NC Highway Patrol to focus on speeders for 2 weeks

I used to be a city officer in Concord, NC. We always tried to set a good example and that included obeying the speed limit unless under emergency conditions with blue lights. I know sometimes an officer needs to get somewhere in a hurry but not necessarily an emergency. I agree 100%. However, I worked in Wilmington for almost 10 years and traveled US 17 daily. Dozens of times I would be rolling about 60 and a Sheriff's deputy or a State Trooper would pass me going probably 75. Sometimes it would be a Wilmington, Carolina Beach, or some other department on business, with no jurisdiction in Brunswick County. I know that all these times they were not on calls. Many times they would turn off and head for the Sheriff's dept. in Bolivia, so, obviously they were just in a hurry. I just think that they should realize that other drivers notice their behavior and the officers lose respect when they break laws that others get a citation for.

This might be a little off subject, but I was headed home from Wilmington this morning about 9:30 AM. 3 Brunswick County patrol cars came off 421 into 17-74-76. One exited at Leland and the other 2 continued on down 17. One was a K9 unit SUV and the other was a Crown Vic. I followed them in excess of 70 MPH all the way to Magnolia Greens where they kept the hammer down until a traffic light caught them, running 70+ in a 45. I stopped at the station for gas, but my guess is, when they got open road, the speed limit was forgotten. These officers should set an example for others by obeying the speed limit when not under emergency conditions.

When we start voting for speed limits I will start following speed limits.

they need to start writing tickets on I-40 and other major interstates for FAILING TO ALLOW CARS TO PASS. They should not allow anyone to drive in the left hand lane, you should only be allowed to pass in the lane and immediately get back over to the right lane...traffic would flow 10x better if we did this.

I believe I should be allowed to drive as fast as I want to and that everybody else on the road should have to look out for me. (GRIN) But really, slow drivers are a bummer. Go with the flow, please.

What about the rest of the time? After 2 weeks we can speed? zoom, zoom, zoom....duh!

They need to focus on tailgaters instead of speeders, unless the speed is quite excessive. We also need to outlaw using cell phones while driving. Some Bozo ran me off the road the other day trying to dial a phone and not paying attention to where he was going.

Or skip wearing out seatbelts? Let the registration lapse? I think not. What possible purpose do these targeted PR announcements serve? Last month it was seatbelts, right? Or was it drunk drivers? Any way you slice it, everyone would be better off if the patrol simply stated, "We do our job all day every day, enforcing all laws 365 days a year." They could fire their "Pointless PR" staff and hire a few more troopers with the money they save.

I believe the ones going under the speed limit is the ones they need to looking at. A normal driver on I40 going 80-85 is not any where near dangerous to me than someone wanting to do 55-60 on I 40 and there is alot of under the speed limit drivers out there. Heck a driver doing under the limit on 40 has a greater chance of causing a accident that one speeding.. Every one knows that when you are cruising along interstate in what appears to be a car pile up and all of a sudden the car in front of you slams the breaks b/c they just got behind someone doing 55-60.. It causes people to swerve, slam the breaks..I will admit that speeders to do alot of damage to others vehicles and people in intersections, but all the accidents I have ever known that was b/c of speeding was damage or death to the one who is speeding..Now look at the other part someone under speed limit of interstate car slams breaks car behind swerves flips into traffic who is that hurting. Not the driver that was under speed limit but everyone else.. As for the speeders that swerve into and out traffic (I personnall don't do it I have a infant that I have to think about) but I do believe that they need to be stopped, speeding or not you can be doing the speed limit and cause serious injuries driving careless..

It is the ones weaving in and out of cars at 80 m.p.h. or more that cause fatalities. Hopefully they get those people who do that and educate them and hopefully they stop their reckless driving. I hope they don't stop the decent drivers who are going a little above the speed limit with no cars around them. That is a waste of time and money. I know I will hear all about the fact that speeding is against the law and blah, blah, blah. Take the bad drivers off the roads with reckless driving tickets and leave alone the ones who drive carefully.