TX Cops Lobby to Ban Man from Exposing Speed Traps (Nanny of the Month, 3-14)

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TX Cops Lobby to Ban Man from Exposing Speed Traps (Nanny of the Month, 3-14)

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Mind your hedges because this month the control freaks are abusing the definition of blight in Connecticut, spying on you (all of you!) as you tool around town in Los Angeles, and barring you from warning drivers about speed traps in Texas. Check out Nanny of the Month for March 2014!

Top dishonors come to us from Frisco, Texas, where ignorance of the law is no excuse, unless you're one of Police Chief John Bruce's officers. In that case, feel free to bust a man for a non-existent offense that, even if were against the law, should call for a ticket, not the whole "cuff 'em and stuff 'em" treatment.

Sure, it may not have been technically "against the law" when officers arrested Ron Martin after they spotted him standing in a center median with a sign warning drivers about officers with itchy ticket-writing fingers lying in wait up the road. Good ol' Chief Bruce can fix all that simply by leaning on his pals in the city council to pass an ordinance that makes what Martin did a fineable offense.

And sure, Chief Bruce has long been irritated by Martin who has volunteered plenty of time giving drivers a friendly heads up, but the chief's actions definitely have everything to do with safety (says so in the ordinance itself!), and absolutely nothing to do with retaliating against Martin or maintaining a strong stream of traffic-ticket revenue.

1 minute, 41 seconds.

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Nanny of the Month is written Ted Balaker (@tedbalaker) and produced by Balaker and Matt Edwards (@MattChrisEd). Edited by Edwards. Opening graphics by Meredith Bragg.

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Comments

[Paul.]

There's a guy who does this on my street in my neighborhood. He's got a big sign in the back of his pickup, which he parks on the street with big letters warning "Speed trap ahead".

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

The entire point of painting police cars black and white is to serve as a deterrent. Motorists see the police cruisers, and are reminded to obey traffic laws. How is what this guy did any different? He was reminding people to slow down.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I'll go ahead and throw in a preemptive FYTW.

[Warren's Strapon]

Well that's just the thing, isn't it? Is the purpose of traffic enforcement to get people to slow down, or to create a chance for cops to write tickets? I guess we know what these assholes think.

[Acosmist]

There used to be a name for a person who would lie in wait on the highways and rob passing travelers.

[John]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw1bHaUk1CM

The masters hung me in the spring of 45.

[Vampire]

But I'm still alive

[tommyboy]

I don't want to be that guy, but I love this song.

"...The bastards hung me in the spring of 25..."

[Art Stone]

Robin Hood?

[Pathogen]

Too late for the dept. of public safety, that has sailed... Find some other way of fleecing those you are obligated to "protect and serve".

[Hyperion]

So, without a steady stream of revenue provided by ticket writing, how can these fine officers afford all the toys they need to play army guy?

Why are you anarchists so against fun?

[John]

Couldn't they just be content with stealing people's cars via asset forfeiture?

I guess that is the problem with stealing; once you start you can never steal enough.

[Hyperion]

once you start you can never steal enough.

That would certainly explain our current federal government.

[John]

Free money is more addictive than crack.

[Kaptious Kristen]

What - they haven't heard of Waze?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I just heard about that the other day. Great for traffic jams.

[Kaptious Kristen]

It's a fantastic app. Wouldn't go on a road trip without it (although most of my trips take me down I-81 in western Virginia & western NC and there aren't that many users along the way. Since the info about cops and weather and traffic is crowdsourced, it's not as reliable in rural areas).

[Paul.]

I'm so downloading this in hopes that it'll hip me to the 150 mile long traffic jam in Western Washington that never has an identifiable cause but I still can't figure out how it doesn't make national news but is a fucking regular occurrence...*deep breath*

[Kaptious Kristen]

I'm sure there are craploads of users in western WA - you should be able to get pretty reliable info out of it. I've had Waze re-route me onto interstate exit & entrance ramps when traffic on the interstate itself was backed up.

[Paul.]

I exaggerate, but not by much. I estimate the traffic jam, bumper to bumper, creeping one...car... length at a time to be from between 80 and maybe 110 miles long. Starts north of Vancouver, WA-- maybe Longview, goes all the way through to South Tacoma around the Tacoma Dome. Then just opens up. No accidents, no disabled vehicles nothing. There's an alternate route I can take (on my trip) which goes up through eastern Washington, then I turn westward at Yakima. Only adds 35 miles to my trip. The problem is, I gotta know long before I get there that this traffic jam is forming up. Otherwise I'm committed.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Just to warn you, though - Waze is a battery suck. I have to keep my phone plugged in when I use it.

[rudedog4]

exactly. I report cop cars on Waze just about every day.

[mad.casual]

What - they haven't heard of Waze?

Don't you have to be driving while on your phone to use Waze?

[Ebriosa]

I once visited a friend in West Virginia. I pulled off a rural highway sort of thing onto a paved road with a 45 limit on it. Go over a hill and halfway down the hill is a 15 mph limit sign. Directly behind that was a hedge with a sort of dirt pull in. Then beyond that was I think a 35 sign before you hit the houses and driveways. The 15 sign was completely obscured until you were going down the hill, where you were picking up speed and had just been told 45 was ok.
It was the most blatant speed trap I had ever seen in my life and possibly also the most dangerous, as you'd have to hit the brake on a hill and the driver behind you wouldn't be able to see until they were also on the hill.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Sounds like Moorefield. You come down a hill and there's always - always - a cop sitting at the edge of town waiting for people to hit that 20mph sign.

[Kaptious Kristen]

(could have been Wardensville, too - it's been a while since I've been out that way)

[Capt. Rimmer]

a cop sitting at the edge of town waiting for people to hit that 20mph sign

You don't even have to cross the sign in Louisiana to get a ticket. Your presence in a vehicle is enough.

[Paul.]

I once visited a friend in West Virginia. I pulled off a rural highway sort of thing onto a paved road with a 45 limit on it. Go over a hill and halfway down the hill is a 15 mph limit sign.

Y'all take care nahw, ya heah?

[rudedog4]

Ridiculous for the cops to think they can stop this. I do this virtually on Waze all the time, and so do over a million other people.

[Vampire]

There's a difference between reckless driving, and driving fast. If one were to own the road, route, etc. it would be desirable to have individuals get to their destinations as quick as possible. Slow road, traffic, fines galore? Someone would choose another road or route to use.

Hell, pedestrians crossing major intersections would probably be all but eliminated by having them pass over or under a road. This would keep traffic flowing, while keeping curbside pick up/ drop off and parking in place.

Roads and highways would be built using the latest in road building innovation, to include crumb rubber and so on. There is no incentive to build and rebuild roads continuously with crappy materials, and construction techniques. The company would go out of business.

Oh no, they will charge ridiculous fees, close roads, and all kinds of other things will happen with evil private roads....yet when Christie and his administration close lanes its all good? When they charge $8 for the Goethals, or $15 for the Veranzano no one else should build their own bridge and route thereby competing, and offering lower fares? Oh no, someone will take all the roads and build crappy roads and look to take all the money while building shitty bridges! Erm......why is it folks are complaining about crumbling infrastructure when the government has a monopoly on roads? I thought government roads were supposed to prevent this stuff from happening????

[LibertarianX]

Over the years I've become more concinced that traffic laws have little to do with safety and more to do with revenue. Local government doesn't want to tax people who would vote them out, so traffic tickets are used.

[mad.casual]

Over the years I've become more concinced that traffic laws have little to do with safety and more to do with revenue.

I may be dating myself, but I can remember a time when the safety of seatbelts was debatable. AFAIK, the statistics haven't changed that much; the odds of them saving any particular life vs. not wearing one was about 50%. It is/was only in aggregate (where you have 50% fewer deaths) that there is a benefit. I can only assume that better designed vehicles have reduced the necessity of seatbelts (better to avoid the accident in the first place) but, of course, there need to be laws to force people to choose heads when flipping a coin.

[Alice Bowie]

Traffic Tickets are fund raisers for the municipality.

What they should do is have the fines go to the state, and not to the municipality. This would encourage public safety enforcement and not fund raising at the cost of other people's insurance and driving record.

[crazydaisy]

Oh man, this is so crazy!
city of las vegas traffic tickets