WARNING: The following post is a rant, and doesn’t have much to do with personal finance, except perhaps as far as public revenues figure into that!
Every day when I come home from work/school, I get out of the subway, walk across a pair of streets with a park in between, and walk into my apartment. This pair of streets is in the form of a loop, and is used mostly for local traffic: people picking up and dropping off people from the station or nearby apartment buildings, or local residents.
Recently, the city changed the rules on the street so that you are not allowed to stop your car to pick up or drop off people during the afternoon rush hour. There are no buses or any other vehicles that travel on these streets, and the roads are wide enough for cars to park on the side without blocking the road. I’m not sure what the point of this rule is since things were working fine before, but suffice it to say that the change was made.
Although the rules have changed, people are still picking up and dropping off people during the rush time. The other day, I was walking back to my apartment when I saw the police there telling drivers to stop by the side so they can give them a ticket. While walking across the street, I had to jump out of the way of a car who rolled right through the stop sign: She was completely preoccupied with what the cops were doing, and she was ignoring everything in front of her!
Now, there would be nothing to write about if not for the fact that this happened right in front of two police officers who watched it happen. The car wasn’t going very fast and I don’t think I would have been very hurt had I not gotten out of the way, but I have gotten my fair share of tickets for minor infractions, and I was astounded that two police officers would just watch something like that happen and then watch the car drive off.
I spoke to the police officer that was there, and while he was civil if not entirely polite, he didn’t have a reasonable explanation as to why they would just watch that happen, yet not do anything about it. I was annoyed, but I didn’t want to waste any more of my time, so I declined to make a formal complaint. As soon as I said that, he immediately bounded off, and I then saw what they were so busy with: There were at least 3-4 more cars illegally parked, and the cops had to rush over to make sure those guys were ticketed, too, before they got away!
I appreciate the role that the police play in public safety, but the cynic in me somehow feels that on that day, the cops were there for the public revenue, and not the public safety! Well, that’s how they make money!
I have just too many examples in mind: Why do I see the cops hiding on a wide industrial road where the speed limit was recently lowered to far below prevailing speeds? On the same note, why don’t I ever see them on city roads with lots of pedestrian traffic or around schools? Sure, they show up every now and then, but the rest of the time they’re hanging out between their favorite spots, often by one industrial road or another.
I think it’s because the cops know that in the first case, most people will drive above the speed limit as it is too low for conditions, while in the second case, only the inexperienced and the reckless will drive above the speed limit since it is dangerous to do so. You would think that there are plenty of those people out there for the police to catch, but perhaps it’s easier to fish in those parts where you know that everyone will be breaking the law.
P.S. This is the second time this happens to me lately. A woman on a phone almost knocked me and a friend over last week while making a right turn. She saw us at the last moment and stopped, but not without a screech of the tires!
That’s my rant of the day. 🙂
Here in Edmonton, they have what’s called a big ticket event every few months where thousands of people get speeding tickets and they make millions in fines. They also have photo radar vehicles that park illegally on the side of the road and are a huge cash cow. They say it allows the police to concentrate on other tasks but some of the people contracted to operate the photo radar have already been caught bribing a trucking company by phoning them directly and saying they will tear up the tickets if they send a few bottles of alcohol their way. It has come to the point that they are more concerned about revenue then actual public safety and it’s a real shame. No money is spent on upgraded crossing lights and blinking green lights before they turn yellow; instead they install more red light cameras to maximize profit.
Photo Radar is beginning here, too. So far I haven’t seen it abused, but that could change in the future.
What gets me though is when the cops drive much faster than the limit without the lights or sirens on. Some highways here have a limit of only 70 km/h (that’s a bit less than 45mph for you Americans), but traffic drives from 90 km/h up to near 120 km/h. (55mph to 70mph). The cops like these spots because it’s easy to fish people, but when THEY are driving themselves, they are driving 100 and up, just like the rest of traffic… until people hit the brakes when they see the cop!
I have yet to see one cop drive the speed limit on those highways. On roads where the speed limit is set fairly I see less of this behavior occurring, though.
That’s crazy about the bribes, by the way. I believe in demonopolization of the government sphere, but I don’t necessarily agree in private control over assets that are still public. Why? Bad incentives.
Here, the company does not own the roadway and is not liable for accidents, so they have absolutely no incentive to improve safety. They do, however, have a big incentive to screw people over with needless additional tickets and fines! The police does this, too, but they have slightly more accountability through the public process. You won’t get any benefits by subcontracting to a private operator, here. In fact, the abuses could be even worse.
I got a ticket last year because my wife was dropping me in front of the metro station. Many others got the same ticket that day. However, the cops haven’t been there in months and people still use the street as a drop off point.
Maybe when the city asks for more revenue they will be there again.
Another thing they did was cut 50% of the parking spaces by making the local streets alternate-side parking only. Entirely unnecessary and a waste of the space which was working just fine before…
What’s more, it’s illegal to park after hours during part of the year, but on no sign is this marked. If you’re lucky, you’ll only get a warning the first time you violate that rule…
This is happening everywhere as states and municipalities are caught between the fixed expenses of an enormous prison system and the reality that they’re running out of money to pay all the people they need to operate it, much less patrol the streets. One way or another, you’ll be taxed to pay for the costs of government. They just won’t always call it a tax.
The enormous prison system seems so wasteful to me. It seems like school for criminals. :S
Kevin, This so reminds me of when we were traveling through New Jersey this summer, and my husband was exceeding the speed limit 5+ miles and driving in the left (passing) lane. As the cop stopped him, he was paniced that we would get a speeding ticket. This moron gave him a ticket, but not for speeding….. but for holding up traffic in the left/passing lane. The charge was so insane that it took him about 5 minutes to explain the charge. Can you say, “Revenue?”
Hey Barb,
People holding up the passing lanes is actually one of my pet peeves! 😛 Of course, when traffic is heavier you cannot expect everyone to try to squeeze into the right lane. I have never heard of a cop actually ticketing someone for that though; that is really something.
Barb, this might spell the end of our pseudo-cyber-friendship. The left lane is for passing only. There are big signs throughout the country’s freeways that read, in unambiguous language, “SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT”.
If your husband’s doing 800 mph in the left lane, and the car behind him is doing 801, he needs to move over. If the faster car behind you is risking a speeding ticket, that’s that driver’s problem, not yours.
I’m just overjoyed that one state (even if it is a state that doesn’t let you pump your own gas) is actually enforcing this. Drive as slowly as you want – that’s what every lane but the left one is for.
Other things cops need to ticket people for:
-idiots who merge onto a freeway at surface-street speeds. (“Well, I’m doing 45 anyway, so I’ll just continue at 45 while merging with traffic that’s going 70.”) No. When you get on the ramp, you need to floor it. Speed doesn’t kill, speed differences kill.
Hey Barb, I live in NJ and my friend got a ticket for that as well. I can’t offer any sympathy on this one because that is something that drives me crazy!
In Jersey, you must keep to the right and use the leftmost lane for passing. I’ve seen so many traffic nightmares caused by someone in the passing lane holding people up! Especially on NJ highways because we get so much truck traffic – trucks can’t ride in the passing lane, so their passing lane is the middle lane.
I love that cops enforce this law because it helps to keep traffic flowing.
There is a road I drive on to take my kids to school that the cops love to park at behind some trees. See, the speed limit is 45 on one side of the light, and 40 on the other side. So people going through the light and past the hiding cops are almost always going at least 45, and they pull people over constantly. It is a gold mine for the city, that is for sure.
I can’t imagine how frustrated you must have been. I don’t even know if it could have been about revenue because they would have gotten money for the ticket issued for blowing through a stop sign. Sounds like they were very lazy. Although maybe they could catch 2 or 3 drop off violators for the one stop sign violation ticket.
Glad you didn’t get hurt!
I’ve never gotten ticketed for stopping in a no-standing zone, but I believe the tickets can be quite expensive. It could have been sheer laziness or indifference on the part of the police; you are quite right!
Yet another thing that gets me is this: A low-traffic narrow suburban road with houses on both sides, parked cars, curves, and where kids often play in the street has a limit of 50km/h / 30mph. I can conceivably drive up to 79km/h / 49mph without getting a major ticket. For sure I probably won’t get ticketed for driving 60km/h / 35mph, which is pretty fast for that type of road.
Another road, a one way road next to the highway and that feeds traffic from crossing roads into the highway and takes traffic off the highway, has no residential areas at all, and that has no traffic lights or stop signs whatsoever, is also posted at 50km/h! If I *don’t* drive at least 80km/h, traffic will fly by me, including the cops, but I’m always at risk of a major ticket! It’s retarded…
I got a ticket for driving without lights at 6 in the evening in SUMMER in CA. It was even before the twilight. I guess he didn’t have any other “catches” that day I suppose.
The speeding/holding up the lane is always tricky, it seems like you get caught either ways 🙂 My husband got a speeding ticket for going 2 miles over limit. The officer even wrote 2 miles over limit in that ticket. Even though it hurt when we paid that good chunk of money, it is funny to see that ticket even now.
Isn’t it usually bright outside at 6pm? Well here in Canada we have daylight-running lights, so no matter what the headlights are always lit.
Ouch, 2 miles over the limit? Actually, I wouldn’t mind if all speed limits were set reasonably, even somewhat above the median speed (85% is what traffic engineers recommend). After all, it should be a speed LIMIT, so you should already be driving rather fast to exceed it. If you combined that with harsher penalties for exceeding the limit, I’d be ok with that.
Right now it’s a joke where I live, because you are not going to get a ticket unless exceeding by at least 10km/h, and probably not unless you are exceeding by at least 20km/h. However, speed limits are set in a blanket. The net effect of all this is that speed limits are too high in residential areas, but far too low in commercial/industrial and around the highway. Either you’re a lawbreaker or you can endanger others without running significantly afoul of the law. Either way, it’s retarded…
There is this well known spedd trap in my town. Its great because there is a overpass right in the middle. Its only 3 blocks long. Before and after it the speed limit is 50, in it the limit is 40. Its a goldmine for the cops. I drive through there just to see the people pulled over.
Now we have this right turn on red at several intersections. Each has a video camera so it doesn’t even need personal. Big fine too, $120. And don’t forget the Sunpass lane on the turnpike. They mail you a bill for 50 Cents. Probably cost $5 to process it. Anything for money.
When I was in South Korea there were traffic cameras EVERYWHERE… but speed limits were set quite high for built-up city areas. Imagine a road like, I don’t know, one of the streets on Manhattan with 2 lanes on each side, but with a speed limit of 80km/h / 50mph. The blanket rule there seemed to be that if any road had more than one lane on each side, it got a limit of 70km/h or 80km/h, no matter what the built environment was like. However, I think the cameras were strict so if you did go faster than that, it wasn’t by much before they’d ticket you.
These cops obviously don’t have enough real criminals to apprehend so they have time plenty of free time to think up revenue enhancement projects.
I am still waiting for them to focus on safety, and not just for TV or political points. 🙂
I can certainly see why you were annoyed and am sorry this happened. The motivations behind some of these decisions can be suspect. For example, my wife and I were driving in Iowa a little over a year ago, and she was ticketed along with the majority of other visitors (we were all there for a wedding) because the speed limit wasn’t posted and was slower than what was reasonable. It is understandably frustrating when you feel like justice is not being served, especially when there is apparently every opportunity to make things right.
Well as they say, ignorance of the law is no excuse, even if the law is not optimal. 😉
I would suggest that if it was truly about safety, then get rid of the monetary penalties entirely. Make it a solely point-based system. Leave the monetary-penalties for those that have no agreement to transfer points with your state.
The big thing in a few places near where I live has been the red light cameras. These things can be absolute cash cows for communities that have them. There have been countless times where I have seen, at a local intersection, the flash of the camera go off as a car turned just barely after it should have. It’s easy money for communities who have these, but they make it difficult for folks to get even a bit of wiggle room in their driving.
Yes, I was ticketed once for this! I have a really good driving record overall, so I wasn’t thrilled to say the least to get a ticket. It was a few years ago, and I distinctly remembered crossing a red light by accident locally. I normally don’t try to risk such things, but that day I remember doing it by accident. A short while after that, I received a letter in the mail, with printed photos of the car approaching and crossing the intersection, with a zoom on my license. They got me. And I was out $100, if I remember right.
Not that there’s anything wrong with people following driving laws, as we all should. But nobody’s 100% perfect, and such cameras are really more of a way to generate revenue than keep people in line, in my opinion.
That’s the issue: are such things done with the intent of helping society, or for raising revenue under the guise of helping society?
I agree with you. I have heard that in many of these jurisdictions, yellows are set to 3 seconds or less which leads to dangerous situations. Around here, yellows are 5, which means that people know that they have time to cross, and which also means that you do get some cars that enter the intersection right after it turns red, but everyone else has ample time to stop safely.
What is more dangerous, going through a yellow light that turns red when you enter, or slamming on the brakes and hoping that that big truck right behind you doesn’t slam into you as well?
Drivers make mistakes, but it is rare that someone guns it into a busy intersection on red. Those cases where people die are the ones that lead people to push for red light cameras, but how these cameras are actually used in practice, combined with shortened yellows, seem to predominantly punish the regular driver, and perhaps tax those who misjudge the yellow by a second or two.
I remember 3 year ago, I went into an adjacent city to mine for breakfast at McDonalds. I was going slow because I didn’t have to work that day, when out of nowhere, a policeman pulls me over. Now I know that this city has a 35 mph speed limit, so I was pretty sure I was at the max doing 40. He said I was doing 50 and that he got me while I was on the bridge. Below the bridge the speed limite was 60.
So I’m pretty sure he didn’t get me and instead got someone passing by, but what could I do!!! Fumming I was!!!
Man, that sucks. With radar it is very possible that they can grab another car, and even with laser I’m sure it can be possible if the cop believes he was pointing at your car, but he actually grabbed another car instead.
It sucks when they do this…. Montreal police used to piss me off just seeing them. I believe they have been in front of the European Court of Human Rights 4 times now so not the most trusty men and women in uniform!
Really? What was it all about? I’m not surprised… the bigger the city, the bigger the ego-trip of (some) police. Perhaps power doesn’t corrupt everyone, but it sure corrupts some.
Here is a link with some info on one of the incidents…..
http://www.hour.ca/news/news.aspx?iIDArticle=7652
If they were arresting peaceful protesters, then that’s not cool at all…
I love this rant! This is one of my all-time sore spots! If they were really interested in safety, then they would drive up and down the highways instead of hiding behind bushes. Whenever people see a cop car, they slow down (even if they aren’t speeding) – so to ensure safety, they should make themselves seen and not hide. However, if they just want to bait someone to break the law and then write them a juicy ticket, hiding is the best choice.
Then if you point out something like this (or the fact that more serious laws are being broken right in front of them), they lose it because you aren’t just quietly bowing down to them!
I hear you, Khaleef. It’s clear that the revenue-generating incentive is stronger than the safety incentive. That’s why they like to hide at the end of large straight bridges and such where there is no reason to stick to 30mph, but you don’t see them in areas where safety is more important.