Misguided Traffic Enforcement

In the wake of four fatal accidents on the NYS Thruway a couple of months ago, the NYS police have embarked on a "speeding crackdown" along sections of the Thruway where the accidents occurred. Sadly, this ticket 'blitz' will likely have the same result that previous campaigns have...basically nothing will change.

Despite what the state police believe, the problem on the Thruway and other highways really isn't speeding. After all, in Germany there are NO SPEED LIMITS on large sections of the Autobahn. Yet, the fatality rate on the Autobahn is LOWER than the fatality rate on U.S. interstate highways! If speed were the major cause of fatal accidents certainly the fatality rate, in a country where 120mph is routine, should be higher than it is in the U.S., right?

Truth is, the real problem is reckless driving, not speeding. Drivers that routinely pass on the right, truckers that drive in the middle lane of a 3 lane highway and cause people to pass them on the right are what cause most accidents on our superhighways. But, state troopers sitting in their cars waiting for an isolated driver moving at over the speed limit don't discourage reckless driving at all! What they do accomplish is to rack up lots of revenues for the state on the townships where they issue tickets.

Question: has anyone ever seen a NYS trooper give a speeding ticket to a trucker?? Ever?? I've driven the Thruway almost every day for 20 years. I've never seen it happen. I've never seen a trucker get ticketed for tailgating, either. But, I see truckers both speed and tailgate every day. What's the deal? It's an important question because nearly 35% of all fatal highway accidents involve a truck. Maybe giving a few tickets to those guys would make things safer. Of course, that would mean enforcing the law in ways that might actually reduce fatalities.

Bottom line is this: if the NYS police really want to make our highways safer they need to get into their cars and actually PATROL! They need to enforce the laws we have against the kind of behavior that really causes accidents. Nailing the lone 'speeder' who isn't endangering anybody doesn't do a thing.