Topic: Steering You Right: Hiding in plain sight

[Autos_Editor]

Many police forces now have specially painted patrol cars that have police markings on the sides but plain hoods and no visible patrol lights.  They are very effective in catching people who don't expect a police car, says lawyer Jordan Charness.
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[Gardiner Westbound]

A gross misrepresentation contends speed causes great numbers of traffic collisions, injuries and fatalities. If this were the case super highways would be the most dangerous places on earth. They are not. Insufficient regard for road and weather conditions, following too closely, unsafe lane changes and unfit vehicles are the real issues.

Documenting and prosecuting careless and dangerous driving offenses requires genuine priority setting, knowledge and effort but generates a fraction of the revenue of the easy, lucrative speed timing devices.

Speed enforcement bears little relationship to traffic safety. If it did most speed traps would be situated in high accident areas and school zones, but these are not typically where they are encountered. Speed enforcement is primarily stealth taxation, a giant cash cow for local governments.

[dragonflyjack]

 I agree with Gardiner Westbound..Most of the policing done today seems to be revenue oriented, rather than preventive of accidents. You state in the article that police presence is a valid deterrent to traffic violators....Having virtually unmarked patrol cars seems to negate that deterrent ...and, as Westbound says, merely make revenue for the municipality.
     This is not in keeping with the primary mission of the police department..."To serve and protect"...No mention of "to fatten up the coffers"...              dragonfly

[CyberNick]

As dragonfly points out, this statement seems to be contradicting itself...

Having a visible police presence is still the most valid deterrent to those who would ignore the rules of the road, and now these secret police cars are one more weapon used against those who break the law.

And one thing that caught my attention was this:

The only good news is that these special cars are somewhat more expensive to produce and those police forces that have them only have a few of this type at their disposal.

That's weird too isn't it? Less equipment = more cost

[D70]

Unfortunately lack of police presence in my neck of the woods leads to many drivers running red lights and stop signs or making U turns at traffic lights, making my life as a pedestrian very dangerous. I feel safer on my bicycle, motorcycle or in my car!

  I have driven tens of thousands of kilometers in the USA over the past few years and have noticed a very visible presence of police, sometimes in plain cars or station wagons. Flagrant disregard for traffic rules does not happen in the USA as it does in the Lower mainland of BC.

  Driving fast is for the track, or on the Autobahn, where I drove for 3 years. Or go to 80 mph Texas roads and join the Expeditions and other SUVs to drive above Cdn limits

http://www.flickr.com/photos/d70w7/4622159205/in/set-72157623914523541/

[Trainman]

A gross misrepresentation contends speed causes great numbers of traffic collisions, injuries and fatalities. If this were the case super highways would be the most dangerous places on earth. They are not. Insufficient regard for road and weather conditions, following too closely, unsafe lane changes and unfit vehicles are the real issues.

....

My personal belief is that it is the difference in speeds that cause the issues.  When you have individuals doing considerably over (or under too) what the general traffic is doing, that is when the problems happen.  If going fast, they will tailgate, and lane swap with little regard for the other traffic.  If going too slow, they force other drivers to do the same as the fast drivers.  I find that when all the traffic is flowing at about the same speed, then there are really no issues.

We have a very steep hill on the way into the Interior (the Snowshed Hill its usually called).  3 lanes at a posted 110 kph at 8% grade.  A lot of cars on the road today can not maintain the 110 on that hill, let alone the trucks that typically grind up at 20-30 kph.  So you end up with all three lanes clogged with vehicles doing a wide variety of speed and then you have some hot shot who can (and is trying) to do 140 or more.  The number of close calls I have seen on that bit of highway   

[Sir Osis of Liver]

High speed isn’t usually the cause of many accidents, but it certainly does increase their severity.

Marked cruisers do cause people to stick closer to the rules of the road in their immediate vicinity. Unmarked cars are better at picking off those smart enough to slow down around marked cars, but dumb enough to not recognize that that blacked out Crown Vic or Impala is likely a cop car.

The old NB highway patrol used a variety of atypical cars for police duty. They were pretty effective at nabbing people, but weren’t used in high enough numbers to really be effective.

Compliance increases with the likelihood of being caught, not with the severity of the punishment. Governments haven’t (won’t?) really picked up on this. Huge fines are not a substitute for more policing.

[chrischasescars]

...
     This is not in keeping with the primary mission of the police department..."To serve and protect"...No mention of "to fatten up the coffers"...              dragonfly

To serve and collect?

To (ob)serve and collect?

[overtakeyouintheleftlane]

Speed is not usually an issue regarding traffic safety. It's those not using the lanes properly are the problem.

Proper lane usage should be enforced. Eg. on the 401, there's always a person in the beige Toyota Corrolla doing 90-100km/h in the left lane. Traffic is going by at 120km/h. They should be in the right lane.

If people used the lanes properly, the traffic flow would be so much better.

[tpl]

Speed is not usually an issue regarding traffic safety. It's those not using the lanes properly are the problem.

Proper lane usage should be enforced. Eg. on the 401, there's always a person in the beige Toyota Corrolla doing 90-100km/h in the left lane. Traffic is going by at 120km/h. They should be in the right lane.

If people used the lanes properly, the traffic flow would be so much better.

I suggest that the sort of person who drives a Corolla below the limit on the 401 in the left lane is there because they are also intimidated by all the trucks in BOTH of the other lanes.   Ontario registered trucks doing 105 km/h and US registered trucks doing 120.  It is quite difficult to do an exact 100 km/h in the righthand lane of the 401 ( west of TO anyway) without being tailgated by a semi that wants to go just a bit faster.

[quadzilla]

Ontario registered trucks doing 105 km/h and US registered trucks doing 120.

I thought ALL trucks driving on Ontario highways had to have limiters?

[tpl]

Ontario registered trucks doing 105 km/h and US registered trucks doing 120.

I thought ALL trucks driving on Ontario highways had to have limiters?

They do I believe and how many US registered trucks have them ( working ) I wonder.  There are quite a lot of trucks I see at 120 and in general the tractor unit plates are US or AB ones.

[samesun]

I don't see how this is news. I grew up in the 80's with these kind of cars in my town. The RCMP are the police force and they have the regular vic (or back then, the Caprice) and the cars are usually silver or blue and they have no visible markings or lights. We call them 'Ghost Cars'.

[Spec5]

Visiting Vaughn tonight just north of TO. Man, they could use a few of those cars here. I've never seen so many blown stop signs and run red lights. Not to mention the idiot in the Mercedes SUV that was following me so close all I could see was windshield! Do a blitz with some of these cars and you watch how fast people start obeying the rules.