A Connecticut State Trooper's-Eye View, Through a Radar Gun, Of the Blur of Traffic
06-03-2003, 01:23 PM
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A Connecticut State Trooper's-Eye View, Through a Radar Gun, Of the Blur of Traffic
By JEFF HOLTZ (NYT) 1682 words
CONNECTICUT WEEKLY DESK
The New York Times
Sunday, May 18, 2003
WALTER GREENE, a trooper first class with the State Police, had just pulled a white van over to the shoulder of Interstate 95 in Fairfield. The van had been clocked at 72 miles an hour. Now, he was running a background check on the license plate and studying the mannerisms of the driver before making his approach.
''Making eye contact with me through the rear-view mirror is good,'' said Trooper Greene, making a suggestion to any driver stopped by the police. ''Don't starting reaching under the seat. Don't start moving around the car real quick.''
The driver was issued tickets for speeding, not carrying a registration and having no front license plate on what was a slow day for Trooper Greene, a member of the Western District Traffic Unit, one of three such units in the state. Covering Fairfield County and part of New Haven County, its 13 members specialize in speed enforcement, weigh station inspections and the protection of dignitaries.
In 2002, the latest year available, the unit issued 12,555 moving violations for about $2.5 million in fines. In 2001, the department issued a total of 223,745 tickets for about $29 million in fines.With so many tickets being issued, and the dread that most people have of receiving one, it would be handy to know how to respond when you are pulled over and whether anything you do or say can decrease or increase your chances of receiving a ticket. I am a traffic reporter for Metro Networks, which provides traffic reports to radio and TV stations, and spend hours each day in an airplane watching rush hour unfold in southern Connecticut. Because I often work with the state police, friends sometimes assume I know where all the speed traps are and the strategies the police use to catch speeders. I don't, but figured I should know more about speed enforcement, so I decided to ask the state police if I could spend a day with a trooper, watching him work and picking his brain. The state police agreed and turned me over to Trooper Greene. It was an interesting day.
Trooper Greene drives one of his unit's undercover cars. Each district has as part of its fleet three of these -- either Dodge Intrepids, Chevy Camaros, or Chevy Impalas -- equipped with faster engines, wider wheel bases, heavier suspensions, beefed-up brakes and front-wheel drive. Officers receive training and certification for driving those cars through state police instructors at the Consumer Reports test track in East Haddam. The cars look nothing like a typical state police cruiser.
''If you put a vehicle out there that is similar in nature to civilian vehicles, now you get to see the erratic drivers,'' said Trooper Greene, who drives one of the Intrepids, ''And those are the ones you want.''
On a late Wednesday morning in March I was in that car with Trooper Greene as part of Operation Saturation, which once a week floods one area with about 30 troopers from the Western, Eastern and Central Districts. With much of the traffic over the speed limit, he explained that he must be selective with stops. Indeed, during our five hours monitoring traffic, he stopped only four cars and issued tickets to three of them.
''We start our speed limits at a certain range if we're sitting at the side of the road,'' said Trooper Greene, a 14-year veteran. ''We try to allow for grace speeds, because the individual might think he or she is doing 55 or 60, when they are actually doing 65 or 70, or their speedometer might be off.
''But if I'm doing 65 and you pass me, then we have a problem. It's almost like a disrespect.''
Manners do, indeed, count. If an officer is on the fence about whether to issue a ticket, good behavior, or bad, could tip the balance. Trooper Greene said that he can be compassionate with polite drivers who have good records and have not exceeded the speed limit by a great deal. That was the case with the one driver who didn't get a ticket that Wednesday. Some are only made to wait for a time on the shoulder with what he calls ''a summons without a monetary penalty.''
But whatever you do, don't make up a story about why you were speeding, such as rushing to the hospital with a sick friend.
''There was a time when I followed a person to the hospital with his license and registration, and made sure that he got there and got settled in,'' said Trooper Greene, who said the driver had been going 88 m.p.h. ''I still wrote the ticket.''
The amount of traffic at a given time can also determine whether or not a vehicle is pulled over. Trooper Greene said he routinely tickets drivers doing 70 m.p.h. in moderate volume. However, on this day, while Trooper Greene was patrolling, he saw an S.U.V. traveling between 70 and 75 m.p.h. in light traffic. He did not stop it and explained why.
"He's not driving crazy; he seems to be aware of what he's doing," said Trooper Greene. "He slows down. He's not following too closely. He's not pushing the cars in front of him into the center lane by tailgating. Now, if he goes into a 45 m.p.h. zone and maintains this speed, then we'll go ahead and talk."
Trooper Greene keeps to a fundamental script when questioning motorists about their driving. And the drivers' responses, attitude and demeanor are written down on a part of the ticket that the trooper keeps and the motorists never see, unless there is a courtroom appearance.
He said motorists should never claim they were not speeding when pulled over.
''We want people to be honest and courteous,'' Trooper Greene said. ''Telling us that you weren't speeding offends us. It's testing our knowledge and basically telling us we don't know how to do our job.''
And his pet peeves, or infractions that bother him the most, are: driving in the shoulder, trucks in the left lane and following too closely.
''Following too close causes the majority of accidents,'' said Trooper Greene, who will drive close to 300 miles during one shift. ''Trucks know they can't be in the left lane; they just want to push it. The right shoulder is for emergency vehicles.''
Trooper Greene said one common misconception among speeders is that they have less chance of being caught if they are part of a cluster of cars traveling above the speed limit. He said those who are singled out are often surprised the others got away.
"We go after the car with the highest speed," he said. "When you go fishing, you want the biggest fish."
He also said that drivers who shield themselves behind another speeder don't get any protection, either. (He said speeders have even used his unmarked car as a shield when the officer is racing to catch up to another speeder, not realizing he's a state trooper.) The State Police uses technology that can clock vehicles from behind, and troopers in the traffic districts often work in teams that allow them to stop two cars at a time.
The Connecticut State Police can clock motorists from any angle in many different scenarios using four different technologies: radar, laser, Vascar and Skytimer, which is used from a state police aircraft. Vascar and Skytimer measure the amount of time in takes a vehicle to travel from one point to another.
According to troopers, radar detectors are useless in most cases, because, by the time they alert the user, it is usually too late. They also said their lasers cannot be thwarted by jamming devices because the beam is not aimed at windshields, where the devices are often installed.
Trooper Greene, who has issued as many as 75 tickets and as few as 15 during one shift, said, contrary to the belief of many drivers, troopers do not get a commission on tickets written and are not given a quota they must meet.
''Our higher ups -- command staff and supervisors -- always want us to be more visible,'' he said. ''If that means turning your lights on and making stops, you're turning your lights on.''
When there is the need to be less visible, Trooper Greene has ''hiding holes'' near overpasses and bends in the road, where motorist can't easily spot his Intrepid. And he scoffs at people who say they know the most common hideaways for troopers.
''It's the unforeseen areas that you have to watch out for,'' he said. ''But at the same time, whenever I change hiding places, I always find somebody out there looking to save five minutes by speeding.''
Later in the day, Trooper Greene gave a ticket to a speeder on I-95 close to the Fairfield/Bridgeport line. To catch the driver off guard, he walked up to the car on the passenger's side, making sure to touch it, thereby tying himself to the car with his fingerprints in case he is attacked by someone in the car. The danger the troopers face in such a situation is another reason why they feel compelled to ticket violators.
Despite the dangers, Trooper Greene said many motorists don't appreciate their efforts. He said while everyone wants safer roads, many drivers flash their headlights to warn others about the presence of speed traps or complain about fines when they are ticketed.
"Nobody likes the fines because they're steep," he said. "But I like the fines because maybe the message is: 'Slow down and you won't get them.' Those fines are set so that you won't be a threat to the public."
By JEFF HOLTZ (NYT) 1682 words
CONNECTICUT WEEKLY DESK
The New York Times
Sunday, May 18, 2003
WALTER GREENE, a trooper first class with the State Police, had just pulled a white van over to the shoulder of Interstate 95 in Fairfield. The van had been clocked at 72 miles an hour. Now, he was running a background check on the license plate and studying the mannerisms of the driver before making his approach.
''Making eye contact with me through the rear-view mirror is good,'' said Trooper Greene, making a suggestion to any driver stopped by the police. ''Don't starting reaching under the seat. Don't start moving around the car real quick.''
The driver was issued tickets for speeding, not carrying a registration and having no front license plate on what was a slow day for Trooper Greene, a member of the Western District Traffic Unit, one of three such units in the state. Covering Fairfield County and part of New Haven County, its 13 members specialize in speed enforcement, weigh station inspections and the protection of dignitaries.
In 2002, the latest year available, the unit issued 12,555 moving violations for about $2.5 million in fines. In 2001, the department issued a total of 223,745 tickets for about $29 million in fines.With so many tickets being issued, and the dread that most people have of receiving one, it would be handy to know how to respond when you are pulled over and whether anything you do or say can decrease or increase your chances of receiving a ticket. I am a traffic reporter for Metro Networks, which provides traffic reports to radio and TV stations, and spend hours each day in an airplane watching rush hour unfold in southern Connecticut. Because I often work with the state police, friends sometimes assume I know where all the speed traps are and the strategies the police use to catch speeders. I don't, but figured I should know more about speed enforcement, so I decided to ask the state police if I could spend a day with a trooper, watching him work and picking his brain. The state police agreed and turned me over to Trooper Greene. It was an interesting day.
Trooper Greene drives one of his unit's undercover cars. Each district has as part of its fleet three of these -- either Dodge Intrepids, Chevy Camaros, or Chevy Impalas -- equipped with faster engines, wider wheel bases, heavier suspensions, beefed-up brakes and front-wheel drive. Officers receive training and certification for driving those cars through state police instructors at the Consumer Reports test track in East Haddam. The cars look nothing like a typical state police cruiser.
''If you put a vehicle out there that is similar in nature to civilian vehicles, now you get to see the erratic drivers,'' said Trooper Greene, who drives one of the Intrepids, ''And those are the ones you want.''
On a late Wednesday morning in March I was in that car with Trooper Greene as part of Operation Saturation, which once a week floods one area with about 30 troopers from the Western, Eastern and Central Districts. With much of the traffic over the speed limit, he explained that he must be selective with stops. Indeed, during our five hours monitoring traffic, he stopped only four cars and issued tickets to three of them.
''We start our speed limits at a certain range if we're sitting at the side of the road,'' said Trooper Greene, a 14-year veteran. ''We try to allow for grace speeds, because the individual might think he or she is doing 55 or 60, when they are actually doing 65 or 70, or their speedometer might be off.
''But if I'm doing 65 and you pass me, then we have a problem. It's almost like a disrespect.''
Manners do, indeed, count. If an officer is on the fence about whether to issue a ticket, good behavior, or bad, could tip the balance. Trooper Greene said that he can be compassionate with polite drivers who have good records and have not exceeded the speed limit by a great deal. That was the case with the one driver who didn't get a ticket that Wednesday. Some are only made to wait for a time on the shoulder with what he calls ''a summons without a monetary penalty.''
But whatever you do, don't make up a story about why you were speeding, such as rushing to the hospital with a sick friend.
''There was a time when I followed a person to the hospital with his license and registration, and made sure that he got there and got settled in,'' said Trooper Greene, who said the driver had been going 88 m.p.h. ''I still wrote the ticket.''
The amount of traffic at a given time can also determine whether or not a vehicle is pulled over. Trooper Greene said he routinely tickets drivers doing 70 m.p.h. in moderate volume. However, on this day, while Trooper Greene was patrolling, he saw an S.U.V. traveling between 70 and 75 m.p.h. in light traffic. He did not stop it and explained why.
"He's not driving crazy; he seems to be aware of what he's doing," said Trooper Greene. "He slows down. He's not following too closely. He's not pushing the cars in front of him into the center lane by tailgating. Now, if he goes into a 45 m.p.h. zone and maintains this speed, then we'll go ahead and talk."
Trooper Greene keeps to a fundamental script when questioning motorists about their driving. And the drivers' responses, attitude and demeanor are written down on a part of the ticket that the trooper keeps and the motorists never see, unless there is a courtroom appearance.
He said motorists should never claim they were not speeding when pulled over.
''We want people to be honest and courteous,'' Trooper Greene said. ''Telling us that you weren't speeding offends us. It's testing our knowledge and basically telling us we don't know how to do our job.''
And his pet peeves, or infractions that bother him the most, are: driving in the shoulder, trucks in the left lane and following too closely.
''Following too close causes the majority of accidents,'' said Trooper Greene, who will drive close to 300 miles during one shift. ''Trucks know they can't be in the left lane; they just want to push it. The right shoulder is for emergency vehicles.''
Trooper Greene said one common misconception among speeders is that they have less chance of being caught if they are part of a cluster of cars traveling above the speed limit. He said those who are singled out are often surprised the others got away.
"We go after the car with the highest speed," he said. "When you go fishing, you want the biggest fish."
He also said that drivers who shield themselves behind another speeder don't get any protection, either. (He said speeders have even used his unmarked car as a shield when the officer is racing to catch up to another speeder, not realizing he's a state trooper.) The State Police uses technology that can clock vehicles from behind, and troopers in the traffic districts often work in teams that allow them to stop two cars at a time.
The Connecticut State Police can clock motorists from any angle in many different scenarios using four different technologies: radar, laser, Vascar and Skytimer, which is used from a state police aircraft. Vascar and Skytimer measure the amount of time in takes a vehicle to travel from one point to another.
According to troopers, radar detectors are useless in most cases, because, by the time they alert the user, it is usually too late. They also said their lasers cannot be thwarted by jamming devices because the beam is not aimed at windshields, where the devices are often installed.
Trooper Greene, who has issued as many as 75 tickets and as few as 15 during one shift, said, contrary to the belief of many drivers, troopers do not get a commission on tickets written and are not given a quota they must meet.
''Our higher ups -- command staff and supervisors -- always want us to be more visible,'' he said. ''If that means turning your lights on and making stops, you're turning your lights on.''
When there is the need to be less visible, Trooper Greene has ''hiding holes'' near overpasses and bends in the road, where motorist can't easily spot his Intrepid. And he scoffs at people who say they know the most common hideaways for troopers.
''It's the unforeseen areas that you have to watch out for,'' he said. ''But at the same time, whenever I change hiding places, I always find somebody out there looking to save five minutes by speeding.''
Later in the day, Trooper Greene gave a ticket to a speeder on I-95 close to the Fairfield/Bridgeport line. To catch the driver off guard, he walked up to the car on the passenger's side, making sure to touch it, thereby tying himself to the car with his fingerprints in case he is attacked by someone in the car. The danger the troopers face in such a situation is another reason why they feel compelled to ticket violators.
Despite the dangers, Trooper Greene said many motorists don't appreciate their efforts. He said while everyone wants safer roads, many drivers flash their headlights to warn others about the presence of speed traps or complain about fines when they are ticketed.
"Nobody likes the fines because they're steep," he said. "But I like the fines because maybe the message is: 'Slow down and you won't get them.' Those fines are set so that you won't be a threat to the public."
06-12-2003, 12:08 PM
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by S2000 Driver
[B]A Connecticut State Trooper's-Eye View, Through a Radar Gun, Of the Blur of Traffic
By JEFF HOLTZ (NYT) 1682 words
According to troopers, radar detectors are useless in most cases, because, by the time they alert the user, it is usually too late. They also said their lasers cannot be thwarted by jamming devices because the beam is not aimed at windshields, where the devices are often installed.
[B]A Connecticut State Trooper's-Eye View, Through a Radar Gun, Of the Blur of Traffic
By JEFF HOLTZ (NYT) 1682 words
According to troopers, radar detectors are useless in most cases, because, by the time they alert the user, it is usually too late. They also said their lasers cannot be thwarted by jamming devices because the beam is not aimed at windshields, where the devices are often installed.
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