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It looks like those who sped-up due to the lower gas prices are going to pay for it anyway. As of December 1st I have noticed a marked increase in police presence on the interstates around Columbia. This is a nice change, since the de facto speed limit here has been in the neighborhood of 75mph (15 over what is posted). I'm not eager to drive far below the speed of traffic, so this relieves a serious kink in hypermiling activities. I'm working on my best tank in months! Something about seeing a marked cruiser with a "client" every 5-10 miles makes an impact.

Has anyone else noticed an increase in traffic enforcement? Do you think this has to do with lower fuel prices making it more cost-effective to put officers on the street? Or maybe it's just quota time?

I haven't noticed it where I drive but I would certainly welcome it.

^ My sentiments are the same, Sean. Nothing happening here, but the natives are certainly restless.

I haven't noticed it where I drive but I would certainly welcome it.

+1!

There is an increasing number of traffic cameras going up in the Phoenix area. They take pics of speeders, red light runners, and tailgaters.....Louis

Brick, I'm enjoying it too, I actually had a cop pass me while doing 45 and not bat an eye. (I was climbing a hill, my preferred speeds are 50-55)

To be honest I can't even remember the last time I saw a cop on my commute, let alone one enforcing the law.

About the only time I see one on my commute is in a school zone. It's a 35mph zone in the middle of a 55mph stretch. He likes to sit there, very visible and obvious, and watch. Unfortunately, that's all he does. 45mph drivers and he just watches. :mad:

I have not seen more on the highways but on the back roads. I have been doing my present commute for just over 3 years. In that time I have see maybe 3 or 4 sheriff vehicles a year, all on the commute home. So far this month I have seen about a dozen, 2 on the trip in this morning. Maybe they are getting complaints about aggressive drivers passing stopped school busses. I have never seen this but hear from the neighbors that they have seen it quite regularly. I mostly get tailgated doing the speed limit.

A few were pulled off with customers on the way down I-75 in FL
the other night, but for the most part it really looked like
following distance is a long-dead concept around here. Bah. I got
behind a nice slow lumbering RV-trailer for several miles just
as an excuse to do 50 for a while.
.
_H*

Has anyone else noticed an increase in traffic enforcement? Do you think this has to do with lower fuel prices making it more cost-effective to put officers on the street? Or maybe it's just quota time?

I suspect it is a response to current economic conditions. At a time of decreasing tax revenues due to the economic slowdown, I suspect that more than one municipality have rediscovered that revenue generated via traffic citations can be a growth industry (NYC recently hired 150 additional traffic control officers to enforce traffic laws). I remember during the recession of the late 70’s, some jurisdictions set up speed traps in a massive scale. One officer with a radar gun directed speed violators off a busy highway (usually into a closed truck weigh station or other paved area just off the highway) where a phalanx of officers were busily issuing citations. They would typically set up operations behind a blind curve. I’m sure the operation generated lots of revenue, especially on roads with lots of out of state traffic where the "clients" would be unlikely to return to try and contest the ticket in court.

Saw four today, all with the lights on and ticket book in hand, two were right next to each other.

I'm thinking that right now officers are trying to put in hours and meet "contacts" quotas so that they won't have to work so hard near the actual holidays. In my neck of the woods there has been enough ice that the cops have been busy helping people in ditches rather than clocking speeders.

There is an increasing number of traffic cameras going up in the Phoenix area. They take pics of speeders, red light runners, and tailgaters.....Louis

Cameras for tailgaters? That would be nice. It would also be nice if there were speed cameras set up every single mile of freeway at least in a metro area, though there's too much room for abuse with those. It'll start off with only issuing tickets for going 10mph over, and work its way down to 0.1mph over.

Then again the camera thing kind of sucks. In the case of red light cameras, what if you had a new work commute and ran the same red light everyday? You wouldn't know you were even getting tickets until you got the first one in the mail.

The number of cops in the Northern Kentucky area has multiplied by an order of magnitude in the past year, and they're much better coordinated than ever.

But their target is not road ragers or speeders on the highway, their targets are instead someone who rolls through a right on red, or someone with a tail light out, or someone otherwise perfectly law-abiding.

Alberta instituted an "emergency vehicle" speed limit a couple years back. This says whenever there is an emergency vehicle, (police, fire, ambulance, or tow truck) stopped with the lights flashing, the speed limit in the adjacent lane becomes 60 kph. Having said that about once a month both about 20 miles south of Edmonton and 20 miles north of Calgary (Alberta's busiest 200 miles) the sheriffs and the mounties team up and set up zones. When one of them pulls a car over, that is when the others really pay attention because there is usually 3 or 4 cars pulled over within a km or so. The first one for doing whatever speed he was doing, all the others for not slowing down or moving over for the first stop. Also the fines and the demerit points double for this offence.

kryten

FL has that, and I think SC does too, its a great idea, the police have families to return home to as well.

IIRC, the law in most US states is that you either have to move over one lane for an emergency vehicle or slow to 10mph under the posted limit. I started abiding by that one when they ran news segments about traps just like kryten describes.

Then again the camera thing kind of sucks. In the case of red light cameras, what if you had a new work commute and ran the same red light everyday? You wouldn't know you were even getting tickets until you got the first one in the mail.

What sucks about it? If someone is running a red light every day, they should have been getting a ticket every day. Everyone knows that running a red light is wrong, so why should it make a difference whether that law is enforced or not?

The cameras around here have a brilliant flash when they tag someone. You can't miss it.

Cameras for tailgaters? That would be nice.

I saw a bit about this years ago on the news. Police in Texas had a device which looked like a normal radar or laser gun, but in fact was measuring the distance between two vehicles. This isn't the story I saw, but it gives you an idea: BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3742765.stm)

I wish they'd put photo radar everywhere. We don't need police wasting their time writing tickets for everyone, but everyone speeding should get a ticket.

I suspect it is a response to current economic conditions. At a time of decreasing tax revenues due to the economic slowdown, I suspect that more than one municipality have rediscovered that revenue generated via traffic citations can be a growth industry.

I was thinking this too.

I suspect it is a response to current economic conditions. At a time of decreasing tax revenues due to the economic slowdown, I suspect that more than one municipality have rediscovered that revenue generated via traffic citations can be a growth industry.

Someone should tell The Governator! We're running a $24 BILLION deficit this year!
(that's a LOT of traffic stops)
Larry