Another speed trap shut down

[down_home]

Arlington Heights, Hamilton county, Ohio, disbanned its whole police force, after 2 City Clerks were caught taking over 260,000.00 from the proceeds of the speed trap, they operated, on one mile stretch, of I75.
A number, of Rvers had been caught in a few years.
93% of court cases were speeding on I75.
I can't post a link.

[gbopp]

BCSnob wrote:
I don't buy the argument that enforcing laws (speeding, running red lights, passing stopped school buses, etc) is wrong because it generates revenue.

No one has a problem with the enforcement. It's when the enforcement is for the purpose of generating revenue, that is wrong.
If these departments sent ALL the fines to the state and received none of it, do you think they would continue to strictly enforce the traffic laws for safety?
I've seen one small town disband their police department because they could no longer do speed enforcement on the main highway going through their town. It was all about the revenue from fines, not safety.
I totally agree, traffic laws should be enforced but, with a little common sense.

[Tvov]

It is not wrong to enforce laws when as a side effect it generates revenue... the problem comes in when laws are enforced in order to generate revenue.

[BCSnob]

To me a speed trap is when the posted speed decreases with the sign obscured from the view of motorists and tickets are written for exceeding the lower speed limit. When has it become entrapment to enforce the clearly posted speed limits (unless enforcement is near or at the accuracy of the speed measurement devices)? I don't buy the argument that enforcing laws (speeding, running red lights, passing stopped school buses, etc) is wrong because it generates revenue.

[boshog]

Ohio is a speed trap. Every set of cross-roads has a village associated with it and they have a police car that does nothing but write tickets.

[Dave_H_M]

I agree with the friday man, no info given as to the operation of the "speed trap."

[RoyB]

Even here in our small county the day after Christmas I made a Trash run to the local dump area and saw at least three different locations of working State and County Police vehicles with folks pulled over... Sort of gave me the impression they were making up for loss revenue over the Christmas holidays...

Certainly got my attention on how fast I was moving around the county roads here...

Roy Ken

[gbopp]

is it friday yet? wrote:
The article mostly talks about the clerks taking the money, which they should be jailed for obviously. But, were the people actually speeding? A lot of people claim a speed trap when they get a ticket. Yes, I'm a retired police officer and wrote many speeding tickets while sitting in "plain view." We had so much traffic though where I worked and believe it or not, I didn't stop a vehicle unless they were going 15 mph over the limit. I think that's generous. It wasn't uncommon to have drivers go 90+ on the freeway. I know RV drivers don't go that fast but if they're stopped for going 5 mph over, that's not right. Maybe that's what they were stopped for, I just need more facts.

My guess is, many received a ticket for 5 or 6 mph over the limit, or whatever the state law allows.

I've seen this in communities that use traffic enforcement to pad their budget. They claim it's for safety but, their budget consists of a large portion of 'anticipated' traffic fines.
They also strictly enforce other traffic laws. If your tire touches the center line on the highway, it's an automatic ticket for 'failure to drive to the right.

I have no problem if someone enforces speeding and other traffic laws.
But when it's done just to generate revenue, that's wrong.

[is_it_friday_ye]

The article mostly talks about the clerks taking the money, which they should be jailed for obviously. But, were the people actually speeding? A lot of people claim a speed trap when they get a ticket. Yes, I'm a retired police officer and wrote many speeding tickets while sitting in "plain view." We had so much traffic though where I worked and believe it or not, I didn't stop a vehicle unless they were going 15 mph over the limit. I think that's generous. It wasn't uncommon to have drivers go 90+ on the freeway. I know RV drivers don't go that fast but if they're stopped for going 5 mph over, that's not right. Maybe that's what they were stopped for, I just need more facts.

[RandACampin]

Obey the speed limit (law) and you won't have a problem.

[gbopp]

Good!

[path1]

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2016/01/02/arlington-heights-disbands-its-pd-hamilton-county-sh...