially to me to come in when the six figure crowd doesn't have to bother.
You may be on to something. We drove into Port Huron Friday night and the snow had just started and there was perhaps a half inch on the roads. People were sliding all over, and there were a bunch of emergency vehicles just ahead of where we turned off. Wasn't close enough to tell, but I'm assuming it was a car wreck.
I suspect it's more than one factor there. First, often light snowfalls involve a temperature above 25 in this area. That means the roadbed is nearer freezing. The new snow may melt slightly before refreezing after touching. Or it compresses under weight of the tire and then cools upon release of the pressure leaving ice behind. A glare of the ice and most people don't realize that it's much slicker than the small amount of snow. Second, the light snowfall is deceptive to the eye. It just looks innocuous.
Myself, I'd rather see 5 inches with a 20 deg F., 20 mileperhour wind bringing it in. Then it's crunchy and the tires get a much better grip. It stays snow when packed under wheels instead of turning to glare ice or even slush.
The problem goes back to the drivers, however. Their driving doesn't adjust for the danger and often their cars are not maintained for the snow, i.e., good tread on proper tires.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Some years back, going to work in the morning on a US numbered 2-lane route it had started to snow maybe for last 10 minutes. Was getting a little slick. I was following a plain wrapper for about a mile when I see a car coming up fast behind me. A Mustang. Guy was impatient. Started to pass and when he got next to me realized and saw the plain wrapper and tried to get back behind me and spun out into ditch. Cop saw the whole thing in mirror apparently, put on his lights, I gave him room, and the cop went back to assist and give JUSTICE.
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
Unfortunately, he got the wrong court location stamped on the notice, as I was originally granted the county seat as the venue of jurisdiction. He placed their usual east county courthouse location on this notice. The notice indicates all changes to my previous ticket are only for the date to appear to change to the new date. There is no indication he also wanted to change my venue.
I don't see how I can respond to this invalid notice, except to say that the La Mesa PD has committed more egregious errors, and has made it impossible to understand their intentions.
In Russia, where corrupt cops and insurance fraud are epidemics, most people use a dashcam.
Today, only saw inconsiderates while on foot, but did get stuck in a backup caused by a light that let 3 cars through then went red again. Good quality control there, "engineers", I'm glad I get to fund your nice salaries and huge pensions.
Responding forcefully in a letter is probably the first right course of action. Better to respond and waste time writing a letter than to find out you are being charged for a 2nd violation for "failure to appear."
Yesterday too, I ran a red light. A stuck light...I don't know when or if it ever changed, but the cars in the lane beside me waiting to turn left were still there when the intersection dropped out of my line of sight.
But if it is permitted vs. required... why the horn?
If only it was a game of me not letting them get in front of me, it would never happen. This drivers in this area have to be the slowest and most oblivious I have ever encountered.
Yes, I agree having a month or so ago driven (recently) in the Seattle area. I guess it is part of " the tax" of wanting to live there.
In my neck of the woods, I routinely go 80-85 mph in the slow lane and am routinely passed, law enforcement included.