Speed Traps vs Residents on speed trap frequented streets.

[kwhilborn]

I think Officers should be banned from ticketing people on streets they set up their traps on.

If anyone has lived on a street where the Police frequently set up their speed traps then they will know that you are exposed to them 20 times more frequently than the guy living one street over.

Popular Speed Trap locals increase the risk to certain residents over others.

Maybe a solution is to ban speed traps in the same location for an entire year? Who knows, but then people would know where to speed.

I have not lost points in many years, but as a teen I got several tickets because our home was too close to a regular trap.

I already know everyone will likely say "Don't speed and you won't get caught", but it really is unfair if you can see this clearly and imagine everyone speeds at least a small percentage of the time.

 

[Janus58]

I'm sorry, but if you live on a street that is a known frequent location for speed traps and you still choose to speed on that street, then you deserve what you get, because that it just stupidity. Generally speaking, if an area is targeted for more frequent speed traps, it is because there is a history of speeding there.

It's like knowing that a particular intersection has safety cameras and continuing to perform rolling stops at it. Sure, everyone does it from time to time, but if you can't learn not to do it at that intersection, then I have no sympathy for you.

 

[gmilam]

If you speed through my neighborhood, I hope they catch your ass and fine you big time.

 

[Tiassa]

Neighborhood Mobsters?

I'm sorry, but if you live on a street that is a known frequent location for speed traps and you still choose to speed on that street, then you deserve what you get, because that it just stupidity. Generally speaking, if an area is targeted for more frequent speed traps, it is because there is a history of speeding there.

There is that, but I live in a state where the police are allowed to write whatever the hell they want on a police report regardless of its veracity, expected as a matter of course to destroy evidence that would corroborate or contradict those reports, and enjoy these circumstances quite regularly.

Given that the state is actually encouraging corruption, I can understand why people would object to these speed traps, much like I can understand why people would object to mobsters wandering around in broad daylight collecting protection money.

 

[Bells]

I think Officers should be banned from ticketing people on streets they set up their traps on.

If anyone has lived on a street where the Police frequently set up their speed traps then they will know that you are exposed to them 20 times more frequently than the guy living one street over.

Popular Speed Trap locals increase the risk to certain residents over others.

Maybe a solution is to ban speed traps in the same location for an entire year? Who knows, but then people would know where to speed.

I have not lost points in many years, but as a teen I got several tickets because our home was too close to a regular trap.

I already know everyone will likely say "Don't speed and you won't get caught", but it really is unfair if you can see this clearly and imagine everyone speeds at least a small percentage of the time.

Unfair?

So the law states you are required to not speed and to drive at or below the speed limit. And you are complaining that it is unfair that the police won't allow people to break the law?

The only solution to the speed trap problem is for people not to speed. You don't want them to raise revenue through speeding fines? Then people can dry up their funding by not speeding and accidents and deaths caused by speeding drivers would cease to exist.

 

[kwhilborn]

I would like to add to the OP that the street I lived on at the time was a Major Road (although not a long road (1 Mile)). It was not a typical residential neighborhood as it granted truck access to a factory district. It does have cross walks at certain points for children because my mother made an MP sit in his Limo and watch kids dodge trucks on their way to school.

There was a Police loving neighbor about 200 yards away that allowed Police to sit in her driveway. On busy streets you often need to accelerate quickly to go with the flow and avoid slowing down oncoming traffic. Once I was accelerating up to speed and continued until I was about 5 over the limit before I eased off and got a ticket.

I was never a dangerous driver or caused any accidents in a Country known for many snowy road conditions.

Later in life I was a Soil Engineer which is in many ways a Professional driver visiting many Farms and properties being sold and planting stakes for drill teams, as well as researching the Land Titles. Often my Gas allowance was as great as my pay. I am likely a more experienced and better driver than 95% of the population.

Some say speeding is not necessary, but people here can also get tickets for going the speed limit. The rule on our highway seems to be go with the flow. My Grandfather got a ticket for going 90 Kmh in a 100 Kmh zone.

Our City has the Busiest Highway in the World and it is 20 lanes wide in some parts.

I should compare the OP to this. Imagine they set up red light cameras ONLY in your neighborhood. Imagine they set up anti-crime cameras ONLY in your neighborhood and if a piece of paper dropped on the ground you would be fined for littering. Imagine they only enforced leash laws in the secluded area you take your dog (my dog is highly trained to heal on command and does not require a leash). These are somewhat fair comparisons.

There are times and places where speeding is not only wise but necessary. I also understand where some people do not drive enough to realize this. Going with the flow, Passing people, etc.

In a snow belt you also learn to pick up the pace when it starts to snow so you are closer to your destination by the time the roads get prickly.

Again; this is not something a Florida Driver may relate to.

 

[Janus58]

There is that, but I live in a state where the police are allowed to write whatever the hell they want on a police report regardless of its veracity, expected as a matter of course to destroy evidence that would corroborate or contradict those reports, and enjoy these circumstances quite regularly.

Given that the state is actually encouraging corruption, I can understand why people would object to these speed traps, much like I can understand why people would object to mobsters wandering around in broad daylight collecting protection money.

I don't think that it is the speed traps themselves that the OP is addressing but the tendency to place them in certain areas. He never said that the tickets he got were not earned but seemed to indicate that that since he was required to drive that route on a regular basis, that they should have been forgiving of his speeding. There didn't seem to be any indication of implied corruption.

That is not to say that corruption cannot or does not happen, but in that case, it would be better to work to clean up the correction than to take the OP's approach. To borrow from your analogy, that would be like telling the mobsters that they should only collect protection from people passing through the neighborhood and not from those who live there, or at the very least, change neighborhoods from time to time.

 

[billvon]

On busy streets you often need to accelerate quickly to go with the flow and avoid slowing down oncoming traffic. Once I was accelerating up to speed and continued until I was about 5 over the limit before I eased off and got a ticket. . . . .I am likely a more experienced and better driver than 95% of the population.

Not if you can't control your speed.

Some say speeding is not necessary, but people here can also get tickets for going the speed limit.

Then you should take it to court - and win. That's a bullshit ticket, unless he was driving too fast for conditions.

I should compare the OP to this. Imagine they set up red light cameras ONLY in your neighborhood. Imagine they set up anti-crime cameras ONLY in your neighborhood and if a piece of paper dropped on the ground you would be fined for littering.

Right. But that's not what they are doing. They are putting anti-crime cameras everywhere and giving everyone tickets for littering. You are demanding that you NOT get a ticket in your neighborhood, even though everyone else who walks by and litters does get a ticket.

How is that fair? If you were walking down the street next to someone, and you both dropped your paper bag on the sidewalk, and you got a ticket and he didn't because "well he lives near here" - would you be OK with that?

In a snow belt you also learn to pick up the pace when it starts to snow so you are closer to your destination by the time the roads get prickly.

Speeding up when it starts to snow so you can "are closer to your destination by the time the roads get prickly" is about the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Would you really drive faster in more dangerous conditions? That's about as smart as driving faster when you've been drinking so you are on the roads for less time.

 

[kwhilborn]

@ Billvon,

Speeding up when it starts to snow so you can "are closer to your destination by the time the roads get prickly" is about the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

You southerners are naive about snow. When it starts it is often as harmless as a light rainfall. I've also pushed my boat so hard it was dipping between the waves to get to shore. I could go slow and kept some water out of my boat, but I would have endured some of the approaching storm.

I will chalk this up to inexperience on your part. I think it is very smart to do this.

Not if you can't control your speed.

Speeding on purpose is not always legal, but it does not mean it is always dangerous. Do you even drive a car?

Oh yes, some sort of solar power thing.

How is that fair? If you were walking down the street next to someone, and you both dropped your paper bag on the sidewalk, and you got a ticket and he didn't because "well he lives near here" - would you be OK with that?

This would be fair because this guy is watched daily and is 100 times more likely to be caught littering. In my neighborhood they never send the litter police so I can litter with impunity. I have lived in areas where I have never seen a speed trap and I have lived in an area where they always seemed to have one.

I never lost points on my license so I must have done okay.

@ billvon again,
I probably won't respond again as you have become a bit boring to me. You seem to argue for sake of it which makes you say a lot of nonsense that I don't think you really believe. It's not really science though or even interesting.

 

[Janus58]

@ Billvon,


You southerners are naive about snow. When it starts it is often as harmless as a light rainfall. I've also pushed my boat so hard it was dipping between the waves to get to shore. I could go slow and kept some water out of my boat, but I would have endured some of the approaching storm.

I will chalk this up to inexperience on your part. I think it is very smart to do this.

You also seem to think that the expanding Earth hypothesis is reasonable.

Speeding on purpose is not always legal, but it does not mean it is always dangerous.

But when you do so, you knowingly put yourself at risk of getting a ticket. Thus it is a choice you make: Does your reason for speeding outweigh possibly getting a ticket? If you decide yes, and then end up getting a ticket, that's the chance you took.

This would be fair because this guy is watched daily and is 100 times more likely to be caught littering. In my neighborhood they never send the litter police so I can litter with impunity. I have lived in areas where I have never seen a speed trap and I have lived in an area where they always seemed to have one.

I'd say that the local guy would be more than 100 times less likely to litter just because he knows he'll get caught every time, whereas the non-local does not have this foreknowledge and would be much more likely to litter. I think that this puts the non-local at the disadvantage.

Your system would just make it worse, because now as he walks through your neighborhood and sees the litter left behind by the locals who are immune to littering fines, and then sees you drop your bag on the sidewalk, he would assume that it would be acceptable for him to do so too.

You seem to operate under the assumption that a person's tendency to litter (or speed) is not is any way affected by his chances of being caught; that they are just as likely to do so when the risk is 100% or 0%.

Anyone who operates in that manner earns any fine that they get. In fact, there probably should also be an extra surcharge added for plain stupidity.

 

[billvon]

You southerners are naive about snow.

I grew up in New York and Boston, and lived there until I was 30.

When it starts it is often as harmless as a light rainfall. I've also pushed my boat so hard it was dipping between the waves to get to shore. I could go slow and kept some water out of my boat, but I would have endured some of the approaching storm.

If you push your boat so hard that you place it at risk because you were caught unawares by the weather, then you are a poor captain. (Same for driver or pilot.) I have also made such mistakes while flying, and never deluded myself that "it was very smart" to take such risks. It was a mistake on my part, not a "smart decision."

Going faster in bad conditions to avoid bad conditions is a very, very stupid idea. In aviation, such behavior is called "getting to the scene of the crash more quickly."

Speeding on purpose is not always legal, but it does not mean it is always dangerous. Do you even drive a car?

Yes. And if you want to speed on purpose, that's up to you. If you then get a ticket, you deserve it.

I probably won't respond again as you have become a bit boring to me.

By all means!

 

[Syzygys]

So this complaint thread backfired on the OP...

I would like to complain that in my neighbourhood the police catch people who kill their spouses. I don't like that at all....

 

[billvon]

So this complaint thread backfired on the OP...

I would like to complain that in my neighbourhood the police catch people who kill their spouses. I don't like that at all....

Well, I mean, it's OK that the police catch people who kill other people's spouses. But when you kill your OWN spouse it's unfair for the cops to single you out. I mean, you live with them all the time, of course you're going to kill them more often . . .

 

[kwhilborn]

@ Janus,

You also seem to think that the expanding Earth hypothesis is reasonable.

I have said I am undecided on that thread and that it is interesting and I would like to learn more.

If you want to insult my other claims, then at least dig up some of my pseudoscience or parapsychology threads as I advocate PSI (Telepathy, etc.)

@ Billvon,

If you push your boat so hard that you place it at risk because you were caught unawares by the weather, then you are a poor captain.

I never said I put my boat at risk. Water coming over bow is not life threatening. My boat fits in a boathouse and is only 15 ft Bowrider, I have never been called a Captain before

We were never far from shore. The lake in question (Rice Lake) was 19 miles long, but not wide. I was surprised how fast it could kick up whitecaps though.

@ Syzygys,
You said,

So this complaint thread backfired on the OP...

No. This thread went exactly as I predicted.

This was my prediction in the OP last line. (Go look yourself. I did not edit it in. View date on it).

I already know everyone will likely say "Don't speed and you won't get caught", but it really is unfair if you can see this clearly and imagine everyone speeds at least a small percentage of the time.

If you lived beside a speedtrap you might understand this more. I was not expecting this kind of imagination from this crowd as is obvious by my prediction.

Looks like your post backfired on you.

 

[billvon]

I never said I put my boat at risk.

Ah, then the situations you are comparing are not comparable. Driving faster in bad weather DOES increase your risk. If operating your boat faster does not, then they're not comparable. Go as fast as you like.

 

[kwhilborn]

@ billvon,
No. I said when snow begins to fall it is a good time to high tail it to your destination BEFORE the roads get bad. If you are familiar with snow as you have claimed then you know there is often some time before snow affects driving conditions. Is this also not common sense?

 

[billvon]

No. I said when snow begins to fall it is a good time to high tail it to your destination BEFORE the roads get bad.

Yes. "Drive faster when it is snowing" is stupid no matter what your motivations. It is as smart as driving faster when you are drunk, so as to be on the road a shorter time and present less risk.

If you do not want to be delayed by snow - leave earlier. Failure in planning is no excuse for driving faster than is safe.

If you are familiar with snow as you have claimed then you know there is often some time before snow affects driving conditions.

If the roads are warm then they get damp right away, which affects stopping distances.

If the roads are cold and it's windy then the snow starts to blow across it, reducing visibility.

If the roads are cold and it's still then you immediately get ice between your wheels and the road.

In every case, the fastest safe speed becomes lower when it starts snowing.

Many states have a "basic speed law" that states that you must never drive faster than conditions allow. They give examples of conditions that would require reduced speed, including snow, rain and fog. A wise driver reduces his speed when it starts snowing, to prevent becoming a statistic.

 

[kwhilborn]

@ Billvon,

If the roads are warm then they get damp right away, which affects stopping distances.

Yes. Being on the road a half hour later won't help much either. I was rear ended (other drivers was legally at fault) in deep snow conditions.

I have also been driving on a road where the road completely vanished. I mean it was like a snow covered football field with no signposts or indications as to where the road might be. I drove along slowly and eventually drove down a small hill that turned out to be a ditch. Luckily I had a case of beer in the trunk and was "parked: across from a motel. I had the the Tow driver park my car in front of my room and we stayed the night.

Can you imagine a road vanishing completely? Does this happen in NY?

Just stopping your car in the middle of nowhere is not always an option.

I have had a window implode because of the heat vs cold outside.

My job involved driving to many properties in areas unfamiliar.

Yes. I would definitely go for

they get damp right away, which affects stopping distances.

much of the time, rather than deal with what comes after.