Do traffic cops cause more issues than they solve? Or are they just there to pay their own salaries?

You've seen at least 24 wrecks because people are slamming on their brakes when seeing a traffic cop? I've driven hundreds of thousands of miles over 40+ years and never seen one. Many of those miles spent in Texas.

 

Hopefully I'm never driving near Xero, he seems dangerous on the road.

 

Bad drivers necessitate traffic cops.

 

People treat cops like Pitbulls
They maybe safe
They may not
So
Don't make eye contact. . .don't Attract there attention
Cause if you do . . .it can potentially be fatal . .. but at best will be unpleasent and scary

As for their duty . . . remember cops are generally reactionary
they do prevent with presence but mostly they just there to catch people after the fact
The tickets are nothing but pure revenue generation .. . usually focused on the poorer among us
(The Rich have lawyers to fight it .. . . .cops don't show if you stretch it out long enough)
A Good LAwyer will beat a beat cop 9 times out of 10 in those lil courts

Rocket River

 

That may be, but you're obviously a magnet for chaos.

 

Helicopter traffic stops sound dangerous.

 

I'd love nothing more than for major highways to be littered with traffic cops. There's so many bad drivers (wreckless/fast but also slow/inattentive ones in the passing lane) but it's clearly a luxury to have that many extra police. The one thing I absolutely do not want is automation in that arena. Red light and speed cameras are bad enough, I don't want those cash vampires expanding their reach.

 

I think you have a great point about police placement as a dangerous driving deterrent. If the police are doing the thing where they are playing the gotcha game at the back side of a hill they could be causing more issues by brake slamming or people taking their eyes off the road.

Their presence though used as a deference is not a bad thing. I just think that policy should change to make sure their presence is viewable and not a shock presence because they are trying to get their quota by playing the gotcha game.

Police should start trying to be seen as leaders and coaches in the community and stop it with a gotcha type of relationship with otherwise well meaning citizens. Your presence as a cop could be a good thing and people could start to feel safer if Police were positioned in traffic or other community situations as more of guides than jacked up swat teams ready to take you down when you are least expecting them to so you better behave. That form of policing is prevalent and the way we see gotcha traffic processes conducted is a microcosm into the culture of policing.

 

You have no idea how bad the Semi's and Dumptrucks roll around here. Police don't care. It's a free for all.

 

I believe it. The Capitol beltway is basically fury road. Also, Maryland drivers are the absolute worst in the country.

 

Cops solve more problems than they create.The alternative would be groups of enforcers would carve out areas as gangs and you would have general lawlessness.

 

Shut up.

 

Definitely need more traffic enforcement. Too many poor drivers, road ragers, uninsured/unlicensed drivers, fake plates.

Technology to automate isn't the problem. There's too many cars on the road and not enough enforcers. Automated license plate readers should be more ubiquitous. Impound any car with fake plates or unlicensed/uninsured. Red light cameras reduce t-bone accidents. Egregious speeders should be ticketed.

As it is now, moving violations are practically decriminalized and it's led to more dangerous roads and costly accidents the innocent suffer from. It can be automated. I hate the US system that you have to prove who was driving to give a fine. Send the registered owner the fine unless he/she can prove someone else was behind the wheel.

 

I speed every day. And I get one ticket every 5-10 years. Not much of a deterrent to pay a couple hundred bucks (plus several grueling hours in defensive driving) for years of speeding. Americans have a visceral distaste for automated traffic enforcement. But, it's a lot more effective in actually getting people to obey traffic laws than the tiny risk of being pulled over. We can avoid racial profiling and opportunities for police brutality in the process. I'm all for it. Especially red light cameras. But I'm pretty sure Americans (and frankly, conservatives) will do all kinds of anti-social things to try to subvert traffic accountability to the point it isn't worth trying to do.

Switzerland relies a lot more on automation to ticket people. And, from what I saw, people just don't speed. It probably is not just the automated traffic enforcement. It feels like the roads are engineered in a way that doesn't really make you want to speed. And they have a culture of following the rules anyway. But my sister had to keep reminding me to slow down to not get ticketed. As an American, it feels very Big Brother. Swiss seem to be happy with it, so I'm sure I'd get used to it.

EDIT: In a decade or two, all our cars will be autonomous, and will follow all the rules. So it'll be moot. Though, I will go ahead and predict there will be a reactionary movement (from conservatives) against government policies that encourage or require autonomous vehicles because it'll be so frustrating to sit in a car that drives the speed limit and stops at red lights.

 

Their involvement in non-moving violations should be curtailed or eliminated. Too often, these stops lead to unnecessary problems.

An expired inspection sticker or registration can be handled by mail or electronically.

Stick to getting the crazy drivers off the road.

 

If automated enforcement becomes a thing, few things need to happen:

Speed limits need to increase because by default the vast majority of drivers' default speed is 5 miles over. Or at the least provide a tolerance buffer.

Also if you are going to increase speed limits, invest a lot in the quality of the roads. The German Autobahn is possible because of how well the unlimited speed limit stretches are maintained.

Also increase the standard for obtaining licenses. The threshold should be people understanding what the left lane on the interstate is used for.

On your last edit, I would say people like me would be frustrated a bit if autonomous driving was the only option because I enjoy driving.

 

My cousin was a JP in a small-medium West Texas town on a major highway. They did some experiments. For 3 months they had the Sheriff sit out in the open in his patrol car coming into town, and for 3 months they set him up as a "trap" by having him hide and catch people.

In the 3 months they had him in the open they had way less tickets AND way less accidents (people slowed down). When he hid, they had way MORE tickets and way more accidents (people sped more). They changed their rules and had him sit out in the open every day.

I think there are actual studies that correlate speed limits to number of accidents extremely high...so if a patrol car causes people to slow down, it should (in theory) cause people to have less accidents. Brake tapping accidents from seeing a patrol car would seem like corner cases and outliers.

 

I've 37 wrecks from that myself on the road.

kidding I haven't seen a single one.

wtf