On my walk this morning, I had two experiences that reflect each other.
First, I was talking to two of my BP friends (about this blog, and particularly about the last post), and one of them suggested we need speed traps. I told him I don't think we do, and that what we really need is conspicuous enforcement, or just patrolling. My friend was thinking about attracting drivers' attention by nailing them with a ticket for speeding, and how they'd think about that next time they're in our area. My thought was that if our cruisers are visible, then drivers are already thinking about the rules, and if we do no more than stop them for a little safety chat, we will have gotten their attention sufficiently (and wasted more of their time than they intended to invest driving through BP).
Second, I turned from Griffing onto 119th, on the final way home, and when I reached about 5th, I saw one of our cruisers on 119th heading west, and stopped at 6th. The turn signal was not on, so I imagined maybe the officer was waiting for a break to cross 6th. As I got to 6th, the cruiser turned onto 6th, going south. By the time I could see where the cruiser went, I saw it tucked onto the swale off the right side of the road, maybe at about 117th or 116th. This was very clearly a speed trap.
So, here's the problem. Speed traps are intended to fool people into doing what they're not supposed to do, then punish them for doing it. At the very best, the goal is either to raise money from writing tickets, or give the driver such a horribly memorable experience that s/he will either obey the rules in the future, or drive somewhere else. But in the meantime, speed traps seduce, or enable, people to do exactly what we don't want them to do. But if we don't want them to do it, then we should think of something preventative, and not just impose a consequence after they've already done this thing we don't want them to do.
From the driver's perspective, the best version of the bad news is that they get punished (hundreds of dollars in fines for maybe only going 36 mph on a 30 mph street, points, increased insurance premium). The worst version of the bad news is that they crash, into another car, a house, a pedestrian, a concrete FPL pole, have lots of damage to their car, maybe get killed, or kill someone else. Because we think we're being clever and mischievous, and popping out of hiding just in time to sting them with a radar gun and a ticket book.
Two days ago, someone on a motorcycle apparently got hit by a car crossing the street. The motorcyclist was reportedly speeding, and the car driver didn't see him or her, or wasn't paying attention. As best I understand, all of this happened in the southbound lane of 6th, right around 121st. A BP cruiser stealthily waiting to pounce at 117th or 116th wasn't going to prevent any of that. Had that cruiser been at that spot on that day, s/he would have missed the whole thing. Is it a lot less work and trouble to sit in a cruiser with a radar gun? Sure it is. But we don't pay half of our budget for officers to take the easy way out of enforcement.
We simply need very visible cruising by marked BP cruisers. It doesn't do good to blame people for doing the wrong thing. We should try to prevent them from doing the wrong thing. And if they need a safety chat, about their speed, or being distracted by their phones, we can add that as a bonus intervention. No charge.
On Friday afternoon, March 4, at about 5:00, I left the house to go south of here. I drove down 6th Avenue in BP. In Griffing Park (the triangle of land with the sculptures and the flags, immediately north of the bridge out of BP), there was a BP cruiser sitting on the far west edge of the park, just along Griffing Boulevard. It wasn't moving. It wasn't even positioned to make of itself an effective speed trap. I was driving, and I couldn't see if anyone was sitting in it.
ReplyDeleteThis was about the beginning of rush hour, on our busiest and most problematic street, where we have the most speeding, write the most tickets, and have the most accidents. And at this moment, on this street, a BP cruiser, with or without occupant, was sitting accomplishing nothing. Nor was our police department making an effort to accomplish anything. Nor did our manager direct our police chief to deploy his officers to accomplish anything. On our "worst" street at one of the worst times of day.
And that's the problem. That cruiser should have been manned, and it should have been in constant motion, up and down 6th Avenue in BP. If everyone got lucky, then no one got hurt. And for as much as we pay the police, we have to depend on luck?