You know you are getting old when:

[belfastboy]

As I’ve undoubtedly observed before, I would welcome much more stringent traffic code enforcement around here. Traffic fatalities have been ticking up (after being on a downward trend for decades) and street racing has become a popular pastime. We are not powerless to address this. It just takes the willingness to do it.

We had speed cameras set up here for a while that were run by a third party. I was 'caught' going 10km/hr over the speed limit as I exited the last 50 feet of a school zone going downhill. It was this type of trolling for violations that got the entire program scrapped. In some warehouse there are a few million dollars worth of speed cameras laying in a corner.

I never did pay the fine and all $$ owed was waived when the program scrapped. We do still have intersection cams for red light runners.

 

[GHT]

It is amazing to view the role that cel phone data and CCTV cameras play in the solving of crimes add in DNA and I have to wonder how the hell police used to solve any crimes at all!!!!

Ah, you need an observation at the level of Sherlock Holmes, or maybe his latter day counterpart, Morse. The clues are all there, all you need is a TV detective and a captive TV audience.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^
I, and several other drivers, got a chickensh*t speeding ticket on I-90 just inside the Idaho border with Montana. This was in August of 2007. There had been road construction in Montana which brought the speed limit down to 50 (if memory serves) in places and back up to 80 in others. It was just past one of those slowdowns that we entered Idaho, going downhill. Police cars were lined up on an entrance ramp and they were picking us off one after another.
I paid the fine, of course, but I vowed not to spend any money in Idaho. I have on several occasions since found myself traversing the Panhandle. I see to it I’m gassed up before entering Idaho. I stop at an Idaho rest area to dispose of my litter (which I’ve saved up for the occasion) and to use the comfort facilities. I flush twice.

 

[belfastboy]

^^^^
I, and several other drivers, got a chickensh*t speeding ticket on I-90 just inside the Idaho border with Montana. This was in August of 2007. There had been road construction in Montana which brought the speed limit down to 50 (if memory serves) in places and back up to 80 in others. It was just past one of those slowdowns that we entered Idaho, going downhill. Police cars were lined up on an entrance ramp and they were picking us off one after another.
I paid the fine, of course, but I vowed not to spend any money in Idaho. I have on several occasions since found myself traversing the Panhandle. I see to it I’m gassed up before entering Idaho. I stop at a rest area to dispose of my litter (which I’ve saved up for the occasion) and to use the comfort facilities. I flush twice.

My claim to fame is that a few years ago I bicycled across an entire state....from WA (eastern edge) to Montana (western edge). I don't divulge the fine print that the state was Idaho and I traversed the skinniest part of the panhandle. No danger of me getting a speeding ticket whilst pedaling!!!

 

[tonyb]

My claim to fame is that a few years ago I bicycled across an entire state....from WA (eastern edge) to Montana (western edge). I don't divulge the fine print that the state was Idaho and I traversed the skinniest part of the panhandle. No danger of me getting a speeding ticket whilst pedaling!!!

That part of Idaho is quite scenic. People who have never been near there likely don’t think of Idaho as a Rocky Mountain state, but that stretch of it certainly is.

 

[belfastboy]

That part of Idaho is quite scenic. People who have never been near there likely don’t think of Idaho as a Rocky Mountain state, but that stretch of it certainly is.

Yes, we love Idaho. One of the prettiest drives I have ever done is through the Sawtooth Range from Ketchum and then along the Salmon River. But my favourite is the Bitterroot range into Montana. We biked 300km along the Bitteroot Loop about 5 years ago. Saw bears, moose, deer, a dead dear or what was left of him. I suspected a bear kill and took solace in thinking with luck the bear no longer hungry.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

We watch a great deal of British TV.....detective series are most favoured. It is amazing to view the role that cel phone data and CCTV cameras play in the solving of crimes add in DNA and I have to wonder how the hell police used to solve any crimes at all!!!!

"We'd take whatever villain we favored for it to the nick and beat a confession out of him" -Jack Frost (tongue in cheek, mostly)

 

[Tiki Tom]

Accidentally falling down the stairs while handcuffed was also known to happen.

 

[Zombie_61]

As I’ve undoubtedly observed before, I would welcome much more stringent traffic code enforcement around here. Traffic fatalities have been ticking up (after being on a downward trend for decades) and street racing has become a popular pastime. We are not powerless to address this. It just takes the willingness to do it.

In this part of southern California the number of "freeway racers" after sundown has increased drastically in recent years. Lately I've had occasion to be on those freeways between the hours of 10:00 pm and 11:30 pm, and there's a near constant stream of "tuner" cars roaring past at 10-20 mph over the posted speed limits; one, two, or three at a time, sometimes narrowly missing my car. Just last night I saw one of these idiots whose luck had run out--left rear tire flat and shredded, left rear fender damaged and dragging on the freeway emitting a shower of sparks, driver door severely damaged, and here's this idiot on the freeway limping his car home at 45 mph.

 

[tonyb]

In this part of southern California the number of "freeway racers" after sundown has increased drastically in recent years. Lately I've had occasion to be on those freeways between the hours of 10:00 pm and 11:30 pm, and there's a near constant stream of "tuner" cars roaring past at 10-20 mph over the posted speed limits; one, two, or three at a time, sometimes narrowly missing my car. Just last night I saw one of these idiots whose luck had run out--left rear tire flat and shredded, left rear fender damaged and dragging on the freeway emitting a shower of sparks, driver door severely damaged, and here's this idiot on the freeway limping his car home at 45 mph.

What was the title of that song? “Instant Karma,” was it?

I shudder when I remind myself of the time I tried to see how quickly I could drive over a mountain pass highway — a twisty highway, undivided in places. I was just sooooo effing stupid. That was nearly 40 years ago and the thought of it gives me chills still.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I don't care what they do to drivers, but I'd love love love to see the relentless arm of the law slam down hard on the doughy sunburned shoulders of jaywalkers. Had two of them run out in front of me today in 5 mph downtown traffic, and one of them had the nerve to give me the Jersey Look. USE THE CROSSWALK TOURIST OR PAY THE $137 FINE.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^
Out Seattle way a motorist best be mindful to yield to pedestrians where they have the right of way, and pedestrians had best be out of the road where they don’t. The code is actively enforced, or at least it was when I lived there.

I liked it that way, much more than how things are here in lesser Denver, where a pedestrian who has plans for tomorrow better expect those cars not to stop.

A few days back I just shook my head at a woman crossing against the light who shot dirty looks toward me and the other drivers who left her standing in the median until she had the right of way. Had any of us stopped it would have presented a greater hazard, as her view of moving cars in other lanes would have been obscured by the stopped car, as would the view of the drivers in those other lanes.

It was during Christmas week a few years back when my wife and I drove through a traffic tie-up caused by emergency vehicles that had a couple of lanes shut down. As we made our way past the incident scene we saw a young woman lying on the pavement, with medics tending to her. We later learned she had died. A car had zipped around a stopped car just as she was crossing in front of it.

 

[belfastboy]

I don't care what they do to drivers, but I'd love love love to see the relentless arm of the law slam down hard on the doughy sunburned shoulders of jaywalkers. Had two of them run out in front of me today in 5 mph downtown traffic, and one of them had the nerve to give me the Jersey Look. USE THE CROSSWALK TOURIST OR PAY THE $137 FINE.

My uncle taught me to drive. He was a gruff no nonsense kinda guy. ...a railroad man We drove together down to the testing station. On the way there I didn't break as I approached a crosswalk with a pedestrian about to enter. He growled "STOP"....and then scolded me that I was always to stop for someone at a crosswalk...no exceptions. A few miles later, mid block a pedestrian began to cross in front of me. My foot went to the brake pedal and my uncle growled....."NO, don't stop, that is a jaywalker....f**k 'em. They are fair game". I can still hear his voice uttering those sage words to this day.

 

[Who?]

I am unalterably opposed to general surveillance, and baloney to the argument that we “need” to submit to invasive surveillance and enforcement in order to solve and prevent crime.

A pox on all the houses of those who promote things like Ring Doorbells and such, and doubly on police who use them unbeknownst to the owners.

 

[belfastboy]

As I’ve undoubtedly observed before, I would welcome much more stringent traffic code enforcement around here. Traffic fatalities have been ticking up (after being on a downward trend for decades) and street racing has become a popular pastime. We are not powerless to address this. It just takes the willingness to do it.

I am so old that when I first learnt to drive I was pulled over and ticketed because my brake light lenses had faded to pink on my old VW. I received a ticket that cost me a days wages because they were not red enough. Nowadays you don't get pulled over for any violation unless you speed through a radar trap on 'quota day'.

 

[Edward]

We watch a great deal of British TV.....detective series are most favoured. It is amazing to view the role that cel phone data and CCTV cameras play in the solving of crimes add in DNA and I have to wonder how the hell police used to solve any crimes at all!!!!

There are certainly a lot of famous unsolved cases from the past that would be quickly solved today, the Whitechapel Murders being one.

It's chilling now watching that old episode of Cracker where Christopher Ecclestone dies because they can't find him in time. These days, gps location would have picked him up very quickly.

"We'd take whatever villain we favored for it to the nick and beat a confession out of him" -Jack Frost (tongue in cheek, mostly)

That was good, old-fashioned, British justice, when you were innocent until proven Irish.

 

[tonyb]

I am so old that when I first learnt to drive I was pulled over and ticketed because my brake light lenses had faded to pink on my old VW. I received a ticket that cost me a days wages because they were not red enough. Nowadays you don't get pulled over for any violation unless you speed through a radar trap on 'quota day'.

It’s outrageous that so many cars around here have expired registrations. I often see paper temporary plates with expiration dates a year or more past.

What do you suppose the odds are that those cars are insured?

 

[LizzieMaine]

I often see cars around here with no plates at all. Never saw that before the 2020 shutdowns, and I wonder if some of those drivers simply forgot the basic obligations of organized society.

 

[tonyb]

… I wonder if some of those drivers simply forgot the basic obligations of organized society.

There’s no wonder to that at all.

I’d like to believe that people will do right just because it’s right, and I believe that most people will, given circumstance that have them believing the game isn’t rigged against them.

But that’s only most people. Keeping the others from tearing down the entire structure requires real disincentives.

 

[belfastboy]

It’s outrageous that so many cars around here have expired registrations. I often see paper temporary plates with expiration dates a year or more past.

What do you suppose the odds are that those cars are insured?

I read that a goodly number of accidents in the LA area become hit and runs. One of the drivers at least does not stop as they are not licensed and not insured. Is Cali an anomaly or the future?