Traffic Laws & Enforcement Tactics

davv62 · April 2007

Ponderpoint, you are correct that speeding is a game of odds.

You can do it for a while and not get nailed, but you always have to be open to the possibility of getting busted if you choose to speed.

I speed on a regular basis, and have gotten a few tickets. Big deal. In the grand scheme of things, with all the things going on in the world, a speeding ticket doesn't even register for me as something to get too worked up about.

That doesn't mean that I think our traffic enforcement system is perfect. Far from it. But I see many people overgeneralize with the assumption that every jurisdiction has the same priorities and tactics, when that is not really the case.

I do believe that the speed limit posted on many roads and interstates is too low. This has a bad effect on safety in my opinion, since it effectively makes many safe drivers lawbreakers, blurs the line between safe drivers who are exceeding an artifically low speed limit, and people who are a real danger, and generally breeds disrespect for the law. At the same time, when most people are lawbreakers, it becomes politically impossible to really impose meaningful penalties, and this allows truly dangerous drivers off the hook.

The most effective deterrent is not punishment by a court, but social sanction. Because it's so common to get tickets for speeds that aren't unsafe, there is little to no social stigma to having been caught speeding. Speeding tickets are things people joke with their friends about. If they carried some social stigma, speeding tickets would be more effective in changing driving behavior, but that won't happen until we change our enforcement policy so that having received a ticket generally means that you have done something dangerous.

Still, I don't think it makes sense to hang all our discontent about the current system on the police. It's really the politicians who pass the laws and set enforcement tactics. The police only follow orders. And who elects these politicians? If we want to blame somebody, we should each look in the mirror.

Speed enforcement is a good example of the hypocrisy of the general public. Unlike on this forum, most people are not permissive of speeding other than their own. They demand artificially low speed limits to snag people driving in their own neighborhood, then they speed through somebody else's neighborhood, and cry like a little baby when they get nailed.

I don't expect perfection from traffic enforcement. I have bigger things to worry about. If I choose to ignore the posted speed limit, which I do pretty much all the time, I'll take the consequences that come my way if I get busted. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

gee35coupe · April 2007

Dude....That was the best post about speeding I have ever read. It sums up my feelings entirely. All I can say is "ditto".

davv62 · April 2007

Thanks man. Always nice to get positive feedback.

What type of driver are you? I assume you like to go fast, and have gotten nailed a few times, like me.

It's really not a big deal. Some of my friends have a deal that whenever one of us gets a ticket, the others buy him drinks equal to the value of the fine he has to pay.

Last time one of my friends got a ticket, he was joking that he was going to argue for a larger fine in front of the judge..."you really need to fine me more...I haven't learned my lesson"...so he could get more drinks bought for him.

andre1969 · April 2007

Last time one of my friends got a ticket, he was joking that he was going to argue for a larger fine in front of the judge..."you really need to fine me more...I haven't learned my lesson"...so he could get more drinks bought for him.

Good Lord, I was just thinking that with the last ticket I got, that much booze would probably put me in the hospital with alcohol poisoning! Or, at least get me on an episode of "Intevention" :shades:

davv62 · April 2007

Pretty funny Andre. When was your last ticket, and what did it run you?

He wasn't really serious of course, but it was pretty funny.

My last ticket only ran me $35, so I'd have little trouble drinking that, as long as it wasn't a dive college bar that charges $1 per drink...:)

andre1969 · April 2007

Actually, now that I think of it, my last ticket wasn't THAT bad. I got it on Memorial Day, 2005 on I-95 south in VA, going past a little town called Emporia. I was doing 78 in a 65, with the flow of traffic, but an out-of-state tag is like a homing beacon to the Roscoe P. Coltranes of the world! I think that ticket was around $118, by the time they threw in court costs. The points didn't carry over to my Maryland driving record, but it does show up as an annotation.

The ticket I was thinking of when I made that earlier comment though, was about $275. 80 in a 50. I was coming out of one of the Baltimore Harbor tunnels, and somehow managed to get so far in between the packs of traffic that I was the only car visible on the road! I lost track of the speed, and as I rounded a gentle bend and started down a slope, a coppette on the other side of the highway nabbed me.

This was one of those areas where the road was nice, wide, and smooth, and that 50 mph speed limit was really artificially low.

Oh yeah, I tend to be cheap, so chances are I'd be at a college dive, or happy hour somewhere, so with $275 worth of booze in me, I imagine my next of kin would have to sign on here to let y'all know about funeral arrangements! :surprise:

davv62 · April 2007

Emporia is way down in southern Virginia, I think. Just before the state line with North Carolina. I once ate at the most horrible restaurant in the world there -- Simmons Home Cooking. I'd starve to death before eathing there again.

Did you go to court on that one, or just mail it in? I imagine going that far to court would be a major PITA.

You're right about the other ticket, though. $275 is a kick in the 'nads. When did you get that ticket? Drinking that much worth of liquor would surely land you in the Betty Ford Clinic...

BTW, I had the most fun speeding experience of my life in Maryland a while back. I was driving back from Myrtle Beach (I live in Connecticut) and I had stopped for the night on Saturday in Rockville. My brother was with me and had to be back home early for some reason, so we left at 7AM on Sunday morning. There was nobody on the road, and man, was I flying.

There were a few staties out and about, but they were always on the other side of the road, or busy with another driver they had pulled over. I slipped right through. Honestly, the drive was so much fun that even a ticket like you got would have been well worth it.

andre1969 · April 2007

I had gotten the $275 ticket in early Feb, 2005, and then the Emporia ticket 3 1/2 months later. My original plan was to go to court for the big 'un, and then just mail in the Emporia ticket. But I got my dates mixed up and missed my court date for the big 'un. I thought it was on July 27 (I remembered it as 727, as in the heavy-duty Chrysler Torqueflite), but it turns out it was something like July 25. I guess that's what I get for trying number association games like that.

Anyway, they rescheduled that ticket for January, 2006, and made me pre-pay the fine in advance, which I'd get refunded to me if I was found not guilty, so I figured I'd better go down to Emporia on the off chance I could get off with just a fine or whatever, and hopefully keep it off my driving record. No such luck. That place is a speed trap, pure and simple. Just about everybody in the court room was from Maryland or someplace further north, like PA, Joisey, Connecticut, etc.

A few days before my court date for the $275 ticket, I pulled my driving record, and saw that the Emporia offense was showing on it. So I figured hey, the court already has my money, and there's no way they'd reduce a ticket like that especially AFTER getting another one, so why waste more money and time by taking off work, just to get the book thrown at me?

Rockville's not too far from me, maybe a half hour. U ever get back down this way?

davv62 · April 2007

That sucks, having two tickets going at the same time. I had that happen once, too. I got two tickets within 10 minutes of each other! Man, did I feel stupid. To me, the whole thing is a game, and it's my job to elude enforcement efforts. Usually I do quite well at it, but that time, I felt like a goalee who let two consecutive shots get through.

Do you get a lot of tickets in general? I get you feeling you drive a good amount, and that puts you at greater risk. I know a few guys who seem to be ticket magnets -- they do pretty much what everyone else does, but always seem to get nailed more often.

I haven't been down to Rockville for a few years now, but I always stop there on the way back from Myrtle Beach. I used to go every year, but now it's been a few years. I hope to get back there soon.

andre1969 · April 2007

I've been pretty lucky, ticket-wise, except for those two tickets in 2005. Prior to that, I got a ticket in Louisiana for doing 82 in a 70 zone. Again, with the flow of traffic, but then again, I had that out-of-state plate thing working against me. This was back in January 2001.

Also, I could never prove it, but I think I also got pulled over because of an attempt at racial profiling. I'm white, but have a somewhat dark complexion. And while my hair is a medium brown, for some reason my mustache and goatee grow in black. Anyway, put a baseball cap on me, hiding my hair, and I get mistaken for Latino pretty regularly. Until I open my mouth, I guess, and my slightly southern, rural Maryland drawl comes out!

It was almost amusing, when the cop got up close to me, he kind of did a double-take, almost as if to say "OHMYGOD...you're WHITE!!". Anyway, he asked me to consent to a drug search of the car, seeing as I was so far away from my home state and not all that far from the Mexican border. His drug search was haphazard at best, though. Heck, I could've thought of a few dozen good places to hide something, and I'm not even all that imaginative!

I was on my way again in something like 20 minutes, with a ticket for $189.75. I hate thinking like this, but I just have a gut feeling that if I was Latino, black, or some other minority, I would've probably been detained a lot longer.

Before that, I got a ticket back in August 1999. I was driving a 1989 Gran Fury at the time that was an ex police car, and I remember the speedo read about 56 mph. A cop nabs me in a 50 mph zone, trying to tell me I was doing 69 mph! He ended up writing it up for 67 though. I was miffed, because I was POSITIVE that I was only going 56. For one thing, the car was almost out of gas, so I was limping it to the nearest gas station! In fact, I was so sure that I was right that I took the car to get the speedo checked and recalibrated. Well, imagine my surprise that the speedo really was off! Not quite enough to make 67 mph only register as 56, though. IIRC, according to the printout the shop gave me, I think 60 mph on the speedo was 67 in real life. I do remember 81 was really 90 though, and 91 was really 100. Needless to say, I felt pretty dumb at that point.

However, the judge was pretty cool about it, and since I went through the trouble of getting the speedo checked and fixed, he let me change my plea from "guilty with explanation" to "Not guilty". I swear though, ever since that speedo got recalibrated, that car just seemed slow!

I used to drive a lot, but moved to about 3.5 miles from work a few years ago, and I don't run around a whole lot anymore. And most of my driving is local/residential these days, where I'm more likely to drive the speed limit.

thenebean · April 2007

im from the great state of CT too - and i got a speeding ticket on my way back to school in RI in 1999 for $274. i was driving on 95N near groton (where they have that big wide 5 lanes across (or something like that) bridge that all of a sudden, the speed limit drops from 65 to 55 for no reason. following the speed of traffic, cop pulls me over telling me im doing 84 in a 55. whoops! sent it in not guilty, and it took them nearly a year to finally set up a court date for me! i had thought they had forgotten! had it reduced to 175, so i guess its ok. that place is infamous for speed traps though...

where abouts in CT are you located? im 10 minutes south of hartford, in newington.

-thene

railroadjames · April 2007

My honey and I went on a 3,025 mile combination wedding/visit family outing last Dec. I drove the 52mpg Prius with the cruise set most of the time @ 78mph and covered the first 900 miles and decided it was time for honey to drive. She is 58 yrs old and never had a single ticket. I warned her to be careful in Pennsyvania due to a few past experiences of others and my own close calls. She hadn't put 12 miles on the Prius when I adjusted my pillow while staring at a State Trooper pointing the deathray gun at "US". 83 in a 65 zone. As we pulled over my wife confidently professed ..."He'll check my driving record and see I'm a virgin with an unblemished driving record." I snickereda bit, trying not to say I told you so, and told her she was about to be de-flowered. She told the officer that the speed got away from her while "running with the pack." What was amazing tho was the officer was so very thoughtful and considerate it almost seemed like he was doing her a favor. Cost was $106.00 and no points to my surprise. He said he'd do her a ticket for "failing to obey a traffic sign."nver heard of that one b/4) My criticism of my wife is for failing to use the cruise-control. She says she doesn't like cruise. We still bicker about this from time to time. I tend to be on constant lookout for police with a bit of uncanny accuracy and a bit of Irish luck. I'll get mine too someday (it's inevitable), although I'm running close to 13 yrs without a ticket and I drive with my Locomotive Engineer's License at stake if I get a number of tickets and/or DUI's in a one yr period. This is another reason for cruise.

davv62 · April 2007

thenebean --

I'm in Fairfield, down on the coast right next to Bridgeport.

Nice to meet a fellow nutmegger here.

My last ticket was also in 1999. It's been too long -- I think I need to go out and get another one....

davv62 · April 2007

Andre, so you've had 4 tickets in the past 8 years. Pretty respectable.

I only drive about 8,000 per year at this point. I park at a train station and take the train to work, so I'm only driving about 4 miles each way per day. I have been to Boston a few times, but that's only a 2-1/2 hour drive from me.

Try to stay out of trouble, man....

thenebean · April 2007

yup - know where that is. a friend of mine lived there for a while, right near the train station off of mile creek road exit (i think?) anyways, its a nice town

there are a few of us nutmeggers on here - which is kind of neat! CT is such a small state, so sometimes its hard to find people from your area online at a big national website like this!

and you're right - i need to get another speeding ticket...im feeling naked without one! :P

-thene

davv62 · April 2007

Dude, I think you mean Mill Plan Road, rather than Mile Creek Rd.

Fairfield is definitely a nice town. I hear Newington is also.

You definitely need to get another ticket. So do I, man. It's been too long; we're really slacking...

thenebean · April 2007

yeah, that's what i meant, thanks! i have another friend who lives on a mile creek road...thats probably why i got them all mixed up. im bad with street names...

newington is pretty nice - centrally located to everything, which is good.

davv62 · April 2007

Hey man, speaking of enforcement tactics...

Have you ever noticed that on Connecticut highways, the state troopers are either completely absent, or out in tremendous force?

They seem to favor special details over day-in, day-out enforcement. One thing I've learned is that if you see one smokey on those roads, watch your a&$, because you'll probably be seeing a lot more.

I rode to Boston once a while back with a buddy of mine. He got nailed a short distance into Connecticut on I-84 (I lived in New York at the time), and nearly got busted three more times before we made it through Connecticut. Man, that was a harrowing trip...

Not harrowing enough, of course, to get him to slow down, but you know how that goes...

Most of the time though, you could drive for hours and never see a trooper.

Sometimes, the state police even announce publicly when they'll be having a crackdown. Maybe that's because they'll prefer to nail out-of-state drivers who won't have access to local news about the crackdown.

paisan · April 2007

How fast do you guys drive? I'm a "speedy" driver with spurts to triple digits, but for the most part I keep it 10-15mph over the limit and move with traffic. Rarely if ever get pulled over. I think the key for me is to always make sure there is someone running blocker (you know that cocky guy in the BMW M5 or the CLK) and to always keep your eyes looking as far forward as you can, this is key, if you are looking at the horizon and see brake lights for no reason, chances are there is a cop there.

-mike

davv62 · April 2007

Hey Mike,

On the highway, I go between 75 and 85 under good traffic and weather conditions, so that is 20-30 mph over the speed limit in the 55 mph zones near me, and 10-20 mph over the speed limit in a 65 mph zone.

Even so, I haven't been pulled over since 1999, and that wasn't even on the highway.

I don't use a radar detector, but I gauge my behavior by the behavior of other drivers. I tend to use blockers too when I can, and I slow down if the behavior of drivers ahead of me indicates there may be enforcement activity.

The last time I got nailed, there was almost no traffic and I had the road all to myself. I knew that was the most dangerous time to speed from the standpoint of potential for getting busted, but I just couldn't resist the temptation.....

smittynyc · April 2007

I drive a lot in CT on the turnpike and Merritt between Greenwich and New Haven. My theory is they don't patrol because there are so few safe places to pull someone over (esp on the Merritt). I know that 84 is a different story, esp east of Hartford.

There is no worse place to be in a car than in the center lane of the turnpike with one of those cheap Boston-NY bus service buses about four inches off your back bumper, trying to get you to move. Yikes.

davv62 · April 2007

You're definitely right about the Merritt. There are very few places to pull anybody over safely on that road because there are no shoulders. I have occasionally seen enforcement on that road, mostly up in the Trumbull area, where it's a bit wider and straighter than some of the other parts.

On I-95 between Greenwich and New Haven, the most common enforcment point is between exits 18-19 in Westport/Fairfield. That's a long stretch of road without any exits, and it's pretty straight.

Generally with I-95, I think they're so happy if traffic is moving well at all that they're not inclined to interfere if they don't have to.

I think your chances of getting a ticket on I-84 are much greater because it's more open and has less traffic. If I drove up that way more often, I'd probably get tickets on a more regular basis.

My last ticket was actually on US-1 in Fairfield. I got nailed doing 52 mph in a 35 mph zone. If you're familiar with it, it's the part of the road in Southport that opens up into a semi-highway for a stretch. That's a favorite enforcement spot for the Fairfield police, as I learned....

It was a well-deserved ticket, so I have no complaints about it. And the way it played out was pretty funny, since I ended up with 3 police cars on the scene when I got pulled over. You'd have thought they just caught a guy who robbed a bank or something. I was being pursued by a Fairfield cruiser that took some time to catch up with me. He apparently radioed for backup from his own department, and also Westport, since I was approaching the town line.

When I saw the flashing lights in the mirror, I assumed he was heading for an emergency, so I pulled to the right to let him pass. I quickly learned I was the emergency...

I pulled over just over the town line in Westport, and about a minute later, a backup Fairfield cruiser arrived, then a Westport cruiser. Even though I was sitting there getting a ticket, I had to laugh. It was pretty funny.

The backup cars quickly left when my buddy in blue let them know that I was just a docile speeder who wasn't going to give him any trouble.

smittynyc · April 2007

My last ticket was actually on US-1 in Fairfield. I got nailed doing 52 mph in a 35 mph zone. If you're familiar with it, it's the part of the road in Southport that opens up into a semi-highway for a stretch. That's a favorite enforcement spot for the Fairfield police, as I learned....

Oh, man. That is Speed Trap 101, especially east (north) bound coming down off the bridge over the turnpike. Hugely wide lanes, nice downhill grade, one of the few areas of the Post Road that's not choked with traffic/commercial areas on either side. . .

All of those ritzy towns on the Sound usually go a little overboard with the police reaction. In Westport, at least, I almost always see two cruisers responding to any traffic-related incident.

davv62 · April 2007

So you do know the stretch.

The b-tards were pretty sneaky that time. Usually, I spot the enforcement activity and avoid it, but that time, I never saw the cop.

Usually, the Fairfield cops aren't terribly strict about enforcement. I live in that town, and I've gotten away with a lot of speeding. Their enforcement activity is pretty limited to special details; there doesn't seem to be a concerted push for day-to-day enforcement.

The towns on the sound are quick to call in back-ups in certain situations. I wonder why they felt the need to call in a backup on me. :confuse:

paisan · April 2007

Daw62, my last mover was also in a small town at night on a regular road, 47 in a 35 or something like that upstate NY in a cold rain pulling my race car trailer on the way to Watkins Glen!

-mike

davv62 · April 2007

Hey Mike,

Getting nailed pulling a trailer is quite a feat, man...

I went to court for my last ticket, and it was pretty entertaining actually. I was almost sorry that they took my case so quickly, since I missed out on listening to a few more of the stories.

I was out pretty quickly, and only got my wallet lightened by $35, so I'd say I did pretty well.... :shades:

How often do you get busted in general? I actually have very long stretches between tickets, though I once got two tickets within 10 minutes....now that was fun... :P

imidazol97 · April 2007

Churchgoers should follow the laws of the land.

The complaint about the officer's making the left turn should be directed to the city council in public with as many people who witnessed the left turn present and having signed a statement as possible to have. Officers often don't do as they say for everyone else to do; laws don't apply to them since they're special. Happens all the time and sometimes makes the news.

thenebean · April 2007

yup - i've noticed it too! you see one cop, plan on seeing many more! its like the have state traffic enforcing days, and other days the highways are empty. crazy if you ask me!

the merritt is a nightmare IMO. old highway with narrow roads, no shoulders, and people fly through there at speeds that are probably not too safe. i usually drive between 10-15, maybe 20 over the speed limit. on rare occasions will i get up any higher than that. i've slowed down a bit since my college days! the merritt is a pretty scenic road i think, just not too safe for today's speeders - especially when its crowded!

-thene

redmaxx · April 2007

It sounds like all of that is on private property. I'm not a lawyer, but I don't think cops have the right to ticket on private property. In AZ at least, they don't. Here the law is written such that all traffic laws apply to public "highways" (i.e. any public road). If the road is private, there are no traffic laws.

railroadjames · April 2007

Out here in Valpo, Indiana we have a fun road that is a rarity. If you do 45-50 you get a most enjoyable "float on air" ride. Unfortunitly, too many extremists push the envelope and now the local police have dropped the limit to 30 and it's very easy to get a ticket (my son just recently). There have been several accidents on this section over the yrs. and I suppose the new sub-division had something to do with the lower limit. Still, it's always tempting to do the 50 for the fun of it.

davv62 · April 2007

I try to keep it to 75-80 on the Merritt, sometimes slower, depending on the stretch of road. It's a curvy, hilly road, and you can't always see around the next curve, or over the crest of the next hill.

A couple of times, I've caught myself unintentionally going 90 or so on the Merritt, but I always slow down when I realize how fast I'm going.

punkr77 · April 2007

My best traffic ticket story is from my high school days. One of the officers had a Camero with darkly tinted windows. He would pull up next to kids in town for spring break at stoplights and rev the engine. Thinking he wanted to drag race, they would tear off. He'd let them win, flip on his dash mounted light, and pull them over.

Their reward for winning the race: a slew of tickets (speeding, reckless driving, etc).

When I was a truck driver, I got a ticket in Atlanta. I was coming from the local terminal and there was a road block/checkpoint under the overpass before you get on the freeway. I figured there must be an accident/detour so I took off my seatbelt and rolled down the window so I could lean out and talk to the officer when I got up to him. Instead of telling me there was an accident, he told me it was a seatbelt checkpoint and to pull over. :surprise:

railroadjames · April 2007

I use to be a locomotive engineer on the "J" in N.W. Indiana and yrs ago while working on the "extra-board" I was called out (in emergency) due to an accident at the railroad. I hopped on my Kawasaki and rushed the 16 miles to work at 115mph and suddenly spyed a squadcar. I pulled over b/4 he even got the flashing lts on and I hurried license out of my wallet and my "engineer's license" too. I told him about my emergency and (to my surprise) he let me go with a warning. I hopped back on the bike and got about 8 miles down the road doing 115mph again and, wouldn't you know it, another cop. Well, it worked once and it did again. Sure was surprised that I could be that lucky twice.

rayainsw · April 2007

"How fast do you guys drive?"

Re-post, with additions, from just after the 2006 Thanksgiving Weekend.

Over the long Holiday weekend, I drove ( as I typically do ) from north of Atlanta to visit my friends on the Florida Gulf coast.

I now drive a red Corvette. If there is anything any speed law enforcement officer would prefer to stop than a red sports car, I dont know what it might be.

I drove through at least 8, maybe 10 areas where LEOs were utilizing Detection Devices. In every case, I was always traveling above the speed limit, but only 5  7 MPH over.

I do find it interesting that the speed limit is really not the speed limit.
Meaning: In the eyes of the ( typical ) actual enforcement officer, the speed limit is actually 8 or 9 or 10 MPH higher than the posted limit.

Much as I have observed over my past 40+ years of driving.

Even with a car capable ( according to GM and most independent sources ) of about 100 MPH more than any currently posted speed limit in this country, 75 to 80 MPH is actually fast enough  for me, with typical traffic, on most US roads.

Just my 0.02 gallons worth. . .

[Added:
I now have driven my Red Sports Car for over 7,000 miles.
My speeding habits remain unchanged.
I speed regularly, but respect my perception of what LEOs will see as worth ticketing.
And my record of no tickets continues 
Now clear since very early 2000. ]

- Ray
Happy to achieve over 28 MPG in such driving.

daedalus34r · April 2007

On my trips between chicago and the suburbs I try my best to cruise at 75mph if the conditions are right. 75% of the time I'd say im the fastest driver on the highway, but oddly enough ive never recieved a ticket. I usually travel non-peak hours/night time. Technically the speed limit is 55mph but that is awfully slow given that cars could safely travel at 80+mph on these expressways/tollways.

One time i have seen a tollway tropper set a rolling barrier of 65mph. So cars crowded up behind him since obviously no one will pass a LEO.

I'm fortunate my situation is very lax since this allows me to communte in a quick and timely manner without having to worry about silly LEO's trying to extract money out of me just because im traveling safely at a higher speed.

Kirstie_H · May 2007

Here in Missouri, we've had a seat belt law for quite a few years, with the stipulation that one cannot be pulled over for that violation alone, but may be cited if pulled over for another violation.

Yesterday, that condition was revoked and now drivers may be pulled over based on that alleged violation. I'm kinda peeved about this, as I think it simply invites abuse - for example, police may hang around near bars and pull people over for a seatbelt violation even if the driver shows no signs of intoxication. Even if the driver is wearing a seatbelt, the officer can easily claim it was very dark and it appeared that the driver was unbelted. Once the driver is pulled over, they may be asked to do sobriety tests, or have the vehicle searched, etc.

I only use DUI testing (absent any suspicion apart from that the driver had been in a bar) because it's the first example that came to mind... NOT because I have any sympathy AT ALL for driving under the influence. I'm simply saying this new regulation, IMO, opens the door for previously unwarranted "investigations."

Other opinions?

(not the host here)

rockylee · May 2007

WOW, how the laws are changing !!! It's crazy and will shut down local taverns. You can't have a couple of beers and drive home anymore. It's just crazy Kirstie.

-Rocky

Kirstie_H · May 2007

Well, there are certain people who probably ARE impaired after a couple of beers, depending on metabolism, etc. It's more my general distaste for invading one's personal space, and then the possibility of using the traffic stop for an entirely different purpose.

It's not like speeding, failure to stop, making a U-turn... those are all violations that an officer can verify BEFORE making the traffic stop, whereas seatbelt wearing? C'mon. In some cases it's easy, but you can't tell me that there's a whole lot of accuracy in spotting that violation at 10pm on a rainy night in relatively fast-moving traffic.

The pull-over would be based on, "well gee, it sure didn't LOOK like you were wearing your seat belt."

210delray · May 2007

I wouldn't sweat it. More than half of the states now have such laws (VA, where I live, isn't one of them). They've been proven to increase belt usage, so I think they're a plus. This is important because those who refuse to wear belts are generally the highest-risk drivers. I'm not aware of any complaints regarding "profiling" because of these "primary" seat belt laws.

imidazol97 · May 2007

Now the cops wouldn't say they couldn't see a seatbelt just for an excuse to stop someone, would they? grin.

Local note about cops:

Award-winning cop gets DUI

I looked for a link to a news story about a bar patron with many DUIs ran over a woman in the parking lot and then backed over her a couple of times.
Good samaritan

Kirstie_H · May 2007

Don't get me wrong - I am in general a huge supporter of law enforcement personnel. It's a darn hard job that I wouldn't do, and they take a lot of flack for just trying to help people.

The problem around here is the practice that can be called no less than predatory. My city proper (St. Louis) has been rated as #1 in crime, yet there is an absolute glut of traffic enforcement where no danger exists. More revenue is apparently needed to hire more crime-focused policemen, and there's not really another revenue source apart from traffic tickets.

That's where I have my own little slice of paranoia pizza

imidazol97 · May 2007

Have they tried putting up speed/redlight cameras as a money maker? That's what Dayton City and Toledo have done. That way they don't have to sit and watch for redlight runners and speeders. The money just pours in (well a small portion at least that the camera company doesn't get).

Of course the drivers and crime goes on just as they were, but the city gets more money.

Maybe the camera companies could invent cameras that catch drug dealers (I can see them weekly on my way in and out of Dayton), or cars with no insurance, or drivers with no license, or illegals, or politicians who don't do anything other than pander to their data base and bait others to help them do so.

redmaxx · May 2007

My best traffic ticket story is from my high school days. One of the officers had a Camero with darkly tinted windows. He would pull up next to kids in town for spring break at stoplights and rev the engine. Thinking he wanted to drag race, they would tear off. He'd let them win, flip on his dash mounted light, and pull them over.

Their reward for winning the race: a slew of tickets (speeding, reckless driving, etc).

When I was a truck driver, I got a ticket in Atlanta. I was coming from the local terminal and there was a road block/checkpoint under the overpass before you get on the freeway. I figured there must be an accident/detour so I took off my seatbelt and rolled down the window so I could lean out and talk to the officer when I got up to him. Instead of telling me there was an accident, he told me it was a seatbelt checkpoint and to pull over.

I wonder about these tactics. It would be illegal for a regular driver to race another regular driver. Both would get tickets. But doesn't the police officer have to "race" the regular driver? Why isn't this reckless driving on the part of the officer?

m6vx · May 2007

I wonder about these tactics. It would be illegal for a regular driver to race another regular driver. Both would get tickets. But doesn't the police officer have to "race" the regular driver? Why isn't this reckless driving on the part of the officer?

My guess is the cop just reved the engine to hook'em, and took off normally from the light, while his victim 'raced' by himself.

imidazol97 · May 2007

Sounds like less than proper tactic; more like entrapment. Somewhat like the police using computer chats pretending to be young people and then when older adults show up having made dates with these adults, they are charged with attempting to have contact with young people, who never existed. Obviously that's wrong, but the entrapment techniques are reprehensible.

stever · May 2007

You can't be entrapped if you aren't willing. Don't race at the lights and let 'em rev all they want. Or report them for a noise violation. :P

starrow68 · May 2007

http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/ci_6019432

On ways CHP will discuss to catch speeders.

redmaxx · June 2007

My guess is the cop just reved the engine to hook'em, and took off normally from the light, while his victim 'raced' by himself.

But then there is no race and no violation of the law against racing on the street. Just one person who took off very fast.

fezo · June 2007

Probably took off fast enough to go at least 1 mph over the limit.....

A few months ago I got pulled over. I was going 28 in a 25! Come on! The cop claimed 33 but then didn't argue with 28. Told me to slow down and let me go. If I'd been going any slower I'd have been in reverse!

oregonboy · June 2007

He was either having a really slow day (bored) or he was hoping to find something more significant during the stop... profiling perhaps?

james

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