Operation Give You A Ticket
By
When you hear that the State Patrol is teaming with local law enforcement to encourage folks to slow down, better either listen up or be ready to open the wallet for them. They gave oodles of tickets during the last incarnation of “Operation Slow Down” in April, and it’s here again through November 30:
“Stepped-up enforcement and patrols will be conducted across the state, focusing on motorists speeding on interstates and major four-lane highways. During the combined Operation Slow Down/No Need 2 Speed campaign in April, state and local law enforcement agencies cited 11,241 motorists for speeding.”
So, if I read this right, it means that speeding is deprioritized all other times of year, teaching drivers like me that going six miles per hour over the speed limit is acceptable. But every now and again the police use what behaviorists call intermittent negative reinforcement, which will undoubtedly (a) scare some people into driving nearer the speed limit; (b) take money out of people’s pockets when they can least afford it; (c) piss off the largely law-abiding citizens who exceed the speed limit in no large way
It’s either a law or its not, people. If speeding is bad, then let the police catch folks all the time, not just a few weeks a year when coffers are low or public relations departments need to prove their importance. This gotcha-style law enforcement promotes distrust.
19 Comments
November 19th, 2008 at 3:59 am
Note: “This gotcha-style law enforcement engenders distrust.”
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November 19th, 2008 at 8:38 am
Distrust? more like disgust.
Let’s call it what it is… revenue collection, shall we?
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November 19th, 2008 at 10:46 am
I hope they set up a big operation on Riverview Drive and give out $1,000 tickets!
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November 19th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
I have no problem whatsoever with cracking down on speeding – check out this report – the US has the second-highest rate of road deaths out of all the OECD nations, and of all the countries I’ve been to, I’ve never seen road rules applied as lazily as the US.
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November 19th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
There is a four-way stop in front of my house, with a blinking red light even, that is rarely adhered to. At night people fly through it at upwards of 40mph, and this is a residential area, with a police station about a block away, yet I have never seen anyone pulled over.
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November 19th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
It’s called debt consolidation. The state’s on the verge of bankruptcy. Asheville’s hurting due to the decrease in tourism. What do you expect people?
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November 19th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
They’re going to be zeroing in on interstates and heavily used four-lane thoroughfares.
No relief for we townies who have lunatics flying through our neighborhoods, only practicing selective enforcement for a couple of weeks on the big roads.
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November 19th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
I would feel better about the revenue collection if I knew what the funds were being used for. I want police to focus on more serious crimes than speeding, although I understand the logic behind more traffic on the roads increasing the likelihood for auto accidents. For all those people who are absent minded enough to speed during holiday travel season, it sucks even more because that ticket will likely adversely affect their insurance rates for the next three years.
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November 19th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
The Asheville Police Department has a Traffic Safety Unit that does far more than just write tickets and try to trap speeders…They handle traffic control, help people with disabled vehicles and work dozens of fender benders (especially in the rain and snow) as well as the horrible wrecks you see in the news. Their daily workload, especially at the evening rush hour, is incredible.
Much of the money for this unit and other patrol responsibilities comes from state grants, and in large part, from the Governor’s Highway Safety Program. But there are stipulations, such as:
Conditions for Law Enforcement — In addition to the other conditions provided for in this Agreement, grants to law enforcement agencies are subject to the following:
Tasks Required. The following tasks must be included in Section D of this contract:
A minimum of one (1) safety belt checkpoint per month;
A minimum of one (1) impaired driving checkpoint per quarter;
Participation in all “Click It or Ticket” campaigns;
Participation in all “Booze It & Lose It” campaigns;
Participation in any event or campaign as required by the GHSP.
I hope this adds a little context and some understanding of the situation. I don’t think these operations are necessarily a bad idea, and I think it’s disappointing to find that they engender any distrust in people.
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November 19th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Thanks, Melissa. I hoped you’d come by.
So you’re saying the program is tied to the funding stream, and the funding stream requires the added attention to specific areas. This kind of campaign has always struck me as exploitative, but to think of these programs as ‘extra’ softens my position considerably. It’s easy to forget, especially with public safety, that it’s not a bottomless pit of resources and that law enforcement has to get funding somewhere.
How much of the Traffic Safety Unit budget comes from the GHSP grant?
Thanks again for coming by.
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November 20th, 2008 at 8:15 am
George “the†Bastard says:
, obviously you have never lived in the middle east
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November 20th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Gordon, I will check on the specifics of that. But, in general, the support we have received in turn for our participation in things like Click It or Ticket, etc., has been substantial:
Back in 1994, the GHSP partially paid for APD to pay four full-time traffic safety officers and one supervisor, plus five vehicles and equipment.
Last year, the GHSP awarded APD $131,250 that we combined with $43,750 in city matching funds to pay for five new patrol cars and some equipment to better map traffic accidents.
In January of this year, we got $10,000 to buy an in-car camera system and a digital camera. There were no matching funds required for that grant.
We rely on the state a great deal to help us pay for these things. Of course, it’s still (y)our tax money, no matter how you slice it. But I doubt we could purchase these things if we depended solely on city tax revenue…
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November 20th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
I say throw the book at the speeding bastards (not at George the B., unless you are a speeding B.). Going 5 – 10 mph on the highway is one thing, but the people speeding egregiously on the highways are the same ones speeding through our neighborhoods.
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November 20th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
I meant to say going 5 – 10 mph OVER THE SPEED LIMIT on the highway.
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November 20th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Speeding on a highway is OK with me if the traffic allows it (and I do not buy the “with lower speeds there are less accidents and we save fuel” argument), but to speed in residential areas is equal to attempted manslaughter and should be punished severely – being German let me explain: we love to drive fast on our Autobahn including sections with no speed limit at all, but in areas where people walk and children play we have a 8 miles speed limit, because it makes sense.
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November 20th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Greenie,
I go 5-10 over the speed limit on the highways, and I don’t speed down Riverside.
Further, I’m not, by most standards, a bastard.
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November 20th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
but it is the standard by which you are one that interest us, care to enlighten me? (Always wanted to call you a bastard LOL)
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November 20th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Gordon – If you are going 5 – 10 mph over then you will probably not get a ticket. I was talking about people going more like 20 mph over, usually yacking away on the cell phone oblivious to everything around them – I say lock up, throw away key for these people!
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November 20th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
BTW – people talking on cell phones while driving now cause more accidents than drunk drivers.
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