OHP..where are they?

[Keith]

Where are all the troopers and the OKC Police? I have been driving on the interstate quite a bit more lately, and I have seen many drivers with a total lack of respect for the speed limit. I have had them pass me up doing 80-85 MPH, switching lanes left and right just to get ahead of everyone. I never, ever see a cop anywhere around.

It is very evident to me that the speed limit is not enforced much because Oklahoma City motorists are not afraid of getting pulled over. They know that there is very little police presence, and so they will drive as fast as they want.

I can’t remember the last time I saw a vehicle pulled off the side of the road with a trooper pulled in behind them. I guess the troopers are good at working accidents and doing motorist assists, but they are doing a lousy job enforcing the speed limit.

It’s no wonder there are so many accidents on the interstates, because of all the lousy, wreckless, drivers. The majority of the accidents are caused by human error. I wish I had a dollar for everytime I saw someone run a red light…on purpose. Their light will turn red, and 1-3 cars continue to go on through, running the red light. Motorists need to be patient. Do I run red lights? No, because I don’t want to become a statistic, plus, it is against the law.

[Midtowner]

Drive I-35 around the Frontier City area. They usually have cops out there. But I believe those are RAID officers, so that's different.

Frankly, I have no problem with speeders unless they're speeding excessively. I don't usually speed, but sometimes on that wide part of Broadway extension, I might do around 70 just to go with the flow of traffic.

Personally, I'm glad that our police officers are out dealing with real crimes, violent crimes and not speeders. Would you rather live in Edmond where it seems like they have a police care on every corner? Did you know that the minimum ticket is now around $171?? The last time I got a ticket, I was doing 21 over and it was only $120 (that was back in 1996 I think).

[Keith]

Well, speeding is a real crime....last time I checked it was illegal. I am glad that the police are out fighting crime like they are suppose to be doing, however, they have slacked up too much on speeders.

I would love to see a cop on every corner. The crime rate would go down and people would slow down. Of course, that will never happen.

Evidently, they need to raise the price of the tickets for speeding. It seems as if some would learn a lesson if they were to receive an expensive ticket, say like $200-$250. Anybody going 20+ miles over the speed limit should be considered a wreckless driver, an endangerment to other drivers, and should have their license suspended.....that would wake up a few people. If they are going that fast they don't need to be driving. That means if you are in a 70 MPH zone and you are going 90, then you are going way too fast.

If you ever get in the left lane on the interstate, if you aren't going at least 75 MPH, you will get run over.

[Midtowner]

I'm not arguing that it's not real. Perhaps I should redefine -- even the police forces don't believe it's areal crime. It's a tax, nothing more.

Were they truly interested in stopping speeding, they'd set up those roadside radar/cameras to send love-letters to speeders.

They're not interested in stopping speeding, just collecting ticket revenue.

Heck, some small towns fund their city governments almost entirely from speeding tickets (Arcadia is 60-70% funded on speeding tickets).

People don't even largely know what the price of a speeding ticket is until they get one. That's where your logic is flawed as far as increasing the price. Increasing penalties sure has worked well in the war on drugs, hasn't it?

[mranderson]

Going five over except in school zones is fine. In fact, I do it all the time.

The police usually will not pull you for that small an amount above the limit. I DO agree these idiots that drive like they are on a NASCAR track need to be pulled.

But also pull the ones who drive equally slow. They are just as dangerous. As is failure to signal for a lane change, double lane changes, failure to yield to merging traffic, yaking on a cellular phone, watching a DVD, following to close, etc.

[Patrick]

I have a good friend that's an OHP Trooper and he'd really disagree with the statement, "It's a tax, nothing more." I've asked him before if they're in it for the money, and he always tell me no. He said they don't make enough money on tickets to pay for the equipment and force that it takes to enforce traffic laws. He said that should be enough to tell you that their primary purpose in writing tickets is to save lives. He would agree that we need more troopers on the highways, but as with everything, there is a budget shortfall.

I do think people would slow down more if more tickets were written. I was in the car with a friend awhile back and he was issued a ticket for floating a stop sign.....it cost him $250. Not only will he think twice about floating a stop sign, but it's caused me to think twice about it, especially knowing how much the tickets cost. I just don't have the money to pay a $250 ticket right now, so I'm going to be watching my speed and watching stop signs more carefully. My last speeding ticket was about $75, but that was for less than 10 over, and was back in the late 90's. Now that I know what tickets cost now, it's really made me slow down on the interstate.

OHP and Oklahoma City would like to install cameras, but state law won't allow it.

And Keith, I don't think your logic is flawed. If it hits people where they hurt, it will help limit speeding. Problem is, too many people get away with speeding.....again, we just don't enforce the laws enough around here. If we enforced the laws better, raising fines might actually have an impact. Simply put, we need more officers on the street.

[Midtowner]

OHP is one entity. The City of Arcadia Police Department is another. I recall the Oklahoman did an article a few years back discussing how that city uses traffic citations to fund their entire municipal government system. Your friend who's in the OHP may be right. But all that tells me is that maybe OHP needs to use cheaper equipment if Arcadia does so well with such obviously cheaper equipment (That's half in jest).

As far as the ticket price goes, sure, it effects some people. I'm thinking about "average Joe" here. I think I have a fair read on the guy -- he's got a HS education and doesn't really think further ahead than the nose on his face, the next meal, you get the picture.

I agree, those Nascar folks on I-235 should do jail time. Flow of traffic is at least 15 over when I use that road

You still have to question the legitimacy and the effectiveness of a law when something like 1:1000 people speeding at a given time (probably far fewer than that) are actually ticketed.

[Patrick]

I think again, just as with anti-littering laws, the speeding laws aren't enforced properly. They might be more effective if we had enough officers to enforce the law.

You mention how some towns finance their entire city off of tickets. I don't disagree with that entirely. I've heard of a lot of smaller towns doing just that. Supposedly, that's why the speed limit is so low when traveling through the middle of smaller towns, or that's what I've been told anyways.

That brings up a good point though.....cities like the Village and Warr Acres, who have lost a lot of tax revenue by losing Wal-Mart, could make up for some of that lsot revenue by writing more tickets.

Cities also claim that they can't hire more officers to enforce traffic laws because the budgeting isn't there. I've always wondered this........well, wouldn't those new officers be writing tickets and bringing in more money for the city. Seems like the added money gained in writing tickets would offset the cost of hiring new officers. If it doesn't, maybe ticket prices need to be increased.

[mranderson]

Here is how we solve it. Decriminalize prostitution, leave the adult video stores alone to let people who want their product, buy it, and legalize ALL forms of gaming.

That would free "vice" cops to do their job. Stopping crime. Someof those could be on traffic detail.

[Midtowner]

Here is how we solve it. Decriminalize prostitution, leave the adult video stores alone to let people who want their product, buy it, and legalize ALL forms of gaming.

That would free "vice" cops to do their job. Stopping crime. Someof those could be on traffic detail.

Actually, I'm for all of those things

Wouldn't be a proper social-libertarian if I wasn't, now would I?

We could tax it and use the money to support extra administrators for our schools