The Mean Police!

Watch your Speed!

Sure! The traffic police have a job to do to maintain law and order on our highways. They enforce proper documentation and our observence of speed laws. I respect them when they warn us that speed checks are being carried out by using radar. They don't have to do that as drivers should always assume that our speed is being monitored. It is in our interest that we are being kept in check because it is usually an excess of speed that leads to car crashes. I prefer to go through my day accident-free.

There are places where the radar trap is set which is at the point that a higher speed changes to a lower one. As we pass the sign we should be driving no faster than the posted speed. Some of the signs are posted so close together I would have to stand on my brakes to comply. That is neither fair or reasonable.

During the past two weeks I have passed a particular spot where the police have set up their radar so that drivers will blindly blunder across it. I have tried to determine from posted speed signs what the limit for that stretch is, but there are no signs. When driving into the city the last signs lower the speed from 120 to 80. We drive over a bridge, and around two sets of roundabouts before driving across the radar.

On driving from the city, although there are no signs to say so, we should have been travelling at 50 kph when passing the radar. So, 80 one way and 50 the other? This can't be right. I drove through the first time at 60 without problem, so my guess is 80 must be correct, but surely, this is not the way to treat drivers.

This seems to me to be just another way to rip off soft targets. It also seems to be using the police as though they are highwaymen, and that is not in accordance with their station. I want to continue to respect what I usually consider the most professional police service in the world. Tricking drivers in this manner does not help my perception.

Copyright (c) 2013  Eugene Carmichael