California Highway Patrol Crackdown Period

[derstuka]

Just a warning to fellow Californian's that the CHP (as well as local police) has been out in force recently cracking down on speeders and whatnot. I have seen six cops radaring/lasering in San Diego since Sunday. Two on the way home yesterday. They were really all over the place, and in places that I have never seem them before. I also heard that (LA folk listen up) that the CHP is going to be heavily enforcing ACH (Angeles Crest Highway) looking out for bikes for the next couple of weeks to crack down on speeders. This was said to be because of an increase in deaths, and complaints.

So, that said, keep and eye out, and watch your speed fellow Cali folk, else you be talking to Mr

THIS IS NOT MEANT TO BE A COP BASHING THREAD, ONLY A "PREVENT YOURSELF FROM GETTING A TICKET THREAD." The police are just doing their job I know.

Note: Joey_dude's "How to be a professional PO-PO runner like me" classes have been sold out until further notice (unless you are classified as hot ). Please be patient and keep eye to this thread for updates.

[drewl]

My paramedic got pulled over last night on his way to the airport responding to a call.
He WAS going 75 in a 55...
But thanks for the heads-up, Jason.

[34468 Randy]

Originally Posted by derstuka

Just a warning to fellow Californian's that the CHP (as well as local police) has been out in force recently cracking down on speeders and whatnot. I have seen six cops radaring/lasering in San Diego since Sunday. Two on the way home yesterday. They were really all over the place, and in places that I have never seem them before. I also heard that (LA folk listen up) that the CHP is going to be heavily enforcing ACH (Angeles Crest Highway) looking out for bikes for the next couple of weeks to crack down on speeders. This was said to be because of an increase in deaths, and complaints.

So, that said, keep and eye out, and watch your speed fellow Cali folk, else you be talking to Mr

THIS IS NOT MEANT TO BE A COP BASHING THREAD, ONLY A "PREVENT YOURSELF FROM GETTING A TICKET THREAD." The police are just doing their job I know.

Note: Joey_dude's "How to be a professional PO-PO runner like me" classes have been sold out until further notice (unless you are classified as hot ). Please be patient and keep eye to this thread for updates.

Some LEOs "may" take offense to you giving people the heads up. But the way I see it, you are helping them accomplish their goals. How many people who read your post will slow down, at least for the short term. And that is one part of the recipe to accomplish the goal of reducing carnage.

Years ago, when our cars here in Canada did not have automatic daytime driving lights mandatory, it was common for people to flash their headlights a on coming cars warning them of radar ahead. But I was a real bugga. I flashed my headlights at everyone I saw speeding, but only if no police were around. Bet they slowed down for miles. If the enforcement traps were set up, I did nothing. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.

Cheers all. It is supposed to get hot and I have the lawn to cut so gotta go. I think I see a couple cold Heineken in frosted mugs in my future today.

So Stuke. Either everyone is going to hate you, or everyone is going to love you.

[hondawolf]

Thanks for the heads up Derstuka. I too have notice quite a few more CHP on the roads. Even my local city police seem to have doubled, or just more on duty at a time. Drewl, wouldn't your buddy be OK, if responding to a call?

[drewl]

The cops are usually cool when they find out you are on duty, but when in your private vehicle they are rightfully suspicious at first.

[34468 Randy]

Originally Posted by hondawolf

Thanks for the heads up Derstuka. I too have notice quite a few more CHP on the roads. Even my local city police seem to have doubled, or just more on duty at a time. Drewl, wouldn't your buddy be OK, if responding to a call?

Most places I am aware of , a person does not have any exemptions unless he/she is actually driving an emergency vehicle.

Do some math if you have the time. A plain jane car is speeding and is detected by police who decide to pull it over. It is most likely they would not know who was driving that car and for what reason. Even in the quickest traffic stop, I suggest a person would be at roadside a minimum of a two minutes. Even if the police did not issue a ticket, which often happens is such circumstances, you have lost all the time you made up by speeding and then some, unless of course you had been doing an incredible speed over a long period of time.

[Joey_Dude]

LOL, it's a tough job educating the masses! Seriously that's cool of you to give a heads-up to fellow bikers. I can see the LEO perspective because I am painfully aware that there are squidly riders going triple digits with a shirt and shorts. Hopefully the LEO presence will at least keep the deaths and accidents down. I just hope they get the truly dangerous bikers not the ones just speeding within reason.

[derstuka]

Originally Posted by 34468 Randy

Some LEOs "may" take offense to you giving people the heads up. But the way I see it, you are helping them accomplish their goals. How many people who read your post will slow down, at least for the short term. And that is one part of the recipe to accomplish the goal of reducing carnage.

So Stuke. Either everyone is going to hate you, or everyone is going to love you.

Hey Randy,

Lots more people hate me than love me I am sure. I am just giving a heads up. Maybe this is my nice way of saying "slow down!" Like I said, I am not bashing the police (or former cops...hehe), just looking out for others. We all have been riding 15-20 over in a ridiculous 45MPH zone without any houses or schools around outside of residential areas.

Maybe this will make a few folks drop it down a notch....maybe not,

[Joey_Dude]

Or rent a billboard saying "PO-PO AHEAD SLOW DOWN"

[Scubalong]

Originally Posted by drewl

My paramedic got pulled over last night on his way to the airport responding to a call.
He WAS going 75 in a 55...
But thanks for the heads-up, Jason.

Are you serious, Did your friend get a ticket and did he drive the medic van? That suck

[34468 Randy]

Originally Posted by derstuka

Hey Randy,

Lots more people hate me than love me I am sure. I am just giving a heads up. Maybe this is my nice way of saying "slow down!" Like I said, I am not bashing the police (or former cops...hehe), just looking out for others. We all have been riding 15-20 over in a ridiculous 45MPH zone without any houses or schools around outside of residential areas.

Maybe this will make a few folks drop it down a notch....maybe not,

Awh. Thats OK stuke. I still love ya BTW. Keep up with the heads up. Like I said, it accomplishes the same goal...ave a life or two.

[whynot?]

I have seen them everywhere about 3 weeks ago. Luckily during commute time they have other things to do. I put about 300-350 miles on the bike weekly just for commute so I enjoy weekend with family and drive the Pilot.. No urge to take the bike as I use it every day. My friend got ticheted than pulled over for second time (almost 2 tichest in one day) in less then a 2 miles distance on 126 towars Valencia - so now has the bags on all the time to look more like a touring bike not a red hot "sport bike"..

[SLOav8r]

They're definitely running in full force right now. Which is good for the most part. Keeps me way more alert on my commute.

Way better then 4-5 years ago when you could go weeks and weeks without seeing a single CHP on the road. Very scary considering I was doing a lot of late night driving between the coast and the valley.

I guess we got spoiled by how thinned out they were after good 'ol Grey-Out Davis killed the state police and did the hiring freeze. CHP was down below 6,000 officers (not really a secret, just never really publicized). Just to put things in perspective, LAPD has nearly 10,000 officers.

[Maliboost]

I went to the El Cajon Cruise last night & juuuuuuuuust as we got onto the freeway right there @ the 67, an officer was pulling over a dude on a bike. he was going just faster than the flow of traffic (not sure how fast, we were not up to speed yet), but fast enough to be the lucky one.

Bob

[drewl]

Private auto, no ticket.
Like I said, the cops are rightfully suspicious if we are not in emergency vehicles. But once they find out what we are doing, they are cool. I myself got out of a ticket a couple weeks ago while in my private auto on the job.
I usually use the ambulance when on duty, but sometimes when on back-up will use the Accord.

[Joey_Dude]

Originally Posted by 34468 Randy

But I was a real bugga. I flashed my headlights at everyone I saw speeding, but only if no police were around. Bet they slowed down for miles. If the enforcement traps were set up, I did nothing. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.

Just curious, for those speeders in question were they in a crowded road or in a construction zone, etc...? Or were they just speeding along on an empty road? Was there a potential loss of life and damage by their speeding?

[Dr1071]

Every year in Texas, qualifying police departments receive federal grant money to step up traffic enforcement. This is usually three times per year, Memorial Day, Labor Day, and New Years Eve. The grant monies begin to be allocated approximately one month prior to the respective holiday. Each enforcement period also has a theme. New Years is always a DWI theme (Duh) Memorial Day and Labor Day require some creativity on the agencies part, because they have to articulate to the feds why they need this grant money. CHP and LAPD might be using grant money for a speeder campaign prior to Labor Day. Administrations love these grant programs because they can put more units out, write more tickets, and satisfy citizen complaints, without draining the coffers.

They have some great sayings too sometimes....One year it was "Red Light and Live" I still don't exactly know what that means but it sounded cool to somebody. One year Cops actually handed out little red cards that showed accident statistics for the area and had a big stop sign on the other side. And of course there was the dreaded "Speed Kills!" campaign.

I'm a Detective that works crimes against children, so that's my qualification. I have put in some time writing tickets way back when, but I honestly forgot how. I don't really see bikes as a major threat to the public per se (Now don't jump down my throat fellow LEO's, just hear me out!) but in dealing with the public I see why they complain.

You see the public, I'm referring to a good chunk of the cagers, refuse to admit that they are in fact the culprits in the vast majority of traffic problems. Ever notice that if you ask anyone, male or female, if they are a good driver they will always answer with an emphatic yes. Yet with all these great drivers, we have a ton of accidents (predominantly cage to cage) every day. Enter young squidly on the R1 or CBR wheeling down the freeway scaring the cagers. In the public's mind, the biker must be the problem, the root cause of disharmony in the universe if you will, certainly not them. This is their perception of reality.

The truth is, statistically speaking, motorcycles do not pose substantial danger to the public as a whole. Yet a few knuckleheads give the rest of us a bad name, that is the truly sad part.

On a side note, when I was in Patrol, I never wrote a ticket to a Doctor, Nurse, Paramedic or emergency worker on or off duty. Its bad Kharma. If I ever got shot, I didn't want the person who was caring for me to be the same person I wrote a ticket to. But that's just me.