Just a few speeding tickets wrote....
This is real close to my home.[:D]175 Speeding Tickets in Five Hours
(Columbia) - The South Carolina Highway Patrol set up a traffic enforcement blitz in an attempt to catch every speeding motorist that passed under an overpass on I-77 Friday afternoon.
For eight hours, the Highway Patrol troopers worked together like a well-oiled machine. One sat on an I-77 overpass with a radar gun, and another standing by for a car description. In the end, most speeders travelling under the overpass left with a ticket from the Highway Patrol.
Senior Trooper Luther Harmon was the trooper assigned to the high post over Exit 2 on I-77, clocking the speeding motorists. "I'd say [we've issued] anywhere from 100 to 150 [tickets]so far," Harmon said. The zone Harmon was in charge of has a posted speed limit of 65, but Harmon says he clocked some drivers anywhere from 78 mph, to more than 100 miles per hour.
"Once they see us here [on the bridge]," Harmon said, "They'll try to speed up trying to get away."
One of those motorists, Laurie Becker, was not able to get away. "I was speeding, the speed limit is 10 miles under what I'm used to in Florida," Becker said, "I was speeding, I admit it." But Becker was able to see the bigger picture.
"Well, if there's that many officers on the road, there must be a reason they're setting up a speed trap for people," Becker said. If nothing else, she said it was a good experience for her son to witness.
Becker's words of wisdom work not only for her son, but for all motorists.
"Don't speed!"
(Columbia) - The South Carolina Highway Patrol set up a traffic enforcement blitz in an attempt to catch every speeding motorist that passed under an overpass on I-77 Friday afternoon.
For eight hours, the Highway Patrol troopers worked together like a well-oiled machine. One sat on an I-77 overpass with a radar gun, and another standing by for a car description. In the end, most speeders travelling under the overpass left with a ticket from the Highway Patrol.
Senior Trooper Luther Harmon was the trooper assigned to the high post over Exit 2 on I-77, clocking the speeding motorists. "I'd say [we've issued] anywhere from 100 to 150 [tickets]so far," Harmon said. The zone Harmon was in charge of has a posted speed limit of 65, but Harmon says he clocked some drivers anywhere from 78 mph, to more than 100 miles per hour.
"Once they see us here [on the bridge]," Harmon said, "They'll try to speed up trying to get away."
One of those motorists, Laurie Becker, was not able to get away. "I was speeding, the speed limit is 10 miles under what I'm used to in Florida," Becker said, "I was speeding, I admit it." But Becker was able to see the bigger picture.
"Well, if there's that many officers on the road, there must be a reason they're setting up a speed trap for people," Becker said. If nothing else, she said it was a good experience for her son to witness.
Becker's words of wisdom work not only for her son, but for all motorists.
"Don't speed!"
0
-
Words of wisdom...
I really expected something closer to "bite me".0 -
"there must be a reason"
yea its called revenue generation0 -
oh yea, and those SC boys dont screw around, I used to have to dodge them going to visist my pops in colombia 0 -
Another ploy to rip money out of peoples hand.
I don't think you should speed and such, but I think this is more to generate money like tsavo said then for our safety.0 -
Wonder if it was anything like this:
courant.com
http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-cspdrunks1206.artdec06,0,6735439.story?track=mostemailedlink
Troopers Ran `100 Club' For DWI Arrests
By TRACY GORDON FOX
Courant Staff Writer
December 6 2006
It was an "open competition" for some troopers on the
midnight shift at the Bethany barracks three years
ago.
The game was to make enough drunken driving arrests to
qualify for the "100 Club" - 100 arrests for the year.
But following the rules often didn't matter. Nor did
whether the driver was really drunk.
Troopers were supposed to videotape arrests. Often
they didn't. They mishandled evidence. They even
counseled motorists against taking the breathalyzer,
warning them they would spend more time in the police
lockup if they chose to exercise their rights.
Of the 19 examples of botched investigations by the
state police internal affairs division, its handling
of a probe into Troop I's so-called 100 Club "had the
most direct result on members of the general public,"
according to a damning 168-page report made public
Monday.
The report concluded that the internal affairs
investigation should have probed improper arrest
procedures in drunken driving cases.
But it was done "in such a haphazard manner that it
would be impossible to determine whether or not
employee misconduct occurred."
On Tuesday, Chief State's Attorney Kevin Kane and
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said they would
review drunken driving cases in the 14 towns covered
by the Bethany barracks.
According to the report by Blumenthal's office and the
New York State Police, troopers on the midnight shift
at the Bethany barracks made so many arrests on
drunken driving charges in 2003 that they were awarded
a unit citation for being the DWI enforcement leader
for all four state police troops in the central
district.
But, at about the same time, suspects charged with
drunken driving in the Bethany area began complaining
to prosecutors that they were counseled by state
troopers not to take the breathalyzer test that would
prove whether they were drunk, according to the
report.
Although a routine inspection by state police
identified improper arrest procedures, including
failure to collect evidence, that may have affected
the rights of suspects and possibly the outcome of
their cases, internal affairs investigators failed to
properly look into the misconduct, the report said.
Chief State's Attorney Kevin Kane is reviewing the
report, including allegations raised about the Bethany
barracks, he said.
Kane said Tuesday that he was not aware of concerns
raised about drunken driving cases until he read the
report.
"I've got the whole document now," Kane said. "We are
in the process of reviewing it and will come up with
what has to be done."
Blumenthal said Tuesday that his office would also
review cases out of the Bethany barracks "to determine
what additional investigation is appropriate."
"There were clear indications of very severe
misconduct, and none of it was properly investigated,"
he said. "If there are cases that need to be reviewed,
involving DWI cases, we would do so."
Lt. Gov. Kevin Sullivan, who recently proposed tougher
penalties for drunken driving, called the case "a
tragedy."
"Potentially, every motor vehicle suspension is
subject to being reviewed," Sullivan said of the cases
investigated by Bethany. "What should happen now is
that the state should anticipate lawyers will be
coming forward. It's absolutely outrageous."
"If the case is still pending, you are in great
shape," said Gerald Klein, a defense attorney who
handles many cases involving drunken driving charges.
He said state police reports are usually thorough.
"I always thought the cops tell you they want you to
take the breathalyzer," Klein said. "That sounds
ludicrous that anyone in law enforcement would do
that."
There were 500 drunken driving cases made in 2003 by
Bethany troopers, a high number for any troop, but
only 14 tapes from onboard cameras were recorded as
evidence, the report said.
According to the report, paperwork was late and some
of the cases failed to document probable cause for
arrest, the inspection found.
It also raised questions about the administration of
chemical tests to determine a defendant's blood
alcohol level, and, in some cases, found
chain-of-custody problems with urine samples.
The case is one of the egregious examples of
managerial interference with an investigation, the
report said.
The department's inspection unit, which has the task
of checking that procedures are followed,
"appropriately sounded the alarm."
"But that alarm was promptly and improperly silenced"
by other supervisors in internal affairs, the report
said.
Because of the inspection, an internal affairs
investigation was conducted in 2004 but limited to one
trooper, according to the New York report.
The trooper, who left the department for the FBI after
2004, returned to the state police and is now working
a narcotics detail, sources said Tuesday.
The report said investigating only one trooper was
"highly unusual, particularly in light of the findings
of the inspection report that raised similar questions
about other troopers."
Evidence showed DWI arrest documents and lab results
indicated negative results for alcohol and drugs, the
report said.
That "was ample justification to give credibility to
the inspection report and implicate other troopers who
worked the midnight shift," the report concluded.
Internal affairs investigators made no attempt to
contact or interview any of the people who refused a
breath test, to determine if they were pressured to do
so.
Union President Steven Rief said the focus of the
report was "how command staff was involved and
interfering with investigations."
"This is not representative of the majority of the
troopers," Rief said of the report, but he added that
changes must be made to ensure other investigations
are not botched. "Only when there is fairness and
objectivity can we have confidence in the system and
integrity can be restored."
Contact Tracy Gordon Fox at tfox@courant.com.
Copyright 2006, Hartford Courant0 -
Must be that time of month. 0 -
I-77 in SC is well-traveled by the SCHP. I got my one and only speeding ticket there, just north of Columbia, back in '98. I travel I-385 and I-26 daily and see very very few SCHP on those thoroughfares. 0 -
-whistles-
I was wondering where that pile of tickets came from [:D][:D]0 -
Also known as revenue enhancement action.
Get a good liar, I mean lawyer and make them earn their money the hard way.0 -
It's called "wheel tax" around here.[;)] A couple of radar shooters and six to eight chasers. They do it all the time. 0 -
I exceed the speed limit every day going to work on the DC beltway. Typically I cruise at 70-80, posted is 55. Everyone does. If there is a cop on the road, cruising or sitting on the shoulder, it causes massive backups. If you have some ahole doing the speed limit, it causes massive backups. If anyone went the speed limit, it would cause massive backups. The DC beltway is super-saturated during rush hour and ANY anomoly will add 1/2 hour to an hour to your commute. I sure hope they never try that crap here!
BTW: There are very few accidents, if any, during rush hour.0 -
Man I would hate to spend 8 Hours on "Speed Enforcement" alone, the County got a grant to have a few Deputy's trained to run radar.( 06 was the first yr ever for the County to run radar). They hate it, the ones that wanted to do it and went to school to do it now wish the had not despite the "over time" pay. There have been an unusually high number of deaths in the last 5yrs + in less than an 8 mile stretch on I-81. I wont argue the fact its revenue for the State in most cases, but we must all play by the rules. In this case its about human safety, the number of accidents through this area not weather related have been cut by 90%. 0 -
Must not be any real crimes in SC that need to be investigated. It must be great to live in a state so crime-free that stoppong people driving a few miles over the limit is such a high priority. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by admin
Must not be any real crimes in SC that need to be investigated. It must be great to live in a state so crime-free that stoppong people driving a few miles over the limit is such a high priority.
Well, that's all the South Carolina Highway Patrol does is trffic. They aren't State Police. They are Traffic Officers. They have little stickers on gas pumps down here that show a SCHP trooper holding a drivers license and a statement, If you don't pay for this (the gas), we're going to take this (the dl). The city or the county get to write the gas drive off report if that agency even writes them anymore and then it's just a report. Unless a tag number is recognized and a driver can be identified, the SCHP will never be involved. Then, it's only administratively. If a conviction is had in court for the person accused of the gas drive off, the judge will either take the license on the spot and the agency is responsible for turning it over to the SCHP or the agency notifes the SCHP and a form letter is sent out to the offender. They only work traffic. Wrecks and speeding. If you travel 385 much, then you know to slow down at the rest area. 26 is almost wide open, no troopers there. Of course, once you go through Newberry you better slow down and be careful. I know 3 city officers that have been stopped in full dress patrol cars that got stopped there.0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
14 comments