Six-State Trooper Project Targets Move Over/Slow Down Law

[KLB]

It isn't revenue generation. If you have never been sitting on the side of the highway and had a vehicle rock your car with turbulence because they were hauling ass and trying to get as close as possible, you have no idea. And it isn't just cops that it is done to, DOT workers and tow truck drivers get it too.

Do you think that many people are going to learn anything from this? Most people will have no clue that the swarm of police cars is there for this purpose rather than any of the other reasons they do these things. All they will see is a bunch of people pulled over.

Are these going to be quick pull over the car, hand them a ticket, and get onto the next one? Or is it going to be a series of fishing expeditions?

With the abuses of civil forfeiture by our governments, I question any of these exercises as being anything more than revenue generation.

 

[drillsgt]

Do you think that many people are going to learn anything from this? Most people will have no clue that the swarm of police cars is there for this purpose rather than any of the other reasons they do these things. All they will see is a bunch of people pulled over.

Are these going to be quick pull over the car, hand them a ticket, and get onto the next one? Or is it going to be a series of fishing expeditions?

With the abuses of civil forfeiture by our governments, I question any of these exercises as being anything more than revenue generation.

Exactly, I was going to post something similar, they could get more mileage out of some sort of public awareness/reminder campaign than this. Even among those they stop the effect will probably last about ten minutes lol. I'm on the road a lot and most of the time I see people doing the right thing anyway.

 

[bwframe]

Ah tailgaters are easy, I just keep slowing down and moving to the right of the pavement without leaving it. They either go around or back off.

Thank you for getting out of the way!

So many folks today are totally obvious to the fact that they are sharing the road with others.

Some live in their own little world (or their own little phone,) without any concern for others who may not care for being delayed by distracted drivers.

 

[gregr]

I for one am a big fan how how the police department’s pick and choose which laws they actually want to enforce.......

/s

Yup. Never enforce the window tinting being TOO DARK. Never enforce vehicles parked facing wrong direction on wrong side of the street. Never enforce vehicles parked on streets so narrow that street parking is ILLEGAL. Never enforce vehicles blocking the far left lane on the interstate. The list is never-ending. ENFORCE the law, ALL laws.

 

[two70]

It isn't revenue generation. If you have never been sitting on the side of the highway and had a vehicle rock your car with turbulence because they were hauling ass and trying to get as close as possible, you have no idea. And it isn't just cops that it is done to, DOT workers and tow truck drivers get it too.

I've lost count of the times I've been traveling on I-69 south of Indy with virtually no one around and people still refuse to move over for stalled vehicles.

I hope the troopers doing this are going to have crash trucks behind them, driving home on 465 yesterday some idiot passed traffic at speed on the left shoulder.

 

[Ingomike]

Heck, I was on I465 during rush hour for the first time in a while. Running 70 in a 55.

a) I am not going any faster.
b) tailgating me will gain you road trash to grille when I straddle it
c) lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine. If you want to merge left/right, signal (that's how the rest of us know) and look for a gap.

I've gotten to the point where I understand many folks are simply oblivious on a good day and assholes on all others. No matter how fast I go, it is too slow. No matter how slow, it is too fast. Any lane is the wrong lane. So.... I just set my cruise at MY comfortable speed, use the middle lane as the thru lane, and drive. If it doesn't suit you, not my circus, not my monkeys.

If you are impeding traffic in any left lane, no matter your speed, you are violating the move over law.

 

[Ingomike]

Yup. Never enforce the window tinting being TOO DARK. Never enforce vehicles parked facing wrong direction on wrong side of the street. Never enforce vehicles parked on streets so narrow that street parking is ILLEGAL. Never enforce vehicles blocking the far left lane on the interstate. The list is never-ending. ENFORCE the law, ALL laws.

Bumper height. Proper headlights. All used to be enforced...

 

[BehindBlueI's]

I for one am a big fan how how the police department’s pick and choose which laws they actually want to enforce.......

/s

That's by design and inherent in our system of checks and balances.

That said, limited resources and a nearly unlimited demand means priorities must be set. Folks say they want efficiency in government, but they don't mean it. What they actually want is effectiveness in government. You're getting more and more efficiency as fewer officers do more. Are you getting the effectiveness? Well, I guess that's up to you to decide.

 

[Tactically Fat]

The Libertarian in me doesn't want the police force to be engaged in ANY kind of revenue generation - be it tickets or via confiscation.

If the goal is law enforcement, then saturation with marked vehicles and numerous written warnings is the name of the game.

Signed,

a dude who never wuz a LEO due to myriad reasons.

 

[rooster]

That's by design and inherent in our system of checks and balances.

That said, limited resources and a nearly unlimited demand means priorities must be set. Folks say they want efficiency in government, but they don't mean it. What they actually want is effectiveness in government. You're getting more and more efficiency as fewer officers do more. Are you getting the effectiveness? Well, I guess that's up to you to decide.

If I’m (and everyone else) honest I want the limited law enforcement power to go towards doing Things that help me personally because I’m a typical selfish American. Let’s start with 2 cops sitting at Harding st exit And waving over every tri ax they see to write them an unsecured load ticket. I got a pretty good guess those 2 would generate more than enough to pay for their day.

those trucks cause tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage each year because drivers can’t be bothered to follow the law and roll their tarps down.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

If I’m (and everyone else) honest I want the limited law enforcement power to go towards doing Things that help me personally because I’m a typical selfish American. Let’s start with 2 cops sitting at Harding st exit And waving over every tri ax they see to write them an unsecured load ticket. I got a pretty good guess those 2 would generate more than enough to pay for their day.

those trucks cause tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage each year because drivers can’t be bothered to follow the law and roll their tarps down.

Two officers would be 1/9th of the patrol manpower for that particular district on most days. Money from fines doesn't come back to the PD and it doesn't create new officers. Finding qualified candidates is something of a challenge at the moment, since cops are bad guys and not a lot of people want a job you can get arrested for doing correctly and/or be killed doing it correctly or incorrectly. Maybe ISP has time for that sort of thing.

You know how people say "Don't you have anything better to do?" when they get pulled over? The answer is no, or I'd be doing it. Now they are doing it.

 

[Hatin Since 87]

You know how people say "Don't you have anything better to do?" when they get pulled over? The answer is no, or I'd be doing it. Now they are doing it.

“Sure I do, but Hatin since 87 hasn’t replied to my post yet”


Really, I think this is a good thing. I don’t see this as a revenue move. Seatbelt checkpoints, speed traps, etc... ya that’s revenue netting... but this is something that I see people ignore quite a bit... especially with tow trucks and people changing tires.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

“Sure I do, but Hatin since 87 hasn’t replied to my post yet”


Really, I think this is a good thing. I don’t see this as a revenue move. Seatbelt checkpoints, speed traps, etc... ya that’s revenue netting... but this is something that I see people ignore quite a bit... especially with tow trucks and people changing tires.

Seat belt tickets used to be a net loss when tickets were still on paper. I don't know about now with electronic tickets and reduced court staff/admin cost. Remember the state gets most of the money written for state laws, and the courts take a chunk. The city/county gets very little.

 

[Hatin Since 87]

Seat belt tickets used to be a net loss when tickets were still on paper. I don't know about now with electronic tickets and reduced court staff/admin cost. Remember the state gets most of the money written for state laws, and the courts take a chunk. The city/county gets very little.

I always wondered why they would have all those bodies at a seatbelt checkpoint for a measly $25 ticket. I just assumed they wrote enough doing so that it was a revenue trap... we don’t usually think of all the behind the scenes costs

 

[gregr]

If I’m (and everyone else) honest I want the limited law enforcement power to go towards doing Things that help me personally because I’m a typical selfish American. Let’s start with 2 cops sitting at Harding st exit And waving over every tri ax they see to write them an unsecured load ticket. I got a pretty good guess those 2 would generate more than enough to pay for their day.

those trucks cause tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage each year because drivers can’t be bothered to follow the law and roll their tarps down.

Thank you! That load of gravel is SUPPOSED to be COVERED! I have gravel damage all OVER the hood of my Tacoma, and of course, it`s on ME to pay to have it repaired. The state OUGHT to have to fix it for failure to enforce the law!

 

[gregr]

“Sure I do, but Hatin since 87 hasn’t replied to my post yet”


Really, I think this is a good thing. I don’t see this as a revenue move. Seatbelt checkpoints, speed traps, etc... ya that’s revenue netting... but this is something that I see people ignore quite a bit... especially with tow trucks and people changing tires.

I don`t care WHAT the courts have said, check points ARE a violation of the Fifth Amendment.

 

[Ingomike]

I always wondered why they would have all those bodies at a seatbelt checkpoint for a measly $25 ticket. I just assumed they wrote enough doing so that it was a revenue trap... we don’t usually think of all the behind the scenes costs

My understanding was that was money politicians put out for special enforcement, where "click it or ticket" was funded specifically to pay for OT for this. I figured the money for this was similar...

To those in the know is this incorrect?

 

[rooster]

Two officers would be 1/9th of the patrol manpower for that particular district on most days. Money from fines doesn't come back to the PD and it doesn't create new officers. Finding qualified candidates is something of a challenge at the moment, since cops are bad guys and not a lot of people want a job you can get arrested for doing correctly and/or be killed doing it correctly or incorrectly. Maybe ISP has time for that sort of thing.

You know how people say "Don't you have anything better to do?" when they get pulled over? The answer is no, or I'd be doing it. Now they are doing it.

I appreciate your perspective. Any troopers on here I can B**ch to? I don’t care if Lmao .

truthfully I know IMPD is tied up most of the time and traffic enforcement is far from a priority. That’s fine by me TBH. Do your thing.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

I always wondered why they would have all those bodies at a seatbelt checkpoint for a measly $25 ticket. I just assumed they wrote enough doing so that it was a revenue trap... we don’t usually think of all the behind the scenes costs

I know the common assumption is traffic enforcement is just revenue collection, but the goal actually is traffic crash/fatality reduction most of the time. Seatbelt enforcement, DUI enforcement, and a program that puts officers at the highest fatality crash intersections is funded from NHTSA grants. I'm not sure if we still have the last one or not, it's been a long time since I worked any sort of traffic grant (or wrote tickets). I used to work DUI enforcement and high fatality intersections, though I wouldn't work seatbelt grants. I think the only time I've written seatbelt tickets was as a compromise between no ticket and a more severe moving violation. I'm sure you could count my career totals on your fingers without starting over.

 

[KLB]

I know the common assumption is traffic enforcement is just revenue collection, but the goal actually is traffic crash/fatality reduction most of the time. Seatbelt enforcement, DUI enforcement, and a program that puts officers at the highest fatality crash intersections is funded from NHTSA grants. I'm not sure if we still have the last one or not, it's been a long time since I worked any sort of traffic grant (or wrote tickets). I used to work DUI enforcement and high fatality intersections, though I wouldn't work seatbelt grants. I think the only time I've written seatbelt tickets was as a compromise between no ticket and a more severe moving violation. I'm sure you could count my career totals on your fingers without starting over.

I think the most common use of traffic stops is fishing expeditions, looking for drugs or something else. The drug war and civil forfeiture are the biggest culprits from my point of view.

Plus as stated up thread, the best deterrent is visibility, ie cars seen on the road. Where police cars used to loudly scream what they were, most today try hard to hide it. More and more police cars have gone the stealth route. Cars get painted in normal colors, lights are either really low profile or are hidden totally, more unmarked cars, and non-standard vehicles are used, like a pickup truck. They hide or drive around with their radar on trying to catch people going the other way.

Things may be different in the large cities, but get out of them and this is what I see. ISP and county Sheriffs especially.