House of Eratosthenes

“These are machines,” says substitute teacher Robert Zirgulis. “They don’t care. You go one foot over the line — bam, $500.”
:
“I’m paranoid,” says Peter Davis, “because I don’t want to get a ticket.”

During his three-mile daily commute to work, Davis has to navigate past three red-light cameras. So he ends up making all these split-second decisions.

“If the light turns yellow, and I’m confident I can get over the crosswalk while it’s still yellow, then I’m going to accelerate to get through the traffic light,” he says. But Davis also worries about rear-end collisions. “There’s always the concern of someone behind me, are they going to ram me from behind,” he says.

They’re all statements about the obvious. But when money is involved, the obvious starts to become not-so-obvious…kind of meanders into what Upton Sinclair was talking about.

It’s always been my viewpoint that safety should come first. Once the safety protocol or mechanism or constraint introduces an element of frustration or confusion that wasn’t there before, and thereby makes the thoroughfare less safe — we should just make a point of at least being honest about it, and admitting the whole point to the damn thing is to generate revenue, since it’s pointless to try to improve safety by making the motorists more agitated, ticked off and distracted.

Back when I was young, and dumb, and stupid, I actually explained this to a cop who pulled me over for speeding. Ah, it was my 10^th high school reunion, now that I think on it…I was driving back home taking the scenic route, I believe I was collared right about here. And if I’ve nailed that down right, and you actually go there to find out what I’m talking about, you’ll see this is a boneheaded stupid place for a speed trap. Yes, I should have kept it down to 35 or whatever it was, but even at that speed you just don’t need the distraction. And I don’t believe it was 35. It was one of those things where they ratchet it way down, to something ridiculous, and then the cars with radar detectors slow down 5 or 10 beneath that. Result, a long procession of gleaming metal bodies being piloted along a one lane road with no means of escape…confusion, exasperation, despair, agitation.

I should add this road has a long history of supplying a disproportionate supply of bodies to the medical examiner’s office. I know, because I met the medical examiner when I was a kid, and he made a point of mentioning he really had it in for this road. He lobbied long and hard to get that speed limit nailed down and to make sure it was enforced.

Noble intentions; quixotic, counter-productive achievement. He crossed the point of diminishing returns. Yes I’m biased in saying that, but I’m also experienced — that road would be a whole lot safer if it didn’t take the better part of an hour to navigate the eight miles or so, and if you didn’t have to worry about sparing some shoulder room for the boys-in-blue, whilst worrying your frazzled little head about what might be flying around the corner in the left lane.

No consequences in store for my second act of foolishness, outpouring my exasperation to the cop. I was let off with a warning. And that was the last time I was pulled over for speeding, actually — sixteen years ago. My last speeding ticket was in the summer of ’89…and, knock on wood, I’m still an old virgin when it comes to citations for running red lights. My cherry hasn’t been popped yet. So I’m not completely reckless & stupid. Just have my moments, like most of us.

In my grayer, more pear-shaped years, I just say yes-officer no-officer and keep my feelings to myself. Save it for the courtroom.

Chuckanut Dr. It’s an understatement to call it “the scenic route”. Didn’t know you were a WeWa resident Morgan. I’m right down the road on Hood Canal. Chuckanut sure enough demands your full concetration to navigate. The tourists seem to have a habit of meandering over the center line while ogling the views and the only options for the other guy become head on or over the side.
- westsoundmodern | 04/18/2010 @ 10:11
“Chuckanut Dr.”?

I’m going to assume that this is an old joke for the locals.

You might be interested in checking this list of speedtraps near Bellingham. There’s an entry for one “near Whatcom/Skagit county line” but I don’t know the area and Googlemaps doesn’t show the county line.
- djmoore | 04/18/2010 @ 16:11
My stance has always been that if your jurisdiction cannot afford to pay a police officer to physically sit there and write tickets…then you don’t write tickets. Period. You don’t pay some corporation to manufacture a little robot to be mounted at the intersection, whose unblinking eye sits there all day and night nailing people for petty little crap as they try to get from one place to another.

Taking a picture of your vehicle is designed to do only one thing to the accused – demoralize him into just paying the fine – which, by the way, has gotten completely out of hand. (Here in California it’s gone from $135 to $420 in, what, five or six years?) You don’t even have a chance to weasel out of it the way you would with a speeding ticket – if the cop doesn’t show up to court, you’re off the hook. Instead, you have a machine doing a human being’s job.

Personally, I’d support federal legislation to ban all automated traffic enforcement cameras and sensors. They cause more problems than they solve, and most of the money they generate goes into the pockets of some corporation anyway. Something like half the penalties paid. It’s not like the fines are even being used to improve public safety or do anything besides buy more of the stupid things for more intersections.

I won’t even get started on speed cameras, or the surveillance systems popping up all over the place like down in Ripon, CA.
- cylarz | 04/18/2010 @ 18:40
djm,

Having grown up there, it’s a new one on me that it’s called “Chuckanut Rd” although I admit this really doesn’t mean much because the locals have all kinds of opinions about what should be called what. Bellingham has a rich and interesting history, it’s actually a fusion among three ancient municipalities that sprawled together with the maturing of technology: Whatcom, “Classic” Bellingham, and Fairhaven a.k.a. Chuckanut. I think I got that right. Anyway, the harbor is a near-perfect square situated 45 degrees from true north, so Classic-Bellingham’s streets were laid out parallel parallel to the harbor, whereas Fairhaven and Whatcom were situated according to the compass. Which makes for some interestingly-shaped blocks around the library, City Hall and the lettered streets where the rents are cheapest.

If I’m not mistaken, Van’s BB Furniture building is still there, standing as an immortal monument to this architectural conundrum, although I’m not visiting home often enough to comment too authoritatively about this. Things get torn down and replaced, etc. But there were always some vexing issues in certain buildings in the downtown district about where to put certain rectangular furniture items to accommodate this geometric fault line.

Anyway. I believe that speed trap is the one, although the Internet we know today would not have been available for my perusal back in ’94. And it would suggest the cop did not pass on my concerns. Didn’t do a lot of other stuff he could’ve done…I count myself lucky.
- mkfreeberg | 04/19/2010 @ 09:00

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Designed for Profit, Not for SafetySunday, April 18th, 2010

Designed for Profit, Not for Safety
Sunday, April 18th, 2010