Wednesday, February 25, 2009

ROAD – 3 days to go

Woodstock PD’s February traffic initiative is almost over. ROAD stands for "Reduction of Aggressive Driving." I’ve tried to watch the newspaper for information about enforcement activities, but I haven’t seen anything about it. Maybe because the Northwest Herald doesn’t print it, or maybe because the Woodstock Police Department doesn’t release interim statistics.

This month-long enforcement campaign was to target aggressive drivers – those who follow too closely, fail to adjust speed while merging, pass improperly on the right, and fail to signal when required. Other targets are drivers who are inattentive; examples of inattentive driving include driving while talking on a cell phone, texting, reading a book or newspaper, putting on make-up, shaving or (yuck!) brushing teeth.

According to a Memo from Sgt. Leard to Deputy Chief Bozer, “Officers that are detailed to perform during this special enforcement initiative shall adopt a zero tolerance for violation such as the ones listed above.”

“Zero tolerance” usually means that, if a driver gets stopped, he gets a ticket; no warnings.

Woodstock drivers should expect a report by the police department on this program. Hopefully, there will be a detailed and complete press release that will be printed by the Northwest Herald and The Woodstock Independent. If I can get a copy of it, I’ll print it here.

If there is no press release, I’ll read the police department’s report about ROAD to the City Council, if there is one, in the monthly Departmental report that is buried out-of-sight in the City Council packet (read this at City Hall or at the Woodstock Public Library during the three days before a City Council meeting) and publish the summary here.

How about you? Did you have an encounter of the third kind with a Woodstock officer this month?

4 comments:

Karen30036 said...

Sounds like they're hard up for money. They don't have anything better to do?
It's bewildering to think police are watching every move anyone makes.
Also, why aren't people allowed to make mistakes? Oops! I forgot to use my signal this one time and it's going to cost what 75 bucks? More if you want to take time off of work, even more if the judge is having a bad day and feeling unreasonable and you get hit with court costs.
Humans make mistakes. We aren't all perfect drivers. Sometimes I don't count to three after I stop at a stop sign. Sometimes I drive close to the person doing 37 mph in a 50 mph zone. Why isn't the person doing UNDER the limit (and creating problems for everyone else) stopped and ticketed?
I've known a few really good cops. They're rare. My experience has been with the power and control freaks, after all that's why many of them become cops ... power and control. Again, not ALL cops, but a majority of them.

Gus said...

Yes, humans make mistakes. I'll suggest that aggressive drivers are aggressive (and dangerous) most, if not all, of the time. You don't have to "count to 3" at a stop sign; all you have to do is stop. That means that the vehicle comes to a full stop. Of course, doing so increases your risk of being rear-ended.

And the person driving 37 in a 50 zone? He is impeding traffic - a citable violation.

I don't feel that this "initiative" is just a fund-raiser. These are serious violations. Aggressive driving is a state of mind. It's the "Get out of my way" attitude. I see it daily and, I suspect, so do you.

If drivers obeyed the Rules of the Road, wouldn't that be nice?

Ashy Larry said...

man, are cars these days not built with turn signals anymore? I get the mistake thing once in awhile, but I mean all the time. Wasn't that a standard back in the day when cars were built? Are those extra now along with a sunroof or spoiler? These drivers don't use signals anymore. Many times I have been at a four way stop sign and the car at the right stop tuns left onto my street. They use no signal and when I look at them they are usually on the stupid phone while giving me a look like i'm the one on crack. They never use them when changing lanes and turning. A car will be in front of me and all of a sudden slow down to turn but has no signal. Grrrrrrrrrrr

Karen30036 said...

And the person driving 37 in a 50 zone? He is impeding traffic - a citable violation.

**In all my years of driving, I have never seen a person pulled over for going too slow. A cop would rather ticket you for following too close than ticketing the driver creating the hazard. I've seen cops in a line of cars that are doing more than 10 mph under the limit because of 1 driver, many, many times.