I Can't Drive 55

Everyone knows the feeling you get when you look in your rearview mirror and see flashing lights. It means that you screwed up and are going to have to pay upwards of $200 to let the law know you're sorry. But this morning I noticed something (not for the first time) that got me thinking, and it made me angry.

I saw a police officer pulling someone over on the highway, during rush hour...but the officer was in a mini-van. Now I'm sure several people have seen this before...I know I've seen it once or twice. I've also seen officers in all different types of cars, from Camaros to F-150's. Yes, I've seen a cop in a truck pulling someone over. So this raises the question: are the police doing what they can to look out for the safety of everyone, or are they just looking for a more effective way of writing tickets?

Before I go any further, I want to make my opinion clear on this. I don't believe most police officers enjoy writing tickets. From what I know, it involves extra paperwork and effort that can be unnecessary and boring. So I don't think that most individual officers are "out to get" anyone. Now there are those select officers who probably get a kick out of handing out a $200 charge in the form of a small sheet of paper, but those guys are assholes whom I don't want to talk about. All in all, I think most officers are encouraged to pull over people only when they find it absolutely necessary...or if they are told to set up a speed trap. But again, I doubt an officer sets up a speed trap of his/her own choice, but instead is told to do that by the higher-ups in law enforcement.

But pulling people over in undercover cars seems to defeat the purpose. I personally think the idea of a speeding ticket is to make sure drivers are obeying the law and driving carefully. Peope who have no concern for the speed limit are not going to slow down just because that car next to them might be a cop. But if there's a patrol car driving by, the entire road comes to a near-stop. If the speed limit is 55, then traffic is driving 48 mph. The presence of a patrol car is much more effective for getting a large group of people to obey the speed limit. The presence of a Patrol Windstar or F-150 does nothing but slow down the one person unlucky enough to get pulled over. I know this morning I drove 70 mph right past that van, and chuckled and waved as I passed it...all the while getting passed on my left by two cars going well over 80.

So the only places these undercover cars are going to be effective are in areas that are known "speed zones." The two examples I can think of are St. George in St. Louis, and the loop around Seneca Park here in Louisville. The St. George stretch is well known to any South County resident as a place where you don't drive 36 or 37 mph...you drive 33 just to be safe. I remember as a teenager seeing an officer sitting on that stretch of road probably 50% of the time I drove it.

The Seneca Park loop is an entirely different situation, in my opinion. Police patrol this area regularly, both to ensure safety at night and to ensure people drive the speed limit, as there are hundreds of runners and bikers that go through this area on a daily basis. The problem is, this is only about a 1.5 mile loop in a park system that spans probably 20 miles of roads. And people in Louisville only look out for their own asses. They won't slow down to pass a runner or biker in the rest of the park. They'll drive 50 past a runner, while veering into the oncoming traffic lane as they pass, hoping to be able to get back over before the oncoming car hits them. But as soon as they get to this more heavily-trafficed loop, they all slow down. Why? Not to be sure they don't hit a runner. No, they slow down so their ignorant speeding ass doesn't get a ticket by the cop in the undercover VW Beetle.

So all in all I don't really know what the point of this rant was, except I think cops should stick to Police cars when driving around, because everyone is much more cautious when an officer is around. Instead, the next ticket you may get could come from a cop wearing a Hawaiian shirt and driving a 1975 Gremlin. He's out there, you just wait and see.