don@umd5.UUCP (05/08/85)
*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR better idea *** (Henry Ford take note)
"--[ ... ]--" comments are my own
-- FLASH -- NEWS ITEM -- MAY 7 WASHINGTON POST
--[reprinted without permission]--
MD. STATE POLICE LAUNCH CRACKDOWN ON SPEEDING
---------------------------------------------
"Rolling Roadblocks" Are Instituted Speed Limit
(Associated Press)
BALTIMORE, May 6 -- State police today launched a major crackdown on
speeding in Maryland, instituting "rolling roadblocks" of police cruisers
on highways and warning that even slight violations of the 55 mph limit
will result in tickets.
"It's really become a trend during the past year or so for motorists
to think they can get away with driving 60 or 65 mph. That's just not
going to be the case anymore," said Sgt. Bill Tower, a police spokesman.
Abuse of the speed limit is becoming so great that "some of our troopers
are even being passed as they drive marked patrol cars," Tower said.
The federal government put the state on notice earlier this year that it
faced the loss of funds if it did not do a better job of enforcing the
speed limit.--[Federal extortion?]--
State police briefly used cruiser roadblocks in 1978 and found them
effective, the police spokesman said.--[Slower traffic keep right, huh?]--
In such a roadblock, cruisers line up abreast across all lanes of traffic,
traveling at 55 mph and preventing motorists from passing.
In addition to the rolling roadblocks, state police armed with radar
guns --[but no electric stun guns, a pity :-(]-- will be increasing their
use of other vehicles, such as tractor-trailers, pickup trucks and foreign
cars. "We want motorists to think any disabled vehicle along the road could
be a trooper using radar," Tower said. --[you mean they're not going to all
wear bright red coats and march in a straight line ?!!?]--
Initially, the rolling roadblocks will be set up on highways with the
highest number of speeders, including I-95, the Baltimore Beltway, I-83 and
I-70, Tower said.
Police will remain in formation for stretches of five to ten miles before
turning around and doing the same thing in the opposite direction, Tower said.
Speaking at a news conference near I-95 in Howard County, the police
superintendent, Col. Wilbert Travers, said, "The flagrant abuse of the 55 mph
limit will no longer be tolerated." --[sounds like a call-to-arms to me]--
Marked cars and unmarked cars with state police plates will participate in
the roadblocks, to be manned by patrol officers in uniform, Tower said.
--[Be forwarned non-Marylanders, lest your local law enforcement agency
decides this is just the thing to keep you good citizens in line]--
--
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"Space, the final frontier ..."
What ?!!? ^ No more ?!?
But it's a frontier of frontiers !!
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UUCP: {seismo, rlgvax, allegra, brl-bmd, nrl-css}!umcp-cs!cvl!umd5!donjackh@zehntel.UUCP (jack hagerty) (05/10/85)
> > MD. STATE POLICE LAUNCH CRACKDOWN ON SPEEDING > --------------------------------------------- > "Rolling Roadblocks" Are Instituted Speed Limit > > (Associated Press) > BALTIMORE, May 6 -- State police today launched a major crackdown on > speeding in Maryland, instituting "rolling roadblocks" of police cruisers > on highways and warning that even slight violations of the 55 mph limit > will result in tickets. > > In such a roadblock, cruisers line up abreast across all lanes of traffic, > traveling at 55 mph and preventing motorists from passing. I'm completely flabbergasted! This sounds like the ultimate admission to the total failure of the 55 NMSL. That people have to be herded like sheep in order to avoid fedral extortion...words fail me! Where are these patrol cars coming from? What's going to happen when drivers have accidents or other emergencies back in that crowded pack? (Probably more likely due to crowding). Where are the troopers going to come from to assist them? How are emergency vehicles going to get through? I hope the CHP are enlightened enough to never try this! They don't even use radar, except in some very specific local areas. -- Jack Hagerty, Zehntel Automation Systems ...!ihnp4!zehntel!jackh
klein@ucbcad.UUCP (Mike Klein) (05/14/85)
I think that if everyone is forced to drive 55, we will finally see calls for abolishment of the 55 limit from virtually every driver on the road. This may be the best thing that can happen for anti-55 folks. -- -Mike Klein ...!ucbvax!ucbmerlin:klein (UUCP) klein%ucbmerlin@berkeley (ARPA)