I don't think police should pull people over for minor traffic infractions, which are IMHO just excuses. People end up dead over a turn signal.

Just scan their license plate and ticket the registered owner. Done.

Anonymous wrote:Aren't the traffic cameras everywhere catching speeders? No need to pull people over.

Cameras catch speeders but people just don’t pay the fine. The cameras are for generating revenue. If they actually worked as a deterrent, there would be less speeding and there’s not.

I’ve lived in DC for 15 years and have only seen two cars pulled over. Two. Yet drivers routinely speed, run red lights and stop signs, and violate other traffic laws.

Aren't the traffic cameras everywhere catching speeders? No need to pull people over.

Philandro wasn’t even driving

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cops used speeding as pretext traffic stops which was the problem.

Cops don’t like to write traffic tickets because it’s not “real policing” to them.

There is no “I’m afraid to write speeding tickets”. That’s not a thing.

Was the person speeding??? If the person wasn't speeding then they wouldn't get pulled over and the police wouldn't have a chance to find other infractions. I don't get it. Why is it a problem?

No. That's what pretext means. That's what driving while black is - they pulled people over and said their taillight was out (even if it wasn't) or they were speeding or ran a stop sign or drifted out of their lane. Just to pull them over an harass them, or because they assumed being black means they have a higher likelihood of having drugs on them or something. Look what happened to Philando Castile - pulled over 49 times in 13 years. Driving with tinted windows. An "unlit license plate" at night. Turning into a parking lot without signaling. No dangerous reckless speeding, nothing you'd have to prove with a radar reading, nothing anyone I know has ever been pulled over for once. Just hassling him because he was a black guy with dreads - "fit the description" in recruits heads of what a criminal looks like.

This is why cops fought body cameras so hard. Hard to make up a pretext when it can be reviewed.

Kind of lost us there. Don't know a single person, to include numerous POC, who have been pulled over that often. Philando was likely a crappy driver.

Pretext stops has nothing to do with many officers being against bodycams. There are so many violations in the motor vehicle code that you can pull over virtually anyone and do it legally. Sounds like you don't know any cops.

I agree, OP. I’m routinely on the beltway and see:
Aggressive driving, excessive speed, no lights after dusk, no license plates, etc. I’m wondering how bad you have to drive to get pulled over. Do police just not enforce traffic laws any more?

Defund the police. Speeding stops are pretexts for racial harassment, nothing more.

Anonymous wrote:This is not true. I 've seen more police pullovers, even on the beltway!

On the ICC it continues too.
What I have noticed OP is that some pullovers I've seen involve 2 cop cars, not just the typical 1.

I saw someone getting pulled over on 270 in MD on Thanksgiving day.

Anonymous wrote:
I drive on Little Falls Parkway every day and see cars pulled over all the time. I always arrive too late to see why. I've never seen as many cars pulled over elsewhere on my round (Old Georgetown Rd, River Rd, Rockville Pike, East-West Hwy). It's a mystery.

People are making the left from Mass Ave during times it isn't allowed, because of the closure of Ridgefield Road. Police are actively enforcing it. I just go up Mass and do a U turn so I can make a right onto LF Parkway.

Anonymous wrote:I see them all the time.

The biggest story not being reported is the failure of automated driving to deliver on its promises and the low likelihood of it doing so in our lifetimes.

FSD is always “5 years away” (going on 15 years now)

What’s best is we need to hit level 5 or bust. Level 4 is so dangerous: car drives in easy situations, then suddenly demands the (sleeping, reading, daydreaming) driver to take control in complex/emergency situations, and drivers will have degraded abilities from not driving as much.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see them all the time.

The biggest story not being reported is the failure of automated driving to deliver on its promises and the low likelihood of it doing so in our lifetimes.

I strongly disagree.

Automated driving, per user, kills significantly fewer people than human driving! As usual, it's not a technical problem, it's a behavioral problem. Humans have a hard time accepting injuries and deaths when a machine made the decision, because that's a loss of control that a human brain isn't quite ready for just yet. The much higher toll due to human error is for the moment, infinitely more acceptable, since every human thinks: "I drive better, I am more careful, it won't happen to me. But if a machine makes a mistake, it could be me."

We saw the same thing for Covid vaccines: the technology was there, and vaccine penetration was low in certain places. Our technology has always outpaced our brain's capacity to evolve to accept it immediately. We're still prehistoric little hominids in our hindbrain.

You are wrong on the state of the technology. I know that’s the hypothetical outcome but it is NOT the current reality and it’s not the reality on the horizon.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cops used speeding as pretext traffic stops which was the problem.

Cops don’t like to write traffic tickets because it’s not “real policing” to them.

There is no “I’m afraid to write speeding tickets”. That’s not a thing.

Was the person speeding??? If the person wasn't speeding then they wouldn't get pulled over and the police wouldn't have a chance to find other infractions. I don't get it. Why is it a problem?

No. That's what pretext means. That's what driving while black is - they pulled people over and said their taillight was out (even if it wasn't) or they were speeding or ran a stop sign or drifted out of their lane. Just to pull them over an harass them, or because they assumed being black means they have a higher likelihood of having drugs on them or something. Look what happened to Philando Castile - pulled over 49 times in 13 years. Driving with tinted windows. An "unlit license plate" at night. Turning into a parking lot without signaling. No dangerous reckless speeding, nothing you'd have to prove with a radar reading, nothing anyone I know has ever been pulled over for once. Just hassling him because he was a black guy with dreads - "fit the description" in recruits heads of what a criminal looks like.

This is why cops fought body cameras so hard. Hard to make up a pretext when it can be reviewed.

Anonymous wrote:Cops used speeding as pretext traffic stops which was the problem.

Cops don’t like to write traffic tickets because it’s not “real policing” to them.

There is no “I’m afraid to write speeding tickets”. That’s not a thing.

Was the person speeding??? If the person wasn't speeding then they wouldn't get pulled over and the police wouldn't have a chance to find other infractions. I don't get it. Why is it a problem?