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This topic came to mind after a Facebook rant I posted after getting a speeding ticket, and another person's subsequent response. If that person wants to respond to this topic, they are welcome to do so. I won't say who posted the response, but if he or she choses to identify him or herself, that's fine too. Anyone who knows of the post I made or is friends with me on Facebook, please don't link to the post or to my page. I would like to maintain at least some level of anonymity, plus my settings are locked down pretty tight, and anyone who is not friends with me on Facebook wouldn't be able to see the post anyway. All they'll be able to see on my page is my name, my profile pic, and who my friends are. As far as this particular thread, the usual rules apply -- disagreeing is fine, personal attacks are not.
I was pretty angry when it happened, and used some pretty harsh words, including a few things that we probably wouldn't allow to be posted even on this board. Despite the tone of my post, I don't "hate" cops. I just don't trust them. And it's not because they're cops. I don't trust people in general, and cops have powers that people in general can not be trusted with.
I understand the need for cops, and wouldn't even want to try to imagine what it would be like if there were no laws. However, it seems that their priorities are misplaced these days. It seems like they're spending too little time on serious crimes, and too much time pulling people over who forget to slow down when the speed limit suddenly drops. I have no problem with them pulling someone over who's flying down the road like a bat out of hell, as they did with me when I got my first ticket, at the age of 19, when I was young and stupid. But I have a real problem with them sitting there, watching and waiting for people to fuck up, and pouncing on them when they do.
Worse yet, our wonderful governor recently passed a transportation package scam that included higher gasoline taxes (as if gas wasn't expensive enough already), increased license and registration fees, increased rental car taxes, and increased fines. Apparently we have enough extra money to pay for a "full-time" legislature with outrageous salaries and benefits, as well as stadiums for sports team owners, but at the same time, the state is so broke that we had to jack up taxes to pay for our roads and bridges. But that's a whole other rant. Also, prior to this being passed, the cops had a bit of leeway. They could write you up for disregarding traffic control device, rather than for speeding. This was a slightly lower fine which doesn't put points on your license. Now they're no longer allowed to do this.
Some of these cops are complete and total pricks, especially towards younger people. I'm not saying all of them are like that, and I had my dealings with both good ones and bad ones when I was younger. The one that pulled me over the first time was pretty decent, while the one that pulled me over the next time just seemed to have this attitude that all younger people were out to cause trouble. My son got pulled over by one of the bad ones awhile back, and the cop kept talking down to him, yelling at him, and accusing him of being on drugs or having drugs in the car. When he finally sent him on his way, he followed him all the way to the township line, apparently trying to find something else to bust him for. My son did score a small victory, however. The cop added the costs up wrong, and shorted the ticket $10. My son caught that and asked me what he should do, and I told him, "It says to pay that much, that's how much you pay!" I had been through something similar with a parking ticket I got when I still lived in the city. I had forgotten to move my car on street "cleaning" day, and got ticketed. However, the cop put the wrong amount on the ticket. Running out of time on a parking meter was $5, and everything else was $14. He checked the correct offense, but wrote "$5" on the ticket. I actually went to whatever building was where you could pay it in person to ask about it, and the clerk told me the same thing. "The officer was the one who made the mistake, so just pay the $5 like it says."
The real problem I have with these speed traps is that they're actually revenue generators. They say it's "for your safety", to get people to slow down, but they don't really want people to slow down. They want people to keep speeding so they can cash in on it. I realized that back around 2000 when they built the new bypass around the town of Dauphin. Prior to that, US 22/322 ran right through town. It was a four-lane expressway until you got to town, and then it narrowed to two lanes and a 35-mile speed limit. People would go flying through town all the time, and the local cops made a small fortune in tickets. Once the bypass was built, people were no longer speeding through town, and the residents were happy that they could now walk across the street without having to worry about being run over. But the officials were pissing and moaning about all the money they were losing from not being able to hand out tickets left and right.
In my case, was I speeding? Yes, but it was not intentional. That particular stretch of road inexplicably and suddenly drops from 55 to 35, even though it's a straight, wide-open stretch of road with almost no buildings along it, and it's so easy to forget to slow down, or to slow down quickly enough not to get pulled over. Yes, it was my mistake, but I don't see why that mistake had to cost me almost $200. And I really should have been paying attention, because I saw someone else pulled over on my way through earlier. Once in awhile, you might get lucky and get let off with a warning, but if a cop is sitting there looking for people to pull over, he's not there to hand out warnings.
Another bad spot for that is a place that comes off of a major highway and then suddenly drops to 25. And not far from there is a stretch of road with nothing but woods, that eventually leads into a fairly busy section with many buildings. The stretch of road with nothing but woods is 25. The busy section with all the buildings is 35. Go figure. For awhile, the cops were operating a speed trap in the wooded area. Then one day someone put up a sign that said "Coming soon -- Mr. Donut." I think they stopped having their speed traps there after that.
I was pretty angry when it happened, and used some pretty harsh words, including a few things that we probably wouldn't allow to be posted even on this board. Despite the tone of my post, I don't "hate" cops. I just don't trust them. And it's not because they're cops. I don't trust people in general, and cops have powers that people in general can not be trusted with.
I understand the need for cops, and wouldn't even want to try to imagine what it would be like if there were no laws. However, it seems that their priorities are misplaced these days. It seems like they're spending too little time on serious crimes, and too much time pulling people over who forget to slow down when the speed limit suddenly drops. I have no problem with them pulling someone over who's flying down the road like a bat out of hell, as they did with me when I got my first ticket, at the age of 19, when I was young and stupid. But I have a real problem with them sitting there, watching and waiting for people to fuck up, and pouncing on them when they do.
Worse yet, our wonderful governor recently passed a transportation package scam that included higher gasoline taxes (as if gas wasn't expensive enough already), increased license and registration fees, increased rental car taxes, and increased fines. Apparently we have enough extra money to pay for a "full-time" legislature with outrageous salaries and benefits, as well as stadiums for sports team owners, but at the same time, the state is so broke that we had to jack up taxes to pay for our roads and bridges. But that's a whole other rant. Also, prior to this being passed, the cops had a bit of leeway. They could write you up for disregarding traffic control device, rather than for speeding. This was a slightly lower fine which doesn't put points on your license. Now they're no longer allowed to do this.
Some of these cops are complete and total pricks, especially towards younger people. I'm not saying all of them are like that, and I had my dealings with both good ones and bad ones when I was younger. The one that pulled me over the first time was pretty decent, while the one that pulled me over the next time just seemed to have this attitude that all younger people were out to cause trouble. My son got pulled over by one of the bad ones awhile back, and the cop kept talking down to him, yelling at him, and accusing him of being on drugs or having drugs in the car. When he finally sent him on his way, he followed him all the way to the township line, apparently trying to find something else to bust him for. My son did score a small victory, however. The cop added the costs up wrong, and shorted the ticket $10. My son caught that and asked me what he should do, and I told him, "It says to pay that much, that's how much you pay!" I had been through something similar with a parking ticket I got when I still lived in the city. I had forgotten to move my car on street "cleaning" day, and got ticketed. However, the cop put the wrong amount on the ticket. Running out of time on a parking meter was $5, and everything else was $14. He checked the correct offense, but wrote "$5" on the ticket. I actually went to whatever building was where you could pay it in person to ask about it, and the clerk told me the same thing. "The officer was the one who made the mistake, so just pay the $5 like it says."
The real problem I have with these speed traps is that they're actually revenue generators. They say it's "for your safety", to get people to slow down, but they don't really want people to slow down. They want people to keep speeding so they can cash in on it. I realized that back around 2000 when they built the new bypass around the town of Dauphin. Prior to that, US 22/322 ran right through town. It was a four-lane expressway until you got to town, and then it narrowed to two lanes and a 35-mile speed limit. People would go flying through town all the time, and the local cops made a small fortune in tickets. Once the bypass was built, people were no longer speeding through town, and the residents were happy that they could now walk across the street without having to worry about being run over. But the officials were pissing and moaning about all the money they were losing from not being able to hand out tickets left and right.
In my case, was I speeding? Yes, but it was not intentional. That particular stretch of road inexplicably and suddenly drops from 55 to 35, even though it's a straight, wide-open stretch of road with almost no buildings along it, and it's so easy to forget to slow down, or to slow down quickly enough not to get pulled over. Yes, it was my mistake, but I don't see why that mistake had to cost me almost $200. And I really should have been paying attention, because I saw someone else pulled over on my way through earlier. Once in awhile, you might get lucky and get let off with a warning, but if a cop is sitting there looking for people to pull over, he's not there to hand out warnings.
Another bad spot for that is a place that comes off of a major highway and then suddenly drops to 25. And not far from there is a stretch of road with nothing but woods, that eventually leads into a fairly busy section with many buildings. The stretch of road with nothing but woods is 25. The busy section with all the buildings is 35. Go figure. For awhile, the cops were operating a speed trap in the wooded area. Then one day someone put up a sign that said "Coming soon -- Mr. Donut." I think they stopped having their speed traps there after that.
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