BLAST from the Past…
POOR AL……
Talk about a blast from the past.
How would you like to open your mail and find a letter from the Federal Government demanding $390 for a speeding violation on a trip you drove 5 months previously?
Al wasn’t caught by radar, or a stoplight camera, he was nailed by his employer’s electronic toll paying thingamajig. His company was flagged for a “targeted review” and a math savvy bureaucrat figured out from the EZ Pass record that he’d averaged 72 MPH over 118 miles. Other drivers have been ticketed for similar offenses over much shorter distances.
If the company hadn’t been targeted, Al wouldn’t be paying for his sins... and theirs.
AND...one wonders how many troopers Al passed who decided NOT to stop him.
There are a couple of lessons to be learned here. If Al had taken a coffee break at the service plaza on the turnpike, his EZ Pass wouldn’t have ratted him out.
A more significant lesson might be that human judgment is being taken out of law enforcement.
Speeding is bad… but if you’ve ever driven the New Jersey Turnpike at night, you know that adhering to the speed limit is an invitation to getting your bussly butt kicked by a fast moving truck. Driving at the posted limit makes you a hazard. Troopers know it, which is why, unless you’re tailgating or changing lanes aggressively, they don’t ticket you. In other words, they use judgment.
Running stoplights is bad too, but if that sucker turns yellow at the moment a tractor trailer is nuzzling your bumper, it might be safer to run the light than dynamite the brakes. An observant police officer will likely let you go, but a stoplight camera is merciless.
When you’re pulled over, you have the opportunity to explain the lapse, and the officer looks you over and accesses your driving record.
Try talking to a camera.
It’s generally accepted that, in addition to sleep deprivation, aggressive driving and tailgating are the major causes of accidents, but there is not yet any electronic (or bureaucratic) way of policing those behaviors.
I live in a fishing village, or, more properly these days, a fishless village. It seems that my neighbors have caught almost all the commercially viable fish. In an effort to save the industry increasingly stringent catch limits are in the works.
One of the ways around some of the regulations is a loophole called “by-catch”. For example, you’re only allowed so many flounder, but if some unfortunate lobsters come up in the net... you’re allowed to keep them, even if you have no lobster license (and lobster are supposed to be trapped, not netted).
For you novice bottom feeders… lobsters live in rocky areas, flounders love flat sand..
A few clever fishermen have been known to (ostensibly) seek flounder in lobster country.
Al and his driving colleagues are becoming revenue generating “by-catch” as government agencies pursue non-compliant coach companies. On the one hand they shouldn’t be speeding or running red lights, but on the other, they shouldn’t be income producing pawns, collateral damage in a conflict between their company and regulators.
Everyone who hasn’t sped occasionally raise your hand.
In a democracy law enforcement isn’t supposed to be easy, that’s why we have the Bill of Rights. Law enforcement should be about keeping bad guys from hurting good guys, not raising revenue or political capital.
The way to do that is to have human beings policing the roads, using judgment to stop drivers who behave badly.
I’ve met a lot of nice police officers, and a few I didn’t care for. I’ve NEVER met an electronic device (or bureaucrat) that made me feel warm and fuzzy.
Years ago a university sent some student “transportation majors” to buy used buses for its transit operation. Like all of us at that age, they thought they knew everything, and waved off the bus salesman when he offered help.
They picked out 3 nifty transits with good looking bodies and new paint.
Sadly, the rear structure of these buses was crumbling, a problem with this model that was well known in the industry.
The buses looked great in the parking lot, but it cost thousands of extra dollars to make them safe.
Am I alone in thinking that some of the highly visible steps being taken by regulators may make things look nice, but not be solving the real problems? And that operators are spending resources trying to satisfy bureaucratic regimens that may not really contribute significantly to safety?
This is law enforcement on the cheap, and we get what we pay for. Many of the industry’s most experienced drivers are retiring, or finding other jobs. As a business we can’t pay them what they’re worth. Why risk harassment for small money? It may be an exaggeration to say it, but eventually we might be left with the ones who have no place else to go.
In the end safety will suffer.
