Why are basic traffic rules not enforced?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Officer! Help! There’s a bank robbery on Main Street”

“I’ll get to it right after I finish ticketing this person for not using a turn signal”

Can the police department not do both?

OP isn’t complaining about one person, they are complaining about literally everyone. No one has the stomach to pay for the amount of cops you need to enforce that.

Speed cameras are the closest we can get and when my neighborhood wanted one people complained about them. What can you do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The one that hacks me off is license plate violators. Obviously illegal covers on plate, tags many months out of date (MD).. I feel like if I did that, I'd get pulled over right now. And the dark tag cover crowd skews UMC/rich as much anything from my observations.

This could be an easy fix—petition for these to return to primary infractions so you can be pulled over for it. The worst drivers will have tag covers to evade speed cameras.

[Anonymous]

I just paid $300 in parking and stop sign tickets. The stop sign tickets showed our car with the brake lights on! We had stopped and these are bad tickets. But we’re just exhausted and will pony up. Meanwhile people drive 300 mph on our Ave every single day with their loud ass ghetto engines and music blaring and rattling every home. Why don’t these people pay? You guessed it. The people who will pay are good citizens, working people. Those who don’t pay are criminals who go free. It’s a completely hypocritical system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one stops their cars at stop signs - they use them as suggestions. I am always throwing my arms up at cars when I am a pedestrian.

They don't stop at the stop sign line, instead they stop over the line in the crosswalk.

Illegal tints.

Illegal cell phone usage.

Lack of turn signals.

Excessive speeding.

Police don't do much to make the road safer. I rarely even see police cars, and if I do, they are traveling to/from the station and don't enforce the law. What is the county/state/country doing to make our roads safe?

BEcause people LOSE their minds over it.

I live in an upper NW DC neighborhood where people go to avoid Mass and Wisonsin Avenue traffic—we have tens of thousadns (it's been measured!) of cars coming through everyday at rush hour—they speed and they don't stop at stop signs at crosswalks were 1000+ students are walking. It's insane. DC put out stop light cameras and THE NEIGHBORHOOD lost their shizz over it. It's an insane traffic enforcement issue that has created a massive and incredibly frightening safety issue that people in the neighborhood worry about constantly—but in the same breath they will RAGE against Bowser for her unfair money-grubbing traffic cams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just paid $300 in parking and stop sign tickets. The stop sign tickets showed our car with the brake lights on! We had stopped and these are bad tickets. But we’re just exhausted and will pony up. Meanwhile people drive 300 mph on our Ave every single day with their loud ass ghetto engines and music blaring and rattling every home. Why don’t these people pay? You guessed it. The people who will pay are good citizens, working people. Those who don’t pay are criminals who go free. It’s a completely hypocritical system.

Good citizens stop at stop signs.

When I’m driving on the highway at 65 mph there are plenty of brake lights yet no one is stopping.

The law in DC is that you must come to a complete stop before the crosswalk or stop line. You may have slowed and looked both ways, you may have come to a complete stop. But you seem to have no come to a complete stop before the designated spot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just paid $300 in parking and stop sign tickets. The stop sign tickets showed our car with the brake lights on! We had stopped and these are bad tickets. But we’re just exhausted and will pony up. Meanwhile people drive 300 mph on our Ave every single day with their loud ass ghetto engines and music blaring and rattling every home. Why don’t these people pay? You guessed it. The people who will pay are good citizens, working people. Those who don’t pay are criminals who go free. It’s a completely hypocritical system.

Brake lights aren’t good enough. It doesn’t mean you stopped, it means you tapped your breaks. You can request a video of your sorry drive thru if you want.

Criminals suck and should be targeted by police but you should also stop at stop signs.

[Anonymous]

I would just like speed enforcement on the beltways and major roads. The reckless driving is stunning.

[Anonymous]

The cop cars have cameras that automatically read the license plates. They ignore many issues (theft, fake plates, no registration) in order to avoid chases and to avoid escalating situations. They have to assume there is a gun on board the vehicle now.

[Anonymous]

You mean like bicycle riders who blast through stop signs without a care in the world?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would just like speed enforcement on the beltways and major roads. The reckless driving is stunning.

I think highways should be unlimited speed in left lane. I also think neighborhood roads should be scaled back to 15 and very strictly enforced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would just like speed enforcement on the beltways and major roads. The reckless driving is stunning.

I think highways should be unlimited speed in left lane. I also think neighborhood roads should be scaled back to 15 and very strictly enforced.

Unlimited aggressive driving in the left lane you mean. And you also likely mean 15mph for everyone "except me".

Just drives sensibly. How hard is that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The one that hacks me off is license plate violators. Obviously illegal covers on plate, tags many months out of date (MD).. I feel like if I did that, I'd get pulled over right now. And the dark tag cover crowd skews UMC/rich as much anything from my observations.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would just like speed enforcement on the beltways and major roads. The reckless driving is stunning.

I think highways should be unlimited speed in left lane. I also think neighborhood roads should be scaled back to 15 and very strictly enforced.

Unlimited aggressive driving in the left lane you mean. And you also likely mean 15mph for everyone "except me".

Just drives sensibly. How hard is that?

No. I meant what I typed. Unlimited speed in left lane on highway. It’s different from aggressive driving.

And I did not “likely mean everyone except me” for neighborhood speed limits of 15. Not sure why you’d make that assumption.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one stops their cars at stop signs - they use them as suggestions. I am always throwing my arms up at cars when I am a pedestrian.

They don't stop at the stop sign line, instead they stop over the line in the crosswalk.

Illegal tints.

Illegal cell phone usage.

Lack of turn signals.

Excessive speeding.

Police don't do much to make the road safer. I rarely even see police cars, and if I do, they are traveling to/from the station and don't enforce the law. What is the county/state/country doing to make our roads safe?

BEcause people LOSE their minds over it.

I live in an upper NW DC neighborhood where people go to avoid Mass and Wisonsin Avenue traffic—we have tens of thousadns (it's been measured!) of cars coming through everyday at rush hour—they speed and they don't stop at stop signs at crosswalks were 1000+ students are walking. It's insane. DC put out stop light cameras and THE NEIGHBORHOOD lost their shizz over it. It's an insane traffic enforcement issue that has created a massive and incredibly frightening safety issue that people in the neighborhood worry about constantly—but in the same breath they will RAGE against Bowser for her unfair money-grubbing traffic cams.

That's because traffic cameras are democratic and what people want is "traffic enforcement for thee but not for me." If someone else does it then it's a dangerous illegality that must be stopped. If I do it it's a minor infraction and it's oppressive to fine me.

Traffic violations are really hard for people to figure out because pretty much everyone violates some traffic law sometimes. I am a careful and law abiding driver who has never been in a collision and makes an effort to drive legally and safely. But I've been pulled over for speeding and making a turn without signalling. And the time I turned without signalling I didn't have my drivers license on me! I can explain the extenuating circumstances in the situations where I was pulled over and they'd probably make you sympathetic to my plight. But it doesn't change the fact that I did in fact violate traffic laws and those laws are not written with exceptions. If you drive for long enough you will eventually make mistakes and incur infractions.

So we struggle because we need traffic enforcement but no one wants to be subject to punishment for violating traffic laws. Add in the race issues and the examples of black people being murdered or assaulted over minor traffic incidents and it makes it even worse. Traffic enforcement is a real quandary for humanity.

Which is why I support doing whatever we can to get people to choose alternatives to driving. [ducks]

[Anonymous]

Traffic fatalities have increased significantly over the last 3 years; 30% to 80 % depending on the locality. And traffic enforcement (number of traffic stops by LE) has decreased by 30% to 80% during the same period, depending on the locality.