crime fighting fails

[Janx]

Tonight, while walking my dog with my wife, a motorcycle revved and flew through the 4 way stop intersection in my neighborhood. It then drove a block and pulled into a driveway.

We walked by and oddly enough the biker was out talking to his girlfriend and he even said hi. we said hi back, but weren't about to confront the guy in the street.

We verified the address then called the local constables.

They were very polite, but revealed the point that they can't write a ticket if a cop didn't witness the traffic violation.

They did offer to send an office to speak to the owner, but I declined. That seems like a waste of their time, since they're not going to generate any revenue.

I'm sure the cops would have rolled out there had their been major crime going on.

But the experiment to see if a civillian can patrol their neighborhood and improve it by reporting violations has failed.

The gist is, police officers are more equal in a court of law. As the officer explained on the phone, it's a case of he said/she said. Apparently only a cops word is golden in court.

 

[Kzach]

They were very polite, but revealed the point that they can't write a ticket if a cop didn't witness the traffic violation.

I've had a similar thing happen to me.

As a life-long pedestrian (predominantly I mean), I refuse to cross an intersection where there's a car anywhere near it. The amount of times I've nearly been run over when I've clearly had right of way (walking at an intersection with the green man on) is mind-boggling. So now I just let the s pass before crossing. Man vs. car, car wins.

When I moved to the area I'm in now, I noticed that an intersection nearby had people coming from three directions where, for some strange, possibly supernatural reason, everyone always completely ignored pedestrians and screamed around them at 40kph+

One night when I wasn't paying particular attention, I crossed (with the green man), and got side-swiped by a guy who hadn't even CONSIDERED stopping. I reported him to police and they did nothing. Three weeks later, two young girls going to school in the morning were almost killed at that exact same intersection. A month ago an elderly lady was killed crossing an intersection just up the road from there.

Drivers seem to think they're invincible and untouchable in their metal enclosures. Which is why I gained immense glee from an incident about three or so months ago where I had looked before crossing (again with right of way from a green man light) and not seen any cars, only to be half-way across and almost get hit again. The person had been travelling so fast that from the point where I had started crossing, I couldn't see him on the road ahead, to half-way across where he was slamming on his brakes not to hit me. And then he had the gall to yell at ME. So kicked in two of his side panels and beat on the driver's side window like a maniac who was going to tear his head off (probably 'cause I would've), and he drove off in a panic.

It was a brand new BMW 5 series. Forget the law, justice is much sweeter when delivered by your own hands (or feet).

 

[Cor Azer]

I really, really wish some sort of charge like attempted manslaughter or attempted negligent homicide could be leveled at drivers who run red lights and stop signs.

Stupidity should not be an excuse.

 

[Falkus]

The gist is, police officers are more equal in a court of law. As the officer explained on the phone, it's a case of he said/she said. Apparently only a cops word is golden in court.

I don't mean to be negative, but if you could report traffic violations over the phone like that without evidence, what would stop people from phoning in false accusations against people they didn't like?

 

[Relique du Madde]

Maybe you should petition the city council to have traffic cameras placed at that intersection...


Oh Never mind I forgot that legally you don't have to pay those tickets in most states on grounds that they are usually issued by an out of state ticket authority that has no legal jurisdiction over the tickets they issue.

 

[Janx]

I don't mean to be negative, but if you could report traffic violations over the phone like that without evidence, what would stop people from phoning in false accusations against people they didn't like?

True enough, any system is subject to abuse.

However, that should not preclude lawful citizens from improving their saftey.

Take Kzach's example. If a cop showed up right then, he'd be the one in trouble, because there was no proof that the car ran the stop because a cop did not see it.

 

[Bullgrit]

I've had a run in with preventing a crime, with help from a bunch of MtG-playing nerds:

Geeks to the Rescue Total Bullgrit

As we moved along, we noticed a woman and daughter (around 8 years old) walking down the well-lighted, but otherwise vacant, sidewalk. A man followed them about 20 feet behind. He was talking to them, and showing agitation with his hand gestures. The woman kept her daughter moving forward while keeping an eye on the man behind them. It became more obvious that there was an uncomfortable dispute between them as we passed by.

Bullgrit