Re: OT - CHPs cracking down in South Bay | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Tom Reynolds (kjtar![]() |
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Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2007 17:02:06 -0800 (PST) |
No secret handshake this time, huh Steve? Too bad, maybe the radar detector wasn't on? Tom Tulsa ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Jenkins" <steve [at] stevejenkins.com> To: "Tom Reynolds" <kjtar [at] cox.net> Cc: "'The FerrariList'" <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com> Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 10:31 AM Subject: Re: [Ferrari] OT - CHPs cracking down in South Bay > The WSP (Washington State Patrol) is cracking down hard up here lately, too. > Got an 80 in a 60 ticket on Hwy 18 in the TR yesterday.... Good thing they > didn't clock me in the F40 a couple hours earlier. :) > > SteveJ > > -----Original Message----- > From: Dennis Liu [mailto:bigheaddennis [at] gmail.com] > Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 8:26 AM > To: Steve Jenkins > Cc: The FerrariList > Subject: [Ferrari] OT - CHPs cracking down in South Bay > > > For all of our friends driving in the SF area... > > Vty, > > --Dennis > E38, Boston > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- > ---- > Posted on Fri, Feb. 09, 2007 > > LEAD FOOTERS, BEWARE -- HIGHWAY PATROL IS CRACKING DOWN ON SOUTH BAY > SPEEDERS > HIGHWAY PATROL IS CRACKING DOWN ON SOUTH BAY LEAD FOOTERS > By Gary Richards > Mercury News > > The California Highway Patrol is cracking down on speeders at a pace never > seen before in the South Bay, issuing nearly 1,400 tickets last month. At > that rate, the CHP would quadruple the number of tickets issued last year. > > A newly created five-trooper team is swarming a stretch of road every > weekday, sometimes nabbing speeders twice on the same trip, and this isn't > just some temporary tactic. > > The goal is to make the South Bay an area where flying down a freeway at 80 > to 90 mph is not tolerated. Despite severe staffing shortages, CHP > commanders in San Jose are determined to change a disturbing fact: Speeding > is the main cause of two out of three highway deaths in the state. > > ``What we have out there is in essence a free-for-all,'' Lt. Spencer Boyce, > one of the CHP bosses behind the change in strategy, said. ``People figure > if the speed limit is 65, then they can do 85. The reality is that speed > kills. It's that simple, and we want to change that.'' > > The early returns are impressive. The new unit issued 1,744 tickets in > January -- 1,369 for speeding with the remainder mainly going to solo > drivers cheating in the carpool lane or not wearing seat belts. The group is > on pace to issue more than 16,000 speeding tickets this year. Last year, the > entire San Jose division gave out 4,155 tickets for excessive speed. > > Tuesday, Lisa Basili was one of the unlucky ones. Officer Jason Morton > clocked her at 83 mph on southbound Interstate 680 near Capitol Avenue. > > ``God, don't write me a ticket,'' pleaded Basili, who was returning to > college in Monterey in her 1994 Buick with 125,000 miles on it. ``I'm sorry. > I won't do it again. Just give me a warning. I'm driving a Buick. Please.'' > > No mercy, for her or anyone else, on this day. > > Morton and four others no longer are assigned to patrol a particular highway > by themselves. Instead, they are teamed up to saturate one South Bay freeway > or expressway each weekday as part of the new crew, headed by Sgt. Bob > Buckles. > > They sometimes work together, one officer radioing another farther down the > highway with four on motorcycles and one in a patrol car. Other times they > stay on the same highway, but go after scofflaws separately. Some motorists > see a trooper on the shoulder busy writing a ticket and zoom off, thinking > the officer is too busy and they'll never see another for miles, a > reasonable assumption in the past. > > Surprise. ``We've given a person a ticket and three minutes later they are > stopped again,'' officer Lance Hedrick said. ``They don't think there's > going to be more than one of us out here. Certainly not five of us.'' > > Most crackdowns in the past have needed special funding or overtime pay. > When that money ran out, enforcement often eased or stopped. > > But not this crackdown. Officers' main duty is looking for speeders. No > accidents to worry about, road rage incidents to deal with or other duties > that often tie up a traffic officer. > > Each day Sgt. Buckles picks a road to target. Highway 101 on Monday, > Interstate 680 on Tuesday. Highway 85 on Wednesday. A different road today. > Sometimes in the morning, sometimes late afternoon. Keep 'em guessing. > > ``It is a target rich environment,'' said Lt. Boyce. ``It's not like we have > to wait 30 minutes to get somebody speeding.'' > > Try maybe three seconds. Tuesday around lunchtime, Morton pulled his black > and white cruiser into the median on I-680 before Landess Avenue and tracked > northbound traffic with his Lidar unit, which shoots a narrow laser beam at > its target and can accurately pick out a speeder more than a half mile away. > > ``This won't be long,'' he told the Mercury News reporter. > > Within four seconds, he jumped back in, hitting the accelerator hard to > catch up to a gray Honda Accord flying by at 80 mph. It was Stacey Nixon's > unlucky day. > > The 37-year-old San Jose woman grumbled about her fate. > > ``I think this is very unfair,'' she said, her tiny pooch Sammy wagging his > tail in the back seat. ``There are so many other terrible things they can > get you for. I don't think speeding is that big a problem. People go a lot > faster.'' > > Oh my, do they. Up next, Mike Nguyen, 38, of San Jose who was late for work > at a Pleasanton restaurant. Speed: 86 mph. > > Want faster? Try Nicole Young of San Jose -- 90 mph near Jacklin Road. > That's a minimum fine of $350. > > ``People get hurt when they drive too fast,'' she said with a sigh. ``Well, > 90 is pretty fast. I don't think I was driving unsafely, but it's a healthy > reminder. I'm guilty.'' > > Rhianna Vicini, 84 mph. Sung So, 80 mph. The five cops wrote 116 tickets, > the highest number of any day so far in the new crackdown. > > Allen Hauptman of San Jose was tickled to see speeders and carpool cheaters > being ticketed on San Tomas Expressway recently. > > ``What pleases me the most is that the enforcement effort isn't just a one > or two patrol-person effort,'' he wrote in an e-mail. ``Nope. These > scofflaws are being pounced upon by a team of four to six motorcycle > officers.'' > > Ditto, said Pamela Yanne of Saratoga after the CHP flooded Highway 85 > between Almaden Expressway and Union Avenue two weeks ago. > > The CHP crew, she said, made drivers behave better, and the commute was ``a > welcome sight to the usual stop-and-go, watching cheaters dart in and out of > the carpool lane and speeders weaving through traffic.'' > > For years, motorists have lamented the absence of heavy patrols on state > highways and expressways, for good reasons. The CHP's total of 66 patrol > officers in its San Jose branch is down from 85 three years ago and from 119 > in 1969. Factor in those assigned for special duties from homeland security > to organized crime units, and there are 1,000 fewer cops cruising state > freeways than in 1970. > > Ten new cadets may head to the South Bay later this year, but local > commanders said they can't wait for them. > > ``We need to be proactive,'' Boyce said. ``We can't just react to what is > going on.'' > > The San Jose division is the first to employ the special unit. Don't be > surprised if more follow suit, said CHP spokesman Mike Wright. > > ``You give an officer no beat accountability and tell them to go after > speeders,'' Wright said, ``and it's like putting them in a candy store.'' > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- > ---- > What is your reaction to the crackdown on speeding? Contact Gary Richards at > mrroadshow [at] mercury news.com or (408) 920-5335. > > > _________________________________________________________________ > To unsubscribe or modify your subscription options, please visit: > http://lists.ferrarilist.com/mailman/options/ferrari/steve%40stevejenkins.co > m > > Sponsored by BidNip.com eBay Auction Sniper > > _________________________________________________________________ > To unsubscribe or modify your subscription options, please visit: > http://lists.ferrarilist.com/mailman/options/ferrari/kjtar%40cox.net > > Sponsored by BidNip.com eBay Auction Sniper > > > -- > Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.1.394 / Virus Database: 268.16.0/610 - Release Date: 12/30/06 >
- Re: OT - CHPs cracking down in South Bay, (continued)
- Re: OT - CHPs cracking down in South Bay Ken Rentiers, February 9 2007
- Re: OT - CHPs cracking down in South Bay Fellippe Galletta, February 9 2007
- Re: OT - CHPs cracking down in South Bay Steve Jenkins, February 9 2007
- Re: OT - CHPs cracking down in South Bay Steve Jenkins, February 9 2007
- Message not available
- Fwd: OT - CHPs cracking down in South Bay red5hilser, February 9 2007
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