Alabama troopers issue five times normal tickets during blitz
Posted by Associated Press August 14, 2007 4:56 PM

MONTGOMERY -- Alabama troopers issued five times their normal tickets during the first day of a statewide traffic blitz.

Troopers issued 5,989 tickets on Monday, the first day of the five-day "Take Back Our Highways" campaign. An extra 200 troopers are on the state highways during the blitz.

A comparable Monday -- Aug. 14, 2006 -- had 1,150 tickets issued by troopers, said Dorris Teague, spokeswoman for the state Department of Public Safety.

Of the 5,989 tickets issued Monday, 3,281 were for speeding and 944 tickets for seat belt or child restraint violations, Teague said Tuesday.

Whitney Beshields, an 18-year-old high school student from Mobile, was among those pulled over Monday by troopers for not wearing a seat belt. She told the Mobile Press-Register that she was in a rush and forgot to buckle up.

The crackdown "is really not a bad thing," she said. "They are just trying to make sure everybody is secure, that everybody is safe, because there are a lot of things going on right now."

In addition to the traffic violations, troopers made 101 non-traffic arrests, such as for illegal drugs, and issued 200 warnings.

 
The figures by the Department of Public Safety do not include tickets issued by city police and county deputies.

State Public Safety Director Chris Murphy planned the crackdown -- including putting officers on the road who normally handle administrative duties -- because Alabama's traffic deaths were going against the national trend.

Nationwide, traffic deaths declined 2 percent in 2006 and were at their lowest level in five years. In Alabama, the deaths rose 5 percent to 1,208 and were at their highest level since 1973.

On Monday, state troopers reported working 80 rural crashes with 38 injuries and one death. On Monday, Aug. 14, 2006, they worked 94 rural wrecks with 32 injuries and three deaths, Teague said.


Just thought I would give a fair warning to all ARFCOM folks that this week is not the time to speed in Alabama, they are out for blood till Sunday night. They have issued almost 6000 tickets in just one days.

I have seen them pull over some people doing around 5mph over the limit all week on I- 565 and I-65. I have the cruise set on 70mph just to be safe.

Talk about revenue generation!!!! I figure if they keep this rate up they will have over 42,000 tickets given this week alone. Figure an average of $100 a ticket that = $4,200,000!!!!!!   Not bad for a weeks work.

If this State was as agressive about speeding as they should be with illegal aliens there would not be a illegal left in the State.....LOL

They are doing it for officer safety.

Unfortunately (but predictably) their “Screw Up Our Streets” campaign is causing nasty traffic backups and a lot of wrecks.

The Birmingham News said Monday that the I459 loop around the city looked like someone had strung a string of blue lights on the shoulder.

You have to be from out of state or a certified moron to get a ticket here this week. They've been harping on it for a couple of weeks, at least.

ETA: I'm setting my cruise to 5mph UNDER the posted speed.

those ASSHOLES. Perfect case of cops gone wild.


I was in Montgomery this week for the Air Force IT conference and as I was driving from Prattville to Montgomery to the show I was cruising along their STUPID ASS freeway thinking "What a bunch of retards.  This is a frickin freeway and it's FORTY FIVE MILES PER HOUR speed limit".

I"m not kidding, there were several areas that were posted 45.  this is a 2-3 lane open freeway.

All of a sudden I see a cop, then another, then another, then two, then three.  It was a damn swarm.  I counted 17 cops in a mile and a half with people pulled over.

Nobody there was going over 55-60.  It was open road, low traffic,  should have been able to hit 75 without breaking a sweat.

The only dangerous spots were where they had people pulled over and cause everyone was bunching up cause they didn't want to get tagged.  I was doing 5 UNDER just to be safe.

it was a mess.


It's thing like this that give police in general a baaad name. This didn't save anyone's life,  it didn't make anyone any safer,  it just made a bunch of overpaid assholes have a reason to exist.

While illegal aliens are piling up to our ears,  meth heads are robbing us blind and crack heads and dope fiends are breaking into our houses,  we got 500 assholes out on the freeways nailing people for going 5-10 over a 45 or 50 mile per hour limit on a freaking freeway.

what a bunch of assholes.  And no I didn't get a ticket,  it just pisses me off to see our government working us like this.  

The crackdown "is really not a bad thing," she said. "They are just trying to make sure everybody is secure, that everybody is safe, because there are a lot of things going on right now."

Yeah Whitney, you just keep thinking that....

I hate roadblocks and other intentional targeting of citizens by LE. What is this... Beruit?  

Quoted: Unfortunately (but predictably) their “Screw Up Our Streets” campaign is causing nasty traffic backups and a lot of wrecks.

No joke, This mess has added at least another 10 minutes to my commute this week so far. People are so scared they are driving like old women and it is causing problems.

I had to pass a guy in the right lane that had to be doing 50mph in a 70mph zone.

I would bet the farm that our so called rise in fatal accidents were caused by illegals most driving drunk. I know of at least 3 or 4 wrecks just this year that involed illegals and a death in a car wreck.

In the end these programs hurt public relations with the general population and do nothing but raise a whole boat load of cash.

I think it is funny that the police will often do 90mph catching up to you doing 5mph over. What is more dangerous you doing 5mph over or a police officer driving 90mph weaving in and out of traffic to catch up?

Just keep an eye out guys these folks are not playing games this week.

Take care & set your cruise control......

 

Quoted: Quoted: ... I was in Montgomery this week for the Air Force IT conference and as I was driving from Prattville to Montgomery to the show I was cruising along their STUPID *** freeway thinking "What a bunch of retards.  This is a frickin freeway and it's FORTY FIVE MILES PER HOUR speed limit". I"m not kidding, there were several areas that were posted 45.  this is a 2-3 lane open freeway... ... That stretch is also currently a highway construction zone, and clearly marked as such.

But the real question is WHY??? I don't know about this instance , but I have seen "Construction Zones" marked and posted with NO FREAKING CONSTRUCTION!!!!! Lots of signs , but NO PEOPLE working. Fairly often you will see a cop in those zones. (Ohio and Pennsylvania seem to be pretty good about this IMHO)

height=8

Quoted: height=8 Quoted: ... I was in Montgomery this week for the Air Force IT conference and as I was driving from Prattville to Montgomery to the show I was cruising along their STUPID *** freeway thinking "What a bunch of retards.  This is a frickin freeway and it's FORTY FIVE MILES PER HOUR speed limit". I"m not kidding, there were several areas that were posted 45.  this is a 2-3 lane open freeway... ... That stretch is also currently a highway construction zone, and clearly marked as such. hat

I forgot to mention they seem to be using Laser not Radar at most speed traps.

I think there will be a lot of fall out from this mess next week. People are really pissed about this mainly because they can muster a complete task force to pull over anyone speeding but, they can't do a thing about the illegal issue.

I have a felling this will backfire on them.

I need to ask a Mod for permission to let loose on this topic:


ah hell I am gonna post anyways...

Alabama has ..... no, Birmingham has some of the most daredevil drivers I have seen next to ATL.
Montgomery is not half as bad, BUT I would say that 80% of car drivers have a total disregard for other motorist, bikes and even pedestrians.
IS 10 minutes out of ones day REALLY that big of a deal? Hell I take a crap for that long.

running 10 over the limit for 5-10 miles is gonna save you 10-30 seconds.... A ticket or a crash is gonna cost you atleast 15 minutes, more for a crash. What about the citation? How about an insurance increase for 3 years? Oh, and what about if you drove the speed limit or 5 over, how much gas money could you save?

Lets look at some figures:
I drive 70 mph for 10 hours = 700 miles
I drive 80 for 10 hours  = 800 miles, I get one ticket and that hour to 1.50 hours was just lost, and all the $ involved just shot it to hell.

Speeding is worthless any way you cut it for most people.. like I said 10-30 seconds of time gained is shit!

Tailgating is an assault.
Turn signals are SUPPOSED to be the law, not to mention it does keep other informed on what you intentions are, so please use them. BTW, it is signal ahead of your turn, lane change or brake then turn It is not an "all one motion" event.

Someone posted "it took me an extra ten minutes to get to work", cry me a fucking river, leave the house sooner. If you drop the kids off for school, take them 10 minutes sooner. If you have kids in your car and driving like an asshole, I sure as hell aint gonna crash my truck into a ditch and die because you have no value to your childs life, YOU are coming with me.


Most people here are gun nuts, as I myself am, If I handled my firearms like you people drove, that retard in VT would look like a saint. 42,642 people died in traffic crashes in '06
(Link here)  divide that by 365 days you get a hair shy of 117 people A DAY are killed by a vehicle... feeling lucky today? Is driving like an asshar wrth it? I doubt it, I'd like to die a different way, maybe defending our Constitution, or similar.

Please people do not drive like you are Mario, or Dale Jr. Others are on the roads with you.

This is coming from someone who drives over 125,000 miles a year, and I maintain a 64mph avg. wherever I go ( 80,000 lb rig), and I can make some disance at that average.

Just slow down an bit and think of all the fun things you can do when you get out of that cage.

ANd to our AL. LEOs.... dish 'em out left and right... give em two if they have a passenger in the vehicle

I was doing just a bit over the limit last week when I was at Huntsville.
The rental car company ran out of my reserved size, so they gave me a Chrysler 300 Touring and it was on like Donkey Kong as soon as I got on 565.

I never once saw a cop pull someone over while running 65 and 565 every day from Athens to the South end of Research Park (yes, I know University is shorter, but highway's are more fun).

Kharn

LoL, I bet the courts will have a great time when an extra 10,000 people show up to fight bullshit 5 mph tickets.

So, what was the prize for giving out the most tickets?

When someone told me it was take back our highways week, I said "From the illegals?"

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: ... I was in Montgomery this week for the Air Force IT conference and as I was driving from Prattville to Montgomery to the show I was cruising along their STUPID *** freeway thinking "What a bunch of retards.  This is a frickin freeway and it's FORTY FIVE MILES PER HOUR speed limit". I"m not kidding, there were several areas that were posted 45.  this is a 2-3 lane open freeway... ... That stretch is also currently a highway construction zone, and clearly marked as such. Isn't that like a 20 mile stretch of interstate with orange barrels on the shoulder and absolutely no construction whatsoever?  Yeah, I got caught there, too. $420 road tax

Most states Ive seen construction "speed zones" they have in small print "When Workers Are Present". So if no one is working then its not a double fine speed zone and is legally just like any other stretch of road.

Texas has to be the worst for tickets that Ive seen. The last time I was there I personally saw 6-7 cruisers parked on the grassy area inbetween the freeway and side road angled towards the freeway. They would just peel off one at a time giving people tickets. There were also 3-4 people pulled over within a mile of their speed trap. They have the man power to have almost 10 patrol cars giving people tickets within a 1 mile stretch of road but complain they dont have enough people to stop illegals who are the real criminals.

Quoted: When someone told me it was take back our highways week, I said "From the illegals?"

+10000000

Quoted: I need to ask a Mod for permission to let loose on this topic:

As a former police police officer, I agree that traffic enforcement this way hurts more than helps.  Just be consistent year round.