saw this in an article today so take note....

"This week the California Highway Patrol is taking some action. Today, the Speed Team will be on a well-known East Bay drag strip, Highway 4, to cite speeders and issue tickets. On Thursday, they will be on Interstate 280, just south of San Francisco, and Sunday morning they will patrol I-580 near San Leandro. The idea is zero tolerance, meaning that speeders will, in theory, get tickets if they are even going 1 mph over the limit."

here's the whole article for those interested: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...G8SA3F8615.DTL

 

Cool, a dragstrip on HW4. I'll have to check it out

 

taxation without representation. I say the people unite, have a tea party and fire the CHP. 1mph over the limit is just stupid. There are cars/drivers which are unsafe at the limit and there are cars/drivers which are safe at 10 above.

 

I suppose it never occured to you that there's also the added elements of the ability of the cars and drivers around you. New drivers. Old people. Stupid people. Accords, Tercels and seasickness inducing Mustangs. Lower speeds means more time for everyone to react.


jason

 

If the CHP was disbanded and the money was given to CalTrans to keep the roads in good condition, then the speed limit could be safely raised (or removed on certain stretches) and this wouldn't be an issue.

 

lol yeah right, this is america, if they can keep getting money for free then they will. It's just a hussle. It's like the lottery, no matter what, the government wins everytime 35%.

 

problem is that the CHP is techinically the CA STATE police...

they handle the UNincomporated areas of cities... or some cities like san lorenzo, which has no citiy police, they contract CHP as their only law enforcement agency...

what's needed are some common sense laws... and police that understand them.

 

That must be the most self-serving piece of crap article I have ever read. Miss goody-two-shoes C.W. Nevius wants everyone to be doing the speed limit like he does, notwithstanding the fact that 99% of the drivers on the road have determined with their right foot that the limits are ridiculous. Even the CHP understands this and most of the time will not stop you unless you are well above posted limits. He spouts statistics like thay are gospel truth but does not mention that most freeway accidents occur when some idiot changes lanes without checking to see if someone else is occupying the same spot and without checking the speed of vehicles coming up behind them. Check this out - next time you drive, look at the skid marks on the road and the center dividers. Accidents will still occur even if we are all walking on the freeway. 99.99999% of drivers make it home every day, in spite of the 'nighmare speed terrorists' that constantly harrass them from point A to point B. Instead of pushing better driver education and road manners, fools like this would always push at the most visible target, even if that is not the problem. Sorry for the rant, but I just hate reporters that seem to think that they know it all just because they are paid to write meaningless articles for the easily-entertained.

 

It scares me to think people like the author of that article are allowed to make decisions much less 'advise' others on any sort of topic. That is such crap. It's always the speeders. What about the people that flat out do NOT know how to drive yet are licensed? What about the people I get behind every day that never get to the speed limit and inspire Joe Commuter to do something stupid to get around them? What about those UN-licensed illegal aliens that the road blocks have stopped for (remember, it was becoming "bothersome" for them)? Stupid and inept are dangerous at any speed.

I think it would be neat if the police actually watched people to see if they were driving OK like they do in other countries.

-Jacob

 

I love the way people use data incorrectly without taking the simplest things into consideration.
Actually, no it isn't a coincidence.
Last time I checked, the driver population of the entire US was increasing by more than 1000 people in a single year. A lot more. So the death rate, whatever that means (passengers included, pedestrians, bicyclists?) has actually gone down.
So we might as well say if more people are speeding, the fatality rate decreases, which would be just as stupid logic.

The Speed Team has LIDAR now BTW.

 

That article pissed me off. After reading it I sent the author a not so nice...but also very rational email. I doubt he'll read it let alone think about it.

I am so sick of these biased stats. And biased opinions. You are gonna tell me that the increase in vehicle deaths is based purely on their being more speeders? I doubt it. Yes it has something to do with it but how about some of these.

1. More SUV's. Higher height, higher weight, prone to roll vehicles.
2. more cell phone users.
3. too many cars on roads designed to meet vehicle number 30 years old.
4. Less people doing courteous driving, blinkers, moving when flashed. Watching the cars around them to be aware of surrounding. This has many sub parts to it. People in general consider driving more a right than a responsibility and expect others to look out for them. Ego driven. etc. etc.
5. driving tests are too easy. driving classes are not offered as much and are generally lacking. too many people are being given passing grades with having never merged onto freeway traffic or off it. Never having parked. Etc.
6. Driving tests allow translators, unmonitored translators. So we have minorities with no grasp of english being given answers by people they know that are there with them "translating". Call me racist, but being aware of american driving trends, signs, laws is pretty important.


That's just off the top of my head.

 

So I had to check.
Between 2002 and 2003 there were over a million new drivers and the number of deaths was actually *lower* in the US.
Even if you include Puerto Rico, which has some of the worst roads and intersections in the world, the numbers were less.

2002 - 42,815 deaths in US
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/ohim/hs02/fi20.htm
194,295,633 - licensed drivers
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/ohim/hs02/dl22.htm

2003 - 42,643 deaths in US
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/ohim/hs03/htm/dlchrt.htm
196,165,667 - licensed drivers
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/ohim/hs03/htm/dl22.htm

Seatbelt use has increased, however, fatalities have not significantly decreased.
http://www.dot.gov/affairs/nhtsa4604.htm

 

I think it's pretty sad that given a few minutes, someone with enough interest can prove some "journalist" wrong. I mean - you basically just proved her worthless. The only problem is that, her article was read by tons of people while this, which is way more profound, is only a few interested people on a website. Ironic.

-Jacob

 

I sent some reader feedback to the author.

 

I heard that speedometers are sent from the factory with +/- 3 mph accuracy. I''m not sure how accurate radar guns are. But, if that +/- is true, then I doubt they'll be pulling people over for less than that.