How to stop highway speeding (OPP, you are welcome)
Feature, Opinion — By JD Booth on June 6, 2012 at 3:42 pm
By J.D. BOOTH
Over the last few years or so, I've tried to, whenever I come in contact with someone who might have some position of influence in government (or want to be in government) or law enforcement, convince them of the merits of a ridiculously inexpensive but bound to be enormously successful idea.
So far, no luck. Maybe I just haven't been able to reach the right people.
Let's try this out—if you think the idea below has merit, push it along to your "sphere of influence" and let's see what happens.
How to Stop Speeding on the 400 Series Highways
When you see a police car, you almost automatically slow down (sometimes even if you're not speeding). The risk of a ticket is what does it, if we're totally honest.
So what if you thought there might be an officer with a radar gun just around the corner?
You'd slow down, just to be safe.
So here's the breathtakingly simple, astonishingly inexpensive way to stop speeding on Ontario's major highways (and even other places for that matter).
Design and install a tent-like covering, emblazoned with the OPP logo. The structure would be made of web-type material, with enough "breathing" that wind wouldn't carry it away. It would be supported by lightweight poles, easily assembled and secured by pegs in the ground.
It would be sized just big enough that an OPP cruiser could drive into the "tent" (or back in), with a lightweight covering over the front. The police vehicle, inside, could not be seen from the outside.
These devices would be set up every few kilometres along the 400 series highways (we could try this as a test).
This is what is going to happen. People seeing the OPP tent will SLOW DOWN (just like the police all want us to).
But the clincher is: we won't know for sure whether there is an OPP car in the tent. Maybe. Maybe not.
So police resources don't become an issue. They (OPP) could station one car for every 10 (or 20) tents. The effect, I'm guessing will be the same: people will slow down "in case" there is an officer waiting to catch the speeders.
Let me know what you think.
Tags: City of, highway, j.d. booth, opinion, OPP, Sarnia, speeding
Tags: City of, highway, j.d. booth, opinion, OPP, Sarnia, speeding
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2 Comments
How about life sized cardboard cut outs of OPP cruisers… made by the same company that produced the coyote cut outs for Sarnia, that people swear they heard growl… where’d those go by the way?
Maybe for an extra $10 we could add flashing lights and siren…. motion activated by vehicles exceeding the speed limit.
Of course it would work… Security cameras are often done that way… some real, some not.
When I drove in Sweden I noticed these black boxes, every so often, on top of tall poles beside the highway. Found out later that they were radar cameras!… never did get a speeding bill! But apparently some are real, some not.
I still think the best way is to put in a black box along with GPS maps with speed limits in every vehicle that records speed and rate of acceleration/deceleration etc etc. These boxes could be automatically downloaded to a central computer and an invoice sent to the vehicle owner every month for any infractions. That way we won’t need any police on the highways at all. They need to work on serious crime.