Fair weather cops

On SR37, on a particular stretch between Bloomington & Martinsville, the
IN State Police is always hard at 'work' ticketing people for speeding. It is a
beautiful, 4 lane highway, with a huge median, without any houses
or buildings of any kind on either side. One can very safely do
80 mph there and cops know that, and hide in the bushes robbing
out of state people (Indiana Univ. students and their parents, mostly).
It really is outrageous, seeing 4 or 5 well fed men on motorcycles and
in cruisers, all paid by the taxpayer, preying on harmless drivers, and
all of them on a 5-mile stretch of road. Dont they have any real work to do?!

The only times when you can be sure there are no cops is when the
weather is bad: rain, fog or snow. That's exactly when cops would
be needed, to ticket tailgaters, LLBs, idiots driving without
lights, and yes, speeders.

When the weather is bad and you need a cop to ticket the asshole
tailgating you or doing 70 mph in the fog or torrential rain,
you cant find him.

Goes to show that cops dont give a **** about traffic safety.

> When the weather is bad and you need a cop to ticket the asshole
> tailgating you or doing 70 mph in the fog or torrential rain,
> you cant find him.

Radar is unreliable in the rain. And, as told to me by a cop, "we don't
like to get wet."

"223rem" > wrote in message news:Bsh_e.371399
>
> Goes to show that cops dont give a **** about traffic safety.

Well, I don't know if I'd say exactly that, but I'm sure that safety is NOT
the prime concern of traffic law enfocement. It is just the easiest sell,
politically. What they're really out there for is regulation and revenue
generation. If safety were the true objective, proper, comprehensive driver
training would be required from the start, with periodic recurrent training
required in order to keep the license valid. This would result in a hugely
reduced accident, injury, and fatality rate, lower medical and insurance
costs, and reduced power and arrogance for many local political hacks Of
course, a true training program, with real content, performance requirments,
and completion standards would mean that a certain percentage of applicants
would fail, and be denied the privilege of driving [proffsl take note] on
the public roadways, because they are incompetent to do so. Anyone who
spends time on the road these days cannot but acknowledge that that
self-same incompetent percentage is, in fact, out there on the road, in all
its glory.

"JohnH" > wrote in message
...
>> When the weather is bad and you need a cop to ticket the asshole
>> tailgating you or doing 70 mph in the fog or torrential rain,
>> you cant find him.
>
> Radar is unreliable in the rain. And, as told to me by a cop, "we don't
> like to get wet."

It's not that it's unreliable, it's just very hard to get a reading back
through all of those rain drops. No person in their right mind likes to get
wet, including cops. Also, by the time you get the ticket back up to the
car you can't read anything on it. If people are dumb enough to be out
driving in bad weather, that doesn't mean the rest of us have to join in.

--
---
jaybird
---
I am not the cause of your problems.
My actions are the result of your actions.
Your life is not my fault.

jaybird wrote:

> If people are dumb enough to be out
> driving in bad weather, that doesn't mean the rest of us have to join in.

Isnt it your job to be on the road rain or shine?

"223rem" > wrote in message
news:Nsk_e.167134$084.158155@attbi_s22...
> jaybird wrote:
>
>> If people are dumb enough to be out driving in bad weather, that doesn't
>> mean the rest of us have to join in.
>
> Isnt it your job to be on the road rain or shine?

Nope. The unofficial term for it is "wet weather patrol". When the weather
is that bad, we'll find spots to wait it out so that we don't become targets
for all of the jackasses who don't know how to drive.

--
---
jaybird
---
I am not the cause of your problems.
My actions are the result of your actions.
Your life is not my fault.

"223rem" > wrote in message
news:Bsh_e.371399$_o.192724@attbi_s71...
> On SR37, on a particular stretch between Bloomington & Martinsville, the
> IN State Police is always hard at 'work' ticketing people for speeding. It
> is a
> beautiful, 4 lane highway, with a huge median, without any houses
> or buildings of any kind on either side. One can very safely do
> 80 mph there and cops know that, and hide in the bushes robbing
> out of state people (Indiana Univ. students and their parents, mostly).
> It really is outrageous, seeing 4 or 5 well fed men on motorcycles and
> in cruisers, all paid by the taxpayer, preying on harmless drivers, and
> all of them on a 5-mile stretch of road. Dont they have any real work to
> do?!
>
> The only times when you can be sure there are no cops is when the
> weather is bad: rain, fog or snow. That's exactly when cops would
> be needed, to ticket tailgaters, LLBs, idiots driving without
> lights, and yes, speeders.
>
> When the weather is bad and you need a cop to ticket the asshole
> tailgating you or doing 70 mph in the fog or torrential rain,
> you cant find him.
>
> Goes to show that cops dont give a **** about traffic safety.

Good news is they run some old ass equipment on that stretch of highway,
because my radar always goes berserk on it... as long as they dont upgrade
to something more sinister...

In article >,
"jaybird" > wrote:

> "223rem" > wrote in message
> news:Nsk_e.167134$084.158155@attbi_s22...
> > jaybird wrote:
> >
> >> If people are dumb enough to be out driving in bad weather, that doesn't
> >> mean the rest of us have to join in.
> >
> > Isnt it your job to be on the road rain or shine?
>
> Nope. The unofficial term for it is "wet weather patrol". When the weather
> is that bad, we'll find spots to wait it out so that we don't become targets
> for all of the jackasses who don't know how to drive.

But you won't actually ticket to improve safety just when it is needed
the most...

--
Alan Baker
Vancouver, British Columbia
"If you raise the ceiling 4 feet, move the fireplace from that wall
to that wall, you'll still only get the full stereophonic effect
if you sit in the bottom of that cupboard."

"Alan Baker" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> "jaybird" > wrote:
>
>> "223rem" > wrote in message
>> news:Nsk_e.167134$084.158155@attbi_s22...
>> > jaybird wrote:
>> >
>> >> If people are dumb enough to be out driving in bad weather, that
>> >> doesn't
>> >> mean the rest of us have to join in.
>> >
>> > Isnt it your job to be on the road rain or shine?
>>
>> Nope. The unofficial term for it is "wet weather patrol". When the
>> weather
>> is that bad, we'll find spots to wait it out so that we don't become
>> targets
>> for all of the jackasses who don't know how to drive.
>
> But you won't actually ticket to improve safety just when it is needed
> the most...

Yeah, if I see something needing a ticket, of course I'll do it. They might
not be able read it when we get done though. )

--
---
jaybird
---
I am not the cause of your problems.
My actions are the result of your actions.
Your life is not my fault.

In article >,
"jaybird" > wrote:

> "Alan Baker" > wrote in message
> ...
> > In article >,
> > "jaybird" > wrote:
> >
> >> "223rem" > wrote in message
> >> news:Nsk_e.167134$084.158155@attbi_s22...
> >> > jaybird wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> If people are dumb enough to be out driving in bad weather, that
> >> >> doesn't
> >> >> mean the rest of us have to join in.
> >> >
> >> > Isnt it your job to be on the road rain or shine?
> >>
> >> Nope. The unofficial term for it is "wet weather patrol". When the
> >> weather
> >> is that bad, we'll find spots to wait it out so that we don't become
> >> targets
> >> for all of the jackasses who don't know how to drive.
> >
> > But you won't actually ticket to improve safety just when it is needed
> > the most...
>
> Yeah, if I see something needing a ticket, of course I'll do it. They might
> not be able read it when we get done though. )

Gee... ...please don't put yourself out.

--
Alan Baker
Vancouver, British Columbia
"If you raise the ceiling 4 feet, move the fireplace from that wall
to that wall, you'll still only get the full stereophonic effect
if you sit in the bottom of that cupboard."