I hope in November the people of Arizona vote out the speed cameras, because they seem to be every quarter mile in the entire Phoenix area, including freeways and surface streets. Its really annoying because they are everywhere.
Hell they have the AZ HP on every exit & entrance of the 10 in Phoenix today! I got on the 10 at 35th and saw one highway patrol on the overpass turning onto the 10 E, I got on the 10W, saw one one the 10W ramp, there was one at the 43rd off ramp and another at the off ramp I took (51st). That was 4 Highway Patrol in 3 ramps in a row.
I once had respect for LEOs, I lost it in the last couple of years! IMHO most LEOs have gone from peace officers to tax collecting whores. You can say "I'm just doing what I'm ordered to" but that is what Hitlers men said at Nuremberg.
I was just in Arizona last weekend, and you know how many times I got pulled over and hassled? NONE. Why? Because I'm a grown man who knows that if I get caught speeding in Arizona, I will probably get a ticket. So the solution is simple: If you don't want a ticket, pay attention to the signage and drive the speed limit. I know everyone gripes about cops writing ticktes, but these are the first people to call and whine that they just got cut off by that crazy driver, or gripe about speeding cars in their neighborhoods. Waaaaaaah.
As far as cops doing the revenue collecting, I call bullshit. The cops out there writing the tickets are too far down the totem pole to give a rat's ass how the county or city is making their money. Personally I have never been told to write more tickets, or to not give warnings because it does not bring in any money. I can't think of one cop who has been told that. I do know that even in todays's hyper sensative age, some agencies have tried to adopt what is really a quota disguised as a "performance standard" but those are put in place due to all the citizens that complain that the cops are spending too much time at the coffee shops. They are attempted because of city council/county commision/state legilsators who want those agencies to justify why they need the amount of manpower the agency is asking for.
I worked traffic enforcement for years, and honestly, I loved writing tickets. I still do. However, all it does is get me more people contacts every day, and generate more complaints. No one in administration cares if I write 400 tickets a month, but they care if I get two complaints a quarter. If I would have stayed parked under a tree all day, I would have made the same pay, done less paperwork, and gotten less hassle from my own people and gotten zero complaints. The way I see it though; I was never paid to sit under a tree, so the tax payers get their money's worth.
Now...The Arizona speed cameras; those things are for nothing more than revenue generation, but how many times have any of you that live there caught yourselves slowing down because you know one of those camera equipped Escapes is around there somewhere? I know we are all excellent drivers/riders with lightning reflexes that would never let our attention wander away from our superior driving skills, but not everyone is like that. The limits and laws are in place to account for the lowest common denominator drivers on the road. Look around...You can tell who they are.
As said before, if you don't like the laws in your state, city, county, town, or where ever, contact that places legislative government and register your gripe there. If they ignore you and continue their evil revenue schemes, foil their plans and obey the law...Then what'll they do?
