Don’t Believe the 'Legend'

[snopes]

An e-mail “urban legend” is still circulating in county after two years regarding state troopers issuing tickets “every 10 to 20 minutes … in a speeding ticket rally.” N.J. State Police Lt. Gerald Lewis told the Herald, “There is no truth to it at all.”

http://www.capemaycountyherald.com/a...believe-legend

I remember back when I lived in San Diego County they did something similar to this. They would have days when extra cops from all the outlying cities would all gather in one city so there were about ten times the normal number of officers and have a "zero-tolerance for speeding day" in which everyone who was going 1 mph over the speed limit or more would be ticketed in order to send a strong message to speeders. They would rotate cities throughout the year, and it was always announced on the news the night before which city it would be in. Come to think of it, that's how I got my first speeding ticket.

[moonlight]

Well, they do have special details where their goal is to try and catch speeders or seat belt violations or DUIs. I guess there could have been something similar for a 30 day period. Sometimes they are even funded by the state. It's not completely impossible.

But I would highly doubt the 10-20 mins thing. The deatils are about focusing on certain violations to crack down, and so they aren't distracted by taking beat calls. Unless it was an officer-initiated type of competition.

[Malruhn]

Well, in support of the UL, Alabama just finished up "Operation Take Back the Roads" or something similar. There were troopers assigned to I-65 every three miles - North AND Southbound. There was supposedly zero tolerance to speeding.

[lord_feldon]

If they ever did that in Ohio it would make more sense just to have a portable toll booth and spit tickets out the side of it.

[Ali Infree]

Agreed! Since I just passed through part of Ohio yesterday, averaging 80 and feeling like roadkill half the time!


Ali "need for speed: Infree

[Griffin2020]

Originally Posted by Class Bravo

I remember back when I lived in San Diego County they did something similar to this. They would have days when extra cops from all the outlying cities would all gather in one city so there were about ten times the normal number of officers and have a "zero-tolerance for speeding day" in which everyone who was going 1 mph over the speed limit or more would be ticketed in order to send a strong message to speeders. They would rotate cities throughout the year, and it was always announced on the news the night before which city it would be in. Come to think of it, that's how I got my first speeding ticket.

Since there is a margin of error in the average speedometer, and that margin increases as the speed increases, it would not be feasible to enforce the speed limit to within 1 mph (also, in an analog speedo, it is impossible to read an exact speed).

Cite that proves that speedos are not accurate.

[BoKu]

Originally Posted by Griffin2020

...there is a margin of error in the average speedometer...

I don't know about the law in other parts of the country, but in California at least speedometer error is pretty much your problem. When you operate a vehicle on public roads you are responsible for its peculiarities.

Prudence dictates that if you want to run close to the limit you either develop your own calibration chart, carry GPS, or leave margin commensurate with the expected uncertainty.

Or, you could just drive relatively sanely and keep an out for the authorities. Of all these methods, that's the one I employ most often.

Originally Posted by Griffin2020

Since there is a margin of error in the average speedometer, and that margin increases as the speed increases, it would not be feasible to enforce the speed limit to within 1 mph (also, in an analog speedo, it is impossible to read an exact speed).

I should have tried that one on the officer that gave me my ticket on the zero-tolerance day then...I was 2 mph over the limit.

[robbiev]

Originally Posted by moonlight

Well, they do have special details where their goal is to try and catch speeders or seat belt violations or DUIs. I guess there could have been something similar for a 30 day period. Sometimes they are even funded by the state. It's not completely impossible.

But I would highly doubt the 10-20 mins thing. The deatils are about focusing on certain violations to crack down, and so they aren't distracted by taking beat calls. Unless it was an officer-initiated type of competition.

This particular email went around verbatim, except for the city name, in various places. I saw the exact same wording for about 10 or 12 different cities.

You know, OF COURSE the department is going to say it isn't true, regardless of whether it actually is or not. Not that I believe the e-mail, mind you, but the PD of Anytown, USA certainly wouldn't admit to doing something like this if it were...would they?

It depends on what the goal is. If the goal is to give out a lot of tickets (be it for the revenue or any other purpose), then of course they wouldn't say anything about it. However, if the goal is to get people to drive more slowly then they could very well advertise it. As I said in a previous post, when I lived in San Diego County they would always announce when a crackdown zero-tolerance speeding day was coming.