The value of traffic citations--except as a way to generate revenue--has always been suspect to me. Especially speeding tickets, given out just to be giving them.
Speeding is seldom the cause of an accident. In fact there have been several studies that show fast drivers were usually the best drivers. Don't tell the cop who stopped you that. But it's true.
Speeding compounds the damage in a accident if you're in one. And coupled with other stupid acts--weaving in and out of traffic, following too closely, aggressive driving--can kill you. But just tooling down a wide clear highway is seldom, if ever, a hazard.
Yet, there are several highways that don't have a high accident rate but are seemingly set up to trap motorists. Let's say we have a four or six lane highway that should be posted at least 55 MPH minimum but is posted 45 MPH. Here you are on this big beautiful stretch of road and you're supposed to creep at 45. And maybe its connected to a interstate that you've just come off of where you can drive 70. And the interstate is not as wide as the highway you're on. Golden Gate Parkway comes to mind. Come on! When cops have radar traps on these stretches they're just making money, not saving any one's life. And the cops assigned these traps know it and usually hate the duty.
I know that Sheriff Rambosk has taken an active hand in curtailing these stupid practices that only make the public hate cops, and do nothing else. The average citizen doesn't want to get a ticket but will live with it unless they know they've been victimized.
Purposeless citations are not a new phenomenon. They were well established back in the sixties and before. And it always gave me ulcers. I used to check all the tickets that were written and when I came on one that was suspect, call in the officer and tell him what we were looking for: tickets that prevented accidents. Nothing else. It was a hard point to get across.
So, staff began to study the problem and that's how we came up with the Naples PD's first computer.
Tell you about it tomorrow.
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