Speed Limit Enforcement
 

End of the month and cops have to meet their quota. Or do they? I saw four different speed traps today, and passed several patrol cars. I saw one put on his lights after I went by, but he pulled over the car behind me. What luck. I was doing the speed limit when I passed this sheriff:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbGcp8bnQ4g

Coming up to the end of the fiscal year too. Not sure if cops operate on that though.

A buddy of mine is a Baltimore Patrolman...They dont have a quota, but they highly recommend you met a certain number of tickets per month.

My roommate is a cop, no quota. He says that is mostly a myth.

The best man at my wedding is a cop. He says that the quota system is a myth, but if they dont issue a certain number of tickets per person, per shift, per department it gets noted that they are not working at their full potential on their annual reports

They have quotas, they are just unofficial just like you said derf and if you don't meet the unofficial quotas, then you get in trouble. It's all so they can say they don't have quotas, but really have quotas.

It's like any other job, kiddies. How else do they measure "department effectiveness?" The number of hugs received?

Yep, it is a quantifiable and measurable account of how they spend their time

It also provides revenue to meet their budget forecasts.

and justify man hours, vehicle miles, equipment and facilities

I know more then a few cops. I'm told that traffic is the only department that needs to have some tickets. Its their job. But they don't have a quota. Quota or no quota shouldn't matter anyway.

James

They won't ever say they do, they would get reemed by the public if they did, so they just say they don't have one but really have one to meet their performance/budget goals.

My thing is I don't know why people get upset. Quota or no quota. If they catch someone speeding its the speeders fault not a quota.

This was a big topic of conversation at a BBQ I was at a month ago. Friends father pounded a few beers back then started complaining about "Speed traps". I said its not much of a trap since they have signs reminding you of the speed limit before you get to them. The spot he was complaining about has at least 4 signs for the speed limit. They are slowing you down because the that is the end of the highway.

He thinks they put the signs up to trap you. I feel its the other way around. Its just an easy spot to pick off people that are not following the rules. Why wouldn't you set up there?

James

My problem is the bullshit they pull around the engineered speed limits and say its due to pollution.

What do you mean by that? I haven't heard anything on the speed limits being tied to pollution.

James

There was an issue a few years back where the NJ state police had a quota system set up. The cops were caught making up BS tickets to meet their quotas when they couldn't write enough real tickets. The whole thing was exposed when a cop pulled over a news guy who was doing the speed limit, accused the guy of speeding, then was nice and wrote him a ticket for not wearing a seat belt (he was), and something else which he wasn't doing. The guy caught the whole thing on camera and put in on air.

It's done a lot of places, especially on interstates. Most engineered studies show max speed at 70 or 75 and local governments will drop it for BS reasons.

That I do have an issue with. Making up someone to give someone a ticket for is a major problem. Writing legit tickets I don't have an issue with. Hate getting them but...

James

I think the problem with the speed limit is that most are going to go over the speed limit. If you raise it, then people will raise the amount that they feel is safe to go over the speed limit.

There are many days I would like to see higher speed limits. Then while driving truck all day I see many people that can't handle the current speeds so I'm kinda torn.

James

I'm dealing with something similar now. I got a ticket on the last day of the month 2 months ago for failure to inspect (inspection was due last december). However I had with me my military inspection and renewal waiver as well as my ID card and orders placing me out of state. When i showed it to the cop he said that I would have to take it up with the judge, even though the official NJDMV letter gives me an indefinite extension on the inspection.

I read a pretty interesting study a while back that found every driver has a speed they are comfortable driving, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the speed limit. It may vary depending on the car the person is driving, but given a long enough stretch on the highway every driver had a speed they would naturally gravitate toward.

They also found that in areas where the speed limit was raised... gasp... the number of cited speeders decreased. And in areas that have gone bat-shit crazy and removed speed limits all together?... well, everybody didn't start driving 125mph on the way to work, fatal accidents didn't suddenly spike out of control, and society as a whole actually didn't collapse.

Personal responsibility. It's a beautiful thing. And it's a damn shame the big bad babysitter doesn't allow it to run its course more often.

The area I just moved away from had an interesting study. It found that at 40 there were an amazing number of speeders. But, less at 35 or 45. After looking into it further, they have found most vehicles are at an uncomfortable RPM at 40 which makes drivers anxious. So, they increased the limit to 45.

Amost of the speed limits around here have gone up.

I feel more comfortable in my coupe doing 80 on the highway than I do in my pickup truck...infact i rarely drive my pickuptruck over 75 on the highway, i'm usually doing like 65 to 70...Where as in the coupe im doing 75 to 80...