Those are some legitimate points you've brought up Dennis. One thing I have noticed is many drivers fail to distinguish between a residential area, a urban/suburban driving enviornment, and an Interstate. 40 mph in a posted 25 residential street could have catastrophic consequences. Same thing is true of 60 in a posted 45 on a four-lane city road with cross traffic, parked cars, etc. I guess my comments are directed at the intent and methodology of the enforcement. "Speed Traps" per se are, IMO, revenue generators. When local officers set up enchanced enforecement of targeted areas that have experienced some traffic difficulties- now that's a different story altogether.

re: Taking driving seriously. There's some truth to that. I drove up to my office today, and followed a Corolla that was driving the speed limit (actually, a tad below) on a rural two-lane road. The driver was wandering in the lane, side-to-side, and looked to be playing with the stereo and juggling a cell phone. No doubt, she thought she was driving safely because of her rate of travel, but it was patently obvious she's wasn't paying the slightest attention to the road ahead. I would contend she'd have been much safer driving 10 over and paying attention than what she was doing.

 

Not always true. Radar is not infalable. I will admit, the MOST of the time, this is true...but there is always the exception.

Again, not always true...A lot of times, that is the furthest thing from their mind. Actually, they are most likely thinking something like "Man, I'm really saving time by not going on the main road right now...I hope I get to work on time." Obviously, I cant say for sure whattheir thinking as I am not a mind reader. However, I know that when I have been pulled over in the past, when I was legitamatly speeding, I wasnt thinking about how I had no care for Law enforcement or anything like that...most of the time, I was generaly day dreaming.

This again is not really true....I have NEVER had an accident. I have had 3 speeding tickets, all for 10 MPH over. Now, I dont know what others opinions are of my driving, but I kinda think it is pretty good. I drive defensively, and I try to pay special attention to motorcycles. I am the only one my mother-in-law will allow to drive her places. Personally, I KNOW that traffic infractions are a MAJOR source of income for municipalities. Anyone who thinks they arent is very naive or just plain looking the other way. Do I think they shouldnt have these fines in place? HECK NO! Their VERY needed. The judicial system isnt perfect by any means, but the only way to change things you dont like, is to change the laws and/or vote out the judiciaries who make them for you.

True...And people generaly try to cut back on law enforcement funding.....go figure.
And there are Judges there to determine whether or not there may have been a mistake made in your recieving the ticket.

That is all (for now )

 

Regardless of whether it is a revenue genertor or not, if people didn't run red lights, drive 10+ mph over the speed limit and so on then they wouldn't have a reason to write you a ticket. I concur that if you get a rediculous ticket like 31 in a 30 you should fight it but to think someone who gets caught going 80 in a 55 should be able to get out of it because they were on a back road and no one else was on the road is obsurd. There are so many laws that are not even enforced people take them for granted but then when they break one that is enforced its the end of the world. Certainly alot of financial ruin would occur if everyone obeyed all the laws, however I don't see it happening. As long as there are cars there will always be idiots to drive them among all the sane and rational people out there. Besides, what right does anyone have to complain about paying the fines and say its entrampment and all this garbage but still thinks they have the right to break the law? Kind of a catch 22 don't ya think! Personally its a good thing for the people where I live that I'm not a cop. Although a good friend of mine is and he more than takes up the slack. He writes on the average of 75 or more tickets a month and if you have an arrestable offense you are going to jail. A little extreme? Maybe, but I agree with the way he does business. Also, I can't speak for any other county, state, or municipality, but in this county you don't have a very good chance of getting off a ticket. Often times they will reduce the charge and give you a break, but to get out of it all together you have to be willing to spend a lot more than it would have cost to just pay it off. I don't drive at 55 in a 55 usually, but I try not to get carried away either. generally speaking if you are going no more than 10mph over you wont be bothered unless there is absolutely no one else around or it's 2:30am and you are all in all driving irrationally and then they suspect DWI. In the event that I do get caught lets say going 72 in a 55, when I go to court the reduce it to 64 in a 55 thus not affecting my insurance and I pay in the neighborhood of $125.00 to pay it off. Or at least that was my second to last ticket. Just my .02

 

Dennis -

Don't you remember this thread? https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...d.php?t=349052 In particular, post #43.

It was actually 41 in a 40. But many of the comments were exactly the same. Speeding is speeding, if you knew you were going 41, then you deserve the ticket, etc., etc.

For the record, I haven't gotten a speeding ticket in 8 years now. I always stick to within 5 mph of the speed limit, 7 at the max. That's as fast as I'll go. I don't run red lights, either. So I think your broad generalization is just that.

But I'll say it again. It's not about public safety. It's about money. There's something that makes the world go 'round, and it sure isn't public safety.

 

Sorry Andy,

I don't remember that thread.
I never replied to it I know that.


Quote:

But I'll say it again. It's not about public safety. It's about money. There's something that makes the world go 'round, and it sure isn't public safety.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

& I think, It is the Concept of getting more people to abide by the law & the result happens to be Money



Quote:
Originally Posted by Mil1ion
I have noticed in my private life ,the people who I talk to that consider this a revenue generator are the worst drivers.
Quote Reply from 53wa2fl
This again is not really true....I have NEVER had an accident.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How can dispute that ?
I stated the people in MY personal life (away from FTE) tend to be the worst driver's.
I feel I can say this as I drove professionally for 18 years & the one thing I made sure of was To Be the Best Driver I Could Be

 

Dennis, I thought you read every thread on FTE.

 

I will concede the fact that some jurisdictions do use traffic enforcement to generate revenue. However, you must be breaking the law in order for them to generate revenue on you. Also, the "speed traps" are very effective in creating a safe highway. If you make AAA's top ten list of speed traps, chances are people are going to slow down in your town. We have a state highway that comes through town an is 25 mph all through town. The reason it is 25 is we have wreck after wreck after wreck on it. We even have a radar sign that says "Speed limit 25, your speed____." It amazing how many tickets for 20+ mph over we write on the other side of a sign that just clocked you and told you to slow down. I wrote one man a ticket for speeding in this zone. He carried on about how much b.s. it was. Fought it in court, lost, wrote an article to the paper, and was in general just a spoiled loser. A couple of months later, he found out why it was a 25 mph zone when he had a wreck in it. We generate a of a lot of revenue in the 25 mph zone, but the revenue is the byproduct, not the motive for the enforcement. I can go bust one drug dealer and collect $50,000 in fine money in one pop. It would take me at least 3 months to write that many radar tickets. Radar is not really that profitable in the big picture.

 

I will concede the fact that some jurisdictions do use traffic enforcement to generate revenue. However, you must be breaking the law in order for them to generate revenue on you. Also, the "speed traps" are very effective in creating a safe highway. If you make AAA's top ten list of speed traps, chances are people are going to slow down in your town.

In this, I would respectfully disagree on a number of levels. We have two areas I can think of in the Portland Metro Area that are heavily patrolled, generate an extraordinary amount of citations, yet are still chronically on the list of "most dangerous roads." The real, unaddressed problem is the poor design of the roadways themselves, not necessarily the velocity of the traffic on them. Then there's the public relations nightmare that goes along with running perpetual speed traps- and this has become a very real problem (a chronic one, seemingly, in Portland). Officers earn and deserve our highest level of respect and appreciation- running speed traps may not be the ideal way to go about that, though.

We have a state highway that comes through town an is 25 mph all through town. The reason it is 25 is we have wreck after wreck after wreck on it. We even have a radar sign that says "Speed limit 25, your speed____." It amazing how many tickets for 20+ mph over we write on the other side of a sign that just clocked you and told you to slow down. I wrote one man a ticket for speeding in this zone. He carried on about how much b.s. it was. Fought it in court, lost, wrote an article to the paper, and was in general just a spoiled loser. A couple of months later, he found out why it was a 25 mph zone when he had a wreck in it. We generate a of a lot of revenue in the 25 mph zone, but the revenue is the byproduct, not the motive for the enforcement. I can go bust one drug dealer and collect $50,000 in fine money in one pop. It would take me at least 3 months to write that many radar tickets. Radar is not really that profitable in the big picture.

Now this I do understand. We have a 4-lane highway going through our town, and it's the last town of any size before the Mt. Hood Recreation Area. Traffic gets crazy on weekends, and the local Police Dept has their hands full trying to keep control of it. The highway continues on up the mountain to the East, and is notorious for epic crashes. The combination of an undivided highway, potentially adverse weather conditions, and sports enthusiasts trying to be first on the ski lift (or rushing to get home) can be a deadly mixture. In heavy rain/snow, or ice the posted 55 mph limit is probably unsafe, and traffic moves through there at a good 10-15 over, even in adverse weather. It's sparsely patrolled though (State Police jurisdiction). Typically, though, enhanced enforcement happens to the West of us, in the valley, where the roadway is straight, divided, and well below the snow zone (County Sheriff jurisdiction).

 

My big gripe where I live is when they take radar where the speed limit goes from 35 down to 25. There's no signs saying reduced speed ahead,and they are shooting you before you even get to the 25 zone. It gets expensive going to court to fight these pitiful tickets. I pay when I'm in the wrong but will fight stupidity like this.

 

vman... how much is it to fight tickets in court in ur area. Here in PA its $5 plus payment in full of the fine.

 

It is the responsibilty of the driver of the vehicle to make themselves aware of their surroundings no matter you are driving. This includes any Traffic related instructional sign beside or on a roadway.

Driving in England is a great experience for the avid driver

 

here's a new idea if you want to speed and or what ever else your not suppost to do on the streets go to a drag strip of track most of them have test and tune night it a minimal fee to get in but weigh it out $10 or so for a whole day of speed and fun or a speeding ticket,court cost lawyers...ect there's a reason there are traffic laws.... umm to protect innocent people from getting hurt or worse.. personaly people who speed in excess get what they deserve. if you feel the need to speed swallow your pride (there is always going to be some on faster) and hit the strip not the streets

 

I'm not sure anymore. I haven't gotten a ticket since the early 90's. If I won back then, they threw it out and I had to pay about $35 in court costs.

 

I will agree that poor highway design is a major cause of traffic accidents. The question is are we willing to spend the money to fix they problems? Highway infrasturcture never keeps up with growing population, it lags behind. The engineers patch things together to get by until the next major project. We have a curve in the state highway in our county. This is a 5 lane highway. On average, about 1, 18 wheeler turns over a month in this curve. I, as a citizen and as a law enforcement officer would say there is a design problem. The Dot engineer says there is no design problem. For a truck to turn over, it has to be either: 1. speeding, 2. overweight, 3. load taller than legal height. The engineer has a point.

 

It'd be interesting to monitor that curve and run some numbers, wouldn't it?