Write an E-MAIL to the Governor about the WSP!!

You know who is CORRUPT?? CHELAN COUNTY...the whole system is corrupt.

 

I have to speak up about how silly it is the way no one ever runs for office touting their position on automotive affairs. Maybe the occasional, "I'll cut emissions and sponsor the use of alternative fuels", but never anything beyond that. When you consider the fact that roads may be the largest duty of the Government, it just doesn't make sense. There are far more cars than soldiers, and you can't get an education unless you have a way to get there, but yet no one runs for office with the intent of re-working the 'revenue enforcement system'. How many average voters would notice if the elected officials didn't do a single thing while in office? I'd bet that a great deal of people are completely oblivious to how few bills actually get passed that have any bearing on our day to day lives. If someone ran for office with an automotive agenda, they may easily crush an opponent. Nearly everyone has a car in this country (statistically). Is there a single thing that more citizens have in common than their use of automobiles? Will somebody please run for office pledging to reform the horribly misguided revenue collection agents we call "traffic cops"?!?!

 

I petitioned

 

Thanks Roy for starting the ball rolling. I sent my letter out.

Would it be more effective to have a grass roots campaign or petition so that more people get involved? I think that as dear as this issue is to most of us. Most wont take the time to send a letter. However if there was a "form letter" that allowed a "signature" to be added to the bottom...well my two cents worth.

Anyone have experience with this? If I did I would be the first to create this and make available to all. If anyone is able to do this and needs help with another part of this PM me.

Philip

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=115950

I have included some of the Revenue Cars that I have found. These are not used for public safety as I see it.

 

Why not write to someone who has more clout with the people, someone who works in their best interest and listens?
Someone with proven results...someone like Tim Eyman.




.

 

Roy has got the right idea....

I have told my wife for YEARS, that if she ever has an "unmarked" police car try to pull her over to keep going until she gets to an off-ramp and pull into a lighted and well populated place.

Like Roy said, there are a ton of idiots out there ready to prey on the unsuspecting.

If anyone thinks its an urban legend, they can check it out here:

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/mayhem/fakecop.asp

By the way, I LOVE what George Pataki did in New York in 1996!!!! Check the last paragraph of the site above. Basically, he issued an executive order to prevent "unmarked" police cars from pulling over motorists for routine traffic stops.

Mike

 

Great Idea. Lets put one out here and have one of the legal eagles look it over and then get the Pettis ion rolling. I know a plethora (butt load) of people that would sign in a heart beat..

 

As predicted, Portland news yesterday: A women pulled over by an unmarked car with a flashing light. Person stated he was a cop and that she was driving a stolen car. She knew something was wrong and started to drive away as he started to open her door.

 

Here is the article:

http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_013007_news_officer_impersonator_.3470b7a6.html

I just e-mailed the Governor this morning. Like Roy, I would urge everyone to take a couple minutes to fill out the form and voice your concerns.

Mike
'02 Maserati GT Coupe

 

I was home sick again today so had some spare time to write something up. If you like it, copy and paste it in an e-mail to Governor.


Dear Governor Gregoire,

I am writing this as a concerned citizen and taxpayer of the State of Washington. I have been concerned over the methods and tactics being employed by our State Patrol over the last several years. First they started using more unmarked cars. Next they figured out how to get the state license plates changed so they couldn’t be identified. Now the latest trick is to use staged DOT equipment on the side of the road. All of this is being done in the name of public safety.

Recently there have been concerns voiced over how long it would be before the criminal element in our midst would pick up on this trend and use it to their advantage. Recently in Oregon a woman was pulled over by an unmarked car and asked to exit her vehicle. Her instincts told her the situation was not right and she drove away only to find out later her instincts were correct. It was not a police officer that had pulled her over. What would have happened had she not relied on her instincts? Yes, it was in another state but the ramifications are no less applicable here in Washington.

Public safety is the buzz word the State Patrol uses to justify their tactics. They say they need the unmarked cars to help catch road rage offenders. They used the DOT equipment to catch speeders. Now the news stories are telling us that they are going to begin ticketing (instead of warning) more drivers even if the offense is very minor (1-5 mph over the speed limit).

According to our own Washington State Department of Transportation, speed limits should be set using the following concepts:
• The majority of motorists drive in a safe and reasonable manner
• The normally careful and competent actions of a reasonable person should be considered to be legal
• Laws are established for the protection of the public and the regulation of unreasonable behavior of a few individuals
• Laws cannot be effectively enforced without the consent and voluntary compliance of the majority

Were our highway speed limits set using the above mentioned concepts? I doubt it, national highway funding seems to play a more important role (Montana is a perfect example). If the majority of cars are traveling above the speed limit they must be driving in “a safe and reasonable manner”. Why then would the State Patrol need to so strictly enforce the artificially low speed limits? Revenue generation is the only logical answer. You can’t possibly believe for an instant that a person exceeding the speed limit by 5 mph or less is a real danger to the public.

The biggest concern though is that the State Patrol, an agency that should be protecting the public from the criminal element in our society, is alienating themselves from that very public! What possible purpose could there be for ticketing a motorist for exceeding the speed limit by one MPH? Next time you are out driving on our state’s highways watch for yourself what happens when a State Trooper appears. People will slam on their brakes and slow down to BELOW the speed limit. Why do you think they do this and how can this possibly be good for public safety?

The State Patrol states that they stop speeders to maintain safety on our highways. In other countries where enforcement is centered on truly illegal activities or faulty equipment and not speed enforcement do you think the accident rate is higher. Actually nothing could be further from the truth. Data from the World Health Organization shows the fatality rate on German roads was 15.1 per 1000 people for the year 2000 (the latest year data was available). Would you care to guess what the rate was for the same year in the United States? Try nearly double that (30.1 per 1000) in spite of our attempts to enforce artificially low speed limits.

I implore you to begin reigning in State Patrol’s tactics and get them back to working on actually protecting the public. They need to work hard on regaining the public’s trust before it’s too late. Just think how we would all feel if the scenario in Oregon were to repeat itself with a different outcome. I, as a citizen and taxpayer, certainly don’t want that on my shoulders!! I hope you don’t either!!


.

 

By the way, I also sent a copy to my state senator and reps. You can find contact info for your reps here...http://www1.leg.wa.gov/legislature/ Just click on "Find your District".


.

 

Good one.

 

The problems, as I see them are as follows:

* General public apathy. We, like sheep, accept the speed limits as what they "should" be -- what politician has ever run successfully on a platform of speed-limit overhaul ? The irony is that if the money could be raised alternatively by a 2 or 3 cent raise in the tax on gas .... well, that *would* create a public outcry....

* Safety Nazis run amok everywhere here -- heaven forbid you drive at 30mph through a neighborhood -- I've had the SNs run after me for driving 25!!

* We're brainwashed into the whole Ralph Nader BS "unsafe at any speed", that Speed == death.

* The media propagates the idiocy of "speed == death". This one I really don't understand -- here the media does a good job of standing up to corruption where they see it, scandal where they can find it, but they just play right along with the govt where speed is concerned... That Seattle-PI article is the perfect example -- note the author's *obvious* bias demonizing speeders; you'd think that child-abusers and speeders were on the same level of harm to society reading that article...

* The insurance institute are in cahoots -- if they had their way the 55mph would still exist country-wide. This is a *powerful* lobby group and epitomizes everything wrong with the American political system -- "he that hath money seteth the policy".

* Any time someone is speeding and has an accident, then automatically speed was the cause(only thing that trumps speed is alcohol). You're breaking the law at 65 instead of 60, and an elk jumps out of the road (or the tire blows, car cuts you off, etc etc) and you're in an accident, well there's another statistical proof that speed causes accidents.

The one good thing, the last saving grace is our constitution. This is under attack constantly, but it has stood so far. We should consider ourselves very lucky, so far, that we do not have automatic speed cameras in this state. In the UK it has completely *ruined* the whole driving experience there. My brother-in-law has nearly lost his license because of automatic "points" for speeding, and this is an endemic problem over there. You have no idea just how MANY cameras there are too -- we're not talking here'n'there, at trouble-spots etc ... no no no no... a one-mile stretch of road might have 2 or more cameras! They're hidden too, or put in places where you might not have enough time to slow down. Some are easy to spot because of the "hatch" marks on the road for the technology to calculate the speed correctly .. but newer technology doesn't need those markings, so they're getting harder to spot. Public outrage about these cameras is rising, whereby "masked crusaders" are putting tires over the cameras, covering them in gasoline and then cremating the wretched devices. The public cheer them on and they're treated like modern-day Robin Hoods and given hero-status. Websites document the best ways to dispatch them, and offer videos to watch them burn. The police of course are livid about it, and the government fights back as hard as it can ... no wonder when you consider how much money each camera raises.... there used to be film in each camera -- and "good spots" used to cause the camera to run out of film in just a few hours, leaving the spot unprotected for 99% of the time. Latest technology uses digital cameras that never run out, and can generate revenue quietly and surreptitiously day and night with never a break.

Here's a page with what the Brits have been doing to the speedcams:
http://www.speedcam.co.uk/gatso2.htm

 

Ireland is getting to be just as bad as the UK as far as the cameras go.

 

I'm sure all of us that wrote to the Governor received a "can" reply. But, this is what I got and thought I would share. Can you say "Smoke and Mirrors"?

Thank you for contacting Governor Gregoire concerning the use of unmarked patrol vehicles for traffic law enforcement.

The Washington State Patrol (WSP) firmly believes that traffic law enforcement is closely linked to collision reduction. Two of the most frequent and hazardous collision-causing traffic offenses are speed and driving under the influence. Unmarked non-conventional patrol vehicles have been part of the WSP fleet for many years and have proven to be very useful.

As part of its enforcement strategy, WSP has implemented several programs to identify aggressive drivers and reduce motorist speed. The Aggressive Driver Apprehension Team (ADAT) is part of that strategy, and troopers assigned to the program use unmarked non-traditional vehicles to identify and apprehend aggressive and speeding drivers. Speeding is almost always a component of aggressive driving and has been identified as a causing factor in serious injury and fatal collisions.

The WSP has 39 ADAT patrol cars in its fleet of over 700 patrol cars. During 2006, troopers contacted 58,993 aggressive drivers compared to 50,673 contacted during the same time frame in 2005. This is a 16 percent increase in contacts due in part to the utilization of unmarked patrol vehicles. Anyone unsure of the validity of the person attempting to stop his or her vehicle is encouraged to drive to a place of safety or call 911 on a cellular phone to verify that they are being contacted by a law enforcement officer.

Thanks again for sharing your concerns.

Sincerely,

Gary Fugere
Constituent Services Manager
Christine O. Gregoire
Governor

Well. we can't say we didn't try......

Mike
'02 Maserati GT Coupe

 

700 patrol cars? The entire state of Montana has less than 100. They must be killing each other like crazy over there.

I say can half of the WSP and you will improve safety.

 

Actually I got no reply at all from the Governor or my state senator or reps. Imagine that! I'd also like to see how they came up with those numbers! The thing they don't say is whether all this "contact" has done anything to actually reduce accidents, injuries or deaths!! Oh yeah, keep driving and see how pissed off you can make the trooper. Real good plan!!

Edit: I guess my Governor did care. I got the same e-mail today. I'm still not impressed.

 

We should start "The Aggressive Trooper Apprehension Team (ATAT)" Accidents are cause by ignorance an untrained drivers. I love US, we band aid the problems, write big $$$$ tickets, have drivers education a monkey could pass and spend billons making the cars safer and not the drivers, now that is ignorant! I am sure it’s not about the revenue, it’s all about making the roads safer, so please tell me how you make the driver/roads safer by writing tickets?

 

I love it. So simple yet complete.

 

Write the Governor and Senator if it makes you feel better, but it’s unlikely you will receive anything short of window dressing and “Evidence” to support their position.

Keep in mind Chris Gregoire is an attorney, and a fairly competent one (I have nothing against attorneys). A few years ago Chris while acting WS Attorney General was able through her consul Mike Bolasina to evade presenting evidence in a case that would have shown her to be guilty (I won’t go into details if your interested look up her record). She with held evidence for one and a half years until it miraculously showed up at Bolasina’s office after it was too late to present it as discovery evidence (now I don’t claim to know how that happened, but it was real fishy and helped her win the case). Chris’s latest disaster is she is trying to get the retired state workers “Funded” pension payments to be put in the general fund to spend at will and write the retirees IOU’s to be paid by the future tax payers in this state (Keep in mind that money was taken out of these workers paychecks when they were working) (If a private business owner did this, they would be put in prison). It’s a disaster because that money currently is earning 14% interest, which she also wants to get her hands on (no less than theft at best).

If you want to change the state patrol’s very deceptive practice of unmarked patrol cars, you will have to speak her language; she only knows how to lawyer, and will only respect the law. Therefore, if you want to make a difference, you will have to bring a bill before the State Legislators, and go the legal route. Keep in mind Chris is a competent attorney, and has and will pander to the State Patrol’s desires (after all, they protect her). Like him or lump him Tim Eyman knows how to make a difference, and realizes the State legislators do not respect anything short of the Law, and even then, sometimes they need 3 whacks of the hammer to make them see they are in violation.

Roy, I’m in!

 

I love the way he wipps out these numbers with no supporting data at all. So what he is really saying is the the USDOT is wrong. More WSP BS walking on water stuff.

 

Further education courses now being offered by the State:

* Govenors office: Sophistry 405
* At WSP: Specious Arguments 603

These advanced courses are only open to candidates that can show sigificant experience with Demagogy, twisted logic and irrational conclusions (proof will be necessary that you demonstrate you can cloud such conclusions with a veil of plausibility).

I love the "zero fatalities" by 2030. You know that this is possible today -- imagine a blanket 10mph speed limit across the state on all roads. It would be impossible to get up to sufficient speed to cause any harm, let alone any deaths. It would also take at least 15 hours to get to Canada to escape, but that's beside the point. Speed (or rather the kinetic energy of a large mass moving at speed) can be fatal. It's an understood risk everytime we venture onto public roads. The risk of a fatal accident at 80mph is only marginally higher than one at 70mph -- but that is a risk that the public should be allowed to make, not politicians. And we make that decision every day. Whenever on I-5 in a 70mph zone, the traffic typically moves along around 75-80mph when free to do so. In other words there is blantant contempt for the law, because that law deserves our contempt, and any law that has contempt of the general populace has NO place on the statute books -- plain and simple. It is because of the (relative) lack of enforcement, and the ease with which speeding is possible, that the general public is more-or-less apathetic with the situation. *IF* there was a 1 in 10 chance of getting caught speeding everytime you broke the speed limit, there would be an uproar over the situation. Imagine if technology was foisted on us to *immediately* and consistently issue us a ticket every time it detected us speeding! Such technology would be so unpopular that it would be political suicide to even propose such an udea (even though the technology could be easily developed but this would be want they would want if given the opportunity)...
So the law makers play the delicate balancing act of writing enough tickets to satisfy their need for our tax dollars, but not too many as to upset the apple-cart enough to stop their little extortion racket they've got going.


Tim Eyeman and his ilk serve their purpose. If we could get the necessary $200-300k together to get an initiative on the ballot that could address several factors:
- Unmarked police cars unable to write speeding tickets
- Front plate optional on all vehicles except commercial
- No automated speeding cameras anywhere

But even if you could get the funding to get the initiative on the ballot, it would be a tough measure to get put through -- the government are experts at peddling the "speed kills" nonsense and painting a picture of anarchy and general end-of-the-world BS .... that it would probably get shot down... you know, the public being shown a little girl crying because mommy just got hit by a speeding lunatic, that sort of thing. They have huge war-chests of our money to use against us ...