At the September Coffee with the Chief the midnight-shift officer described his efforts to curb speeding on Hercules Road and Bloomfield Drive in the 20MPH speed limit zone. These roads are in the Apple Creek area in the south part of Woodstock. A resident asked if the 20MPH was a School Zone, and the officer answered that it was not.
The orange 20MPH Speed Limit signs are not legal speed limit signs, and the City quickly ordered the developer to remove the one (the only one) on Hercules Road. As of last week, the two orange (meaningless) 20MPH speed limit signs on Bloomfield Drive were still up.
Now, here is the interesting part. The officer said that he had made a half-dozen traffic stops in that area. Because the speed limit signs were not legal signs, I filed a FOIA Request with the Woodstock Police Department to learn how many speeding tickets and citations were issued on Hercules Road and how many traffic stops were made where tickets were not issued.
When I received a prompt reply from the PD, I realized that I had not been careful enough with my wording in my request. The answer?
On Hercules Road east of Dean Street - 2
On Bloomfield Drive between Dean Street and Braeburn Way - 0
Number of traffic stops without tickets or warnings - Not answered
What I wanted to know was how many tickets and how many warnings, but I didn't word my request specifically that way. I did get the answer to the question I asked which was read as the combined number of tickets and warnings. Well, at least I got a partial answer. It was my error not to ask the question I intended to ask.
Regardless of that, only two tickets (or warnings) are not a "half-dozen". So, maybe there were traffic stops without warnings or tickets. Only the officer knows whether he stopped a driver and did not issue a warning or ticket. The dispatcher ought to know, too, because all traffic stops should be reported by radio.
With respect to Hizzoner's request that I only take up the City's time with requests that are reasonable, responsible or legitimate, I'll back off this time (probably only this time) and not re-submit my FOIA request for the more specific and omitted information.
I'm sure it would be considered unreasonable for me to ask why I did not get an answer to how many traffic stops there were without tickets or warnings being issued. Has the City given up on its racial-profiling record-keeping that required an officer to give me a written Warning four years ago, after he stopped me for a turn that I proved on the spot was not unlawful?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
As of this morning (Saturday), the orange 20MPH speed limit signs on Bloomfield Drive are gone.
Gus a victim of racial profiling? How odd. I didn't think illegal aliens included those from other planets.
No, I am not a victim of racial profiling. I'm a victim of a stupid rule that says an officer must issue a Warning (even if he is wrong about the traffic stop) to contribute to the statistics required by the Department. He told me that, since he had stopped me, he had to issue the Warning. Hey, at least it was that and not a ticket. Throughout my complaint to the PD, I complimented the officer, who had been polite, courteous and respectful. My complaint about the Warning was NOT about the officer. I told the (former) Chief that, if I had broken the law, then I would appreciate the warning and he could count on me not to do so again. However, if I had not broken the law (which I hadn't), then I was not going to refrain from making a legal turn in the future just so I wouldn't get stopped again. Shortly before he retired, he emailed me that he had directed his officers to cease stopping drivers for making the (legal) turn that I had made. WPD officers had been ticketing drivers for at least six years for what the former chief said was a violation (and wasn't).
It was and is a violation. and they are still writing it.
"Hercules, Hercules, Hercules"!
... From the 1997 movie, The Nutty Professor.
To Anon of 9/25/07 7:01AM, just "what" was and is a violation? What I was stopped then for was making a left turn into a two-way left-turn lane. Illinois Vehicle Code specifically allows this. I had pulled slowly into the center of the roadway (the two-way left turn lane) and stopped to wait for traffic behind me to clear. This is a lawful maneuver. Please explain why you think this was a violation and why you think it still is.
I support the police ticketing drivers who use the TWLTL unlawfully, either to access a left-turn lane early or to use it as a driving lane to pass stopped cars in the traffic lane. Unlawful use of the TWLTL occurs on Route 47 in Woodstock every day.
There should no penalty for lawful use of the TWLTL.
Post a Comment