From: alan@unisql.UUCP (Alan Weiss)
Newsgroups: austin.general,tx.general
Subject: Re: Police Priorities (was: speeding ticket responses)
Date: 29 Jul 92 22:14:45 GMT
Reply-To: alan@unisql.UUCP (Alan Weiss)
Followup-To: austin.general
Organization: UniSQL, Inc., Austin, Texas, USA

In article <2138@devnull.mpd.tandem.com> spsmith@gwen.Berkeley.EDU (Steven P. Smith) writes:
>In article <1992Jul28.215146.5276@cactus.org>, rdd@cactus.org (Robert
>Dorsett) writes:
>> 
>> What really distinguishes Austin from other cities is how irresponsible a 
>> lot of the high-speed traffic is (e.g., "wolf-packs" tail-gating one another
>> at 65 or 70 mph).  I mean, I visited LA a couple of years ago and was
>> *astonished* by how much leeway drivers gave to each other; it was a 
>> very pleasant environment to drive in, comparatively.  I still don't
>> completely understand the bitching about LA traffic.
>> 

This is hysterical!  L.A. drivers (and I used to drive an hour and
a half MINIMUM EACH WAY to and from work through the heart of
West L.A. I-5/I-405 madness) are brutal.  Piss 'em off, and you
might get a bullet in your side door.  If you're lucky.  Cut-off city.

On the other hand, they don't tend to speed, because:

	a.)  With a 23 hour/day "Rush Hour", going 7 miles an
	     hour in stop-and-go traffic means you don't get much
	     chance *to* speed

			and

	b.)  The California Highway Patrol makes the KGB and Gestapo
	     look like wussies.  They really LOVE to nail you.  Rumor
	     has it that this was in a fact a PRIME motivator for me
	     leaving The Golden (Brown Smog) State -- my traffic record
	     was catching up with State Farm.


>Perhaps  Los Angeles drivers  speed because they  have excellent
>freeways, and  relatively few police officers available   for or
>assigned to traffic duty.  (Please feel free  to speculate as to
>their   alternative activities...) 

NO.  And NO.  The freeways have all been widened as much as possible
to add a fifth and sometimes sixth lane (PER SIDE), and are so narrow
I can hear the clown's radio next to me.  And he's wearing headphones.
Catching "speeders" is a prime source of Revenue Enhancement, and cops
get reamed if they don't bring in Their Fair Share (tm).  L.A. is a
driving nightmare -- and I considered myself an expert.  The really
good drivers find every backroute they can, usually through the canyons.
If you hook up with this kind of convoy, you'll be going 65 down a
canyon in a pack.  One screw up, and they get to scrape you off
the sandstone walls.  Or out of some guy's swimming pool.  The good news
is that your eleveated heart rate tends to burn off a lot more calories ...


>So, the  next time you  see those bright colored lights flashing
>in the  rearview, I'd take  a moment   to  contemplate a  simple
>question.  When was the last time  you saw the APD cruising down
>your residential street?
>
>Steven P. Smith
>spsmith@mpd.tandem.com

Good point about opportunity costs.  What Steve means, I guess, is
this:  is catching a person doing 65 MPH on MoPac the best use
of the cop's time?  Only if your motivation is getting Their Fair Share (tm).

On the other hand, I just got busted on 620 doing [speed deleted to
protect the innocent], and the cop was very, very polite.  I made sure
that I was, too, and even though its going to cost me my right you-know-what,
at least he didn't try to give me a moral lecture.


 Alan R. Weiss                  #include <std_disclaimer.h>
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