RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Two agencies in North Carolina have begun their annual operation to reduce traffic accidents in work zones across the state.
The N.C. State Highway Patrol and the N.C. Department of Transportation are kicking off Operation Drive Smart 2010. The
Highway Patrol will set up enforcement and crack down on excessive speeders in nine work zones from Camden County to Buncombe County.
Troopers will use motorcycles and marked and unmarked patrol vehicles and pay attention to all motorists, including commercial motor vehicle drivers committing serious traffic violations.
According to NCDOT, there were 2,125 work zone crashes resulting in more than 1,200 injuries in 2009. Eleven people were killed.
During Operation Drive Smart 2009, troopers issued more than 500 citations for speed violations in work zones.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Excessive speeding could be
Excessive speeding could be a problem in heavy traffic, but using cell phones, eating, correcting unruly kids, putting on makeup and general inattention while driving is a lot more dangerous. I would much rather be on the road with speeders who are paying attention to what is going on than these other clowns.
Best places
Sit in and around some of the neighborhoods near the schools like codington elementary. Sit in Johnson Farms/Cambridge heights area. They fly through there. Also, Silver Lake Road, and on the road around Greenfield Lake that Sunset Park sits on. You can get two months worth of quota just in one morning. Geez people, sorry, not to be gender specific, but mothers...women. I am a woman myself. You people drive stupid with your kids in the car...don't pitch a fit when they get their licenses and drive just like you. Stupid and irresponsible.
Why not everywhere
One of the biggest problem in driving in this state is the number of speeders that travel the highways. I think the Wilmington PD has given up on trying to enforce the speed limits in the city. You see them all the time on MLK Parkway, but never on 3rd street.
Maybe it is the Chief's fault. Has he stopped them from running radar? I remember under the old Chief they were always doing something out of the way to catch speeders..
Irony
Ironically, many posts on this website argue against your perspective. In fact, the police are often accused of running to much radar (even in neighborhoods) and not focusing on “real crimes.”
The Speeders
I bet these are the people that got caught speeding. They have a traffic unit and they normally sit on MLK and not in the school zones. Drive down Carolina Beach road and watch the people speeding in the school zones there.
They use red light cameras, why not speed camera?
Part of the problem with
Part of the problem with what you are saying is that there really isn't anywhere for Officers to sit downtown and run radar. Unless the officer is using a handheld radar unit, he has to be sitting almost parallel to the raod to get an accurate reading. Where on Market St near downtown is there a place an officer can do that?
I do agree that enforcement needs to be in place and even more focused in that area, but it will be hard to do using radar. Also, many vehicles do get pulled over that you may not see while driving down Market St. I've come up some of the side streets trying to miss parts of the traffic and see cars pulled over all the time. I can't say for sure they are pulled over from Market, but they are facing away from Market which leads me to believe the offense for being pulled over occurred on Market ST