Slight OT: Ticket prices in Wash state to rise.

[Jdub]

OLYMPIA - The state Senate voted to raise the cost of a basic traffic ticket to $102.

If the bill becomes law it would raise about $16 million for the state and $3 million for local governments in the next two years.

The measure is now in the House.

Currently the basic fine is $86. That's for offenses such as driving 10 miles over the speed limit, running a red light or failing to wear a seatbelt.

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Be careful out there - it's your money!

John

[pwd72s]

I'll try to stay out of Washington. Not that Oregon is any better..

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

LOL, come to CA!

[emcon5]

Originally posted by Jared at Pelican Parts
LOL, come to CA!

Red light in CA is $271.

In the words of Brother Maynard:
"Relax, turn around, and take my hand"

Tom

[banjomike]

Originally posted by emcon5
Red light in CA is $271.

In the words of Brother Maynard:
"Relax, turn around, and take my hand"

Tom

running red lights is @#$^%#@$% dangerous, should be twice that.

Speeding on the other hand is a totally different story. In fact I would argue that on the freeways of the Bay Area, going the speed limit is almost as dangerous as mild weaving.

MsB

[Harlan Chinn]

Running red lights should be deemed Reckless Driving as should weaving while on a cellphone. I've noticed a higher number of WSP traps in the region. QUOTAS!! Be aware, they're there where you least expect to see them!

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

I believe it should be illegal to use a cell phone while driving, PERIOD. You have no idea how many time I have come close to being hit by a distracted soccer mom driving a huge SUV.

[Harlan Chinn]

Subpeona the driver's cell statement if involved with such an unfortunate situation.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

will that hold up in a court?

[Jdub]

Anyone seen the VW ad for the Jetta where the guy is a "fanatical" driver? Notice he doesn't use turn signals as he weaves. Dislike that ad and that kind of driver to say the least. I think VW is doing a disservice to driving habits in general with ads of this sort.

Don't get me started on the "I'm a cowboy since I bought my SUV/Truck" ads...

John

[widebody911]

How much for a Season Pass?

[KennyG]

Originally posted by Jared at Pelican Parts
LOL, come to CA!

LOL..... We all came from there

At these prices, I say "Out Run Em"

[Superman]

I believe the WSP should return to its original agenda, which was traffic and public safety. But what do I know?

Today I saw two SUVs with tires sticking at least two inches outside the top edges of the fenders. I saw several cars with either one working brake light or one working tail light. I even saw one older small pickup with NO working tail lights, going 75-80 mph. I nearly followed him just to see if a trooper would rather nail a Porsche speeder, or notice that a rusty old pickup with no tail lights going the same speed MIGHT be a greater safety hazard. I declined because I think I know the answer to that one. For me, this is sad. Traffic safety is important to me and the WSP used to be fairly well focused in that direction.

[widebody911]

While I agree that running red lights is dangerous, the enforcement thereof has become questionable at best, particularly with the camera systems. It's been documented that they monkey with the light timing to increase revenues by shortening the yellows. So the very system that is suppose to make traffic safer, is tweaked to make it more dangerous in hopes of gathering more revenue. http://www.hwysafety.com/hwy_intro_redlight.htm

[Jdub]

Thom:

Ayup, that is true. Lockheed is making out like a bandit on those little contraptions. They shorten the yellow, and now Lockheed has reset contracts so that the local constabulary get more of the cut.

Why? Because they weren't making enough money to cover the cost of installing the hardware.

It is an outrage.

John

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

Does anyone know if it is illegal to flash your high beams at a red light? I have heard soemthing about the flashing lights tricks the stop light into thinking a emergency vehicle is coming.

[Harlan Chinn]

Emergency vehicles have a transmitter that can at some intersections change the light cycle. As far as I know flashing headlights may just prompt someone to turn on their lights or move over.

[gary-o]

Originally posted by Jared at Pelican Parts
I believe it should be illegal to use a cell phone while driving, PERIOD. You have no idea how many time I have come close to being hit by a distracted soccer mom driving a huge SUV.

Welcome to Newfoundland, Canada. As of the first of this month, it is now a fine (I think about $100.00) and 4 points if caught driving and talking on a cell phone without using the hands-free option.
On the original topic, you speed, you take your chances and pay the price, no contest.
Just call it the cost of admission to a game that should not be played on public highways. Not that I'm a saint
Gary

[emcon5]

Originally posted by banjomike
running red lights is @#$^%#@$% dangerous, should be twice that.

and

Originally posted by Harlan Chinn
Running red lights should be deemed Reckless Driving

Agreed. However, there is a huge difference between doing a slow to .5 MPH and roll the right turn on red when it is clear, or even stretching an artificially shortened-to-make-the-camera-revenue-higher-yellow than blowing through a red light.

It has nothing to do with safety, and everything to do with money, for the city and the company running the cameras.

Tom

[80sctarga]

Washington residents' memory is being dishonored today by a bullying bureaucracy that is undermining the Washingtonian lifestyle, by swaggering acts of overt dictatorship, and by thousands of petty, mean-spirited regulations, accumulating year by year. Little acts of oppression are happening every day, in government offices all over the state, most of them not big enough to make the papers.
Almost everything in this state is now tangled in red tape. The attitude of local government in many places has reached virtually overt contempt of its citizens. Many of our petty officials revel in mindless enforcement, making people waste money and time, interfering in lives, sometimes smashing dreams, often knowing full well in specific cases that their controls are serving no genuine community purpose.
Every department has its own narrow reasons for inflicting its new regulations, but there is no department for protecting us from the cumulative effect. And it seems no politician either. There is no party for the Protection of Humans from Bureaucratic Suffocation.
The benefit of our high standard of living is increasingly undermined by man-made controls. It takes a long time to learn the bureaucratic ropes. No wonder life is so depressing for many young people, especially teenagers - to whom it seems that nothing is permitted.
From now on, human room to move should be recognized as a serious argument for repealing controls that aren't grievously necessary. It should be seen as a valid argument against new controls. Regulations are always clumsy. Officials should be required to back off in cases where they are doing more harm than good.