Is it legal for local police to set up in work zone on weekends?

BJ · #1 06/25/06, 04:41 PM

We have our local law enforcement officers who set up radar for speeders in a 25 MPH work zone on the weekend when no one is working. Is it legal? If not, who would you report this to? It is a 2-lane State road that runs through a little city that has some development going on just on the edge of town-just inside the city limits.

vancom · #2 06/25/06, 04:44 PM

Some such sites are marked for a certain speed limit when work is actually occurring; others post a speed limit whether workers are there are not. Call the state highway department, or even the attorney general's office.

Vanessa

Wags · #3 06/25/06, 05:19 PM

If it is a posted zone that doesn't specify what hours it is that speed - then they are enforcing the existing law. Oregon used to have laws that all schools zone speed limits were in force 24/7 365.... it didn't make a whole lot of sense, and has since been repealed but while it was still the law officers were writing tickets...

tiogacounty · #4 06/25/06, 05:22 PM

This work zone scam is something that the feds are pushing with all kinds of grant money. The states jump on it because they can't lose. Fed cash at one end, and the chance to rape the public at the other. It's supposedly about highway worker safety, but like most things involving our federal clowns, it's based on a lie. The fact is that the vast majority of road construction workers are killed by accidents caused by other workers on the job (like being run over by a truck backing up) or by accidents they caused (like rolling heavy equipment down slopes). So it's just another program to slop the hogs. That said, in this state the fines skyrocket in occupied work zones, not inactive ones.

ann · #5 06/25/06, 05:59 PM

I work in road construction and have seen 4 deaths. Only one was an on the job accident. The others were caused by the idiots going over 80 and 90. I did a few years in traffic control and I would take the license # and turn then in to the sheriff. Yes. You can get a ticket on that alone, by mail. The vehicle owner gets the ticket whether they actually were driving or not. I have been hit and knocked down by a car. Luckilly only badly bruised, but if the idiot had not been speeding, he could have stopped in time. There is no excuse for speeding in construction zones. None. I support all actions to stop them and now that I am a project manager and see that we have a speeding problem (ex. log trucks flying thru my bridge project). I call local law enforcement and they will come and enforce. Actually, by law they have to if requested to. Anybody that thinks its only a ripoff has only to see someone busted to pieces on the pavement. I had nightmares for months.

bob clark · #6 06/25/06, 06:01 PM

slow down

MELOC · #7 06/25/06, 06:12 PM

i think the question is whether the work zone is ACTIVE and if it is legal to enforce it when it is not. i am sure nobody favors speeding in an ACTIVE work zone.

65284 · #8 06/25/06, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ann

I work in road construction and have seen 4 deaths. Only one was an on the job accident. The others were caused by the idiots going over 80 and 90. I did a few years in traffic control and I would take the license # and turn then in to the sheriff. Yes. You can get a ticket on that alone, by mail. The vehicle owner gets the ticket whether they actually were driving or not. I have been hit and knocked down by a car. Luckilly only badly bruised, but if the idiot had not been speeding, he could have stopped in time. There is no excuse for speeding in construction zones. None. I support all actions to stop them and now that I am a project manager and see that we have a speeding problem (ex. log trucks flying thru my bridge project). I call local law enforcement and they will come and enforce. Actually, by law they have to if requested to. Anybody that thinks its only a ripoff has only to see someone busted to pieces on the pavement. I had nightmares for months.

Exactly right Ann. When I was much younger I too worked highway construction, never saw anyone killed but several including myself were injured. And the job everyone thinks is the easiest is the one least liked by the workers, flagging. It's unbelievable how stupidly some people drive in construction zones. And not just speeding, I've seen them, apparently irritated by the cars ahead of them that did slow down, pass on the right by driving on the shoulder. One of this particular breed of fools brushed me pretty hard, and knocked me down, I had no where to go, a narrow ditch and a rock bluff behind me. "Somehow" in my scramble to escape my sign wound up going through his windshield. When the HP arrived he demanded I be arrested. I don't think he ever understood why he got a ticket, since he was the aggrieved party, I had broken his windshield and damaged his vehicle. In my opinion these idiots that hurt a worker by speeding or other forms of stupidity deserve to have their licenses taken away and should be charged with assault with a deadly weapon. Anyone who thinks this is a "scam" hasn't “been there and done that”.

mama2littleman · #9 06/25/06, 08:54 PM

OK,

NO ONE is saying it is OK to speed in an active work zone. THe question was ... Are decreased speed limits in a work zone enforceable when the work zone is NOT active. I.E. Weekends and holidays?

My understand was that the speed limit was, in fact, enforceable. And should you get caught speeding through a work zone when workers were NOT on site, you would get a standard speeding ticket. But, if you were idiotic enough to get caught speeding through a work zone while workers are in fact present, then the fine was doubled.

Then again, I'm not a cop, and this is only my personal understanding of the situation.

Nikki

Qwispea · #10 06/25/06, 09:41 PM

I'd say the legal thing would be to travel at the lowest posted speed limit.

Sometimes..even though workers are not present..the road is under repair..and is not safe to drive on at the higher limit.

Why do people not want to obey speed limit laws?

LagoVistaFarm · #11 06/25/06, 09:52 PM

Even without workers present the work in progress may make the conditions appropriate for reduced speeds.

MELOC · #12 06/25/06, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qwispea

I'd say the legal thing would be to travel at the lowest posted speed limit.

Sometimes..even though workers are not present..the road is under repair..and is not safe to drive on at the higher limit.

Why do people not want to obey speed limit laws?

ok, maybe this is stretching it a bit but let's say the posted speed limit is 50 mph and when under construction it is reduced to 25. if the law states that 50 is legal when the zone is not active, can i be fined for traveling more than 15 mph lower than the speed limit while traveling 25 mph and obstructing traffic? obstructing traffic is dangerous too.

wvpeach1963 · #13 06/25/06, 10:21 PM

I wouldn't complain.

Our local police set up DUI stops in them every weekend around here and we have a lot for them to choose from.

I'd take the fine for speeding any time over the tickets they write out for fix this fix that on the vehicles. Geez if the people could afford to fix it they would and the ticket doesn't help with that problem.

Alice In TX/MO · #14 06/26/06, 05:44 AM

The legal safe speed is 50, in your example, when there is NOT a work zone at all. The legal posted safe speed with a work zone is 25, whether it is active or not. As mentioned in other posts, there are road hazards in a work zone, whether the laborers are present or not.

The frothing at the mouth about 'whether this is legal' and 'raping the public' is, in my opinion, mental diddling.

Obey posted speed limit signs.

Just my two cents.

WanderingOak · #15 06/26/06, 06:07 AM

I think it probably varies state by state. I usually slow down for work zones, active or not, mainly because they are used as speed traps. Besides, work zones usually don't have shoulders and might not be as safe as a road that was not under con/destruction.

woodspirit · #16 06/26/06, 06:14 AM

It does seem to me to be crazy, that law enforcement wants to enforce laws on weekends. Smacks of lawsuit. Especially during new moons or between the first and last day of the month.

Unregistered · #17 06/26/06, 06:18 AM

You can give a tag number to law enforcement and sometimes they will issue a ticket. If the person shows up for court the ticket will be thrown out. If they don't show up the ticket stands. A law enforcement officer has to see the person commit the crime before he can write a ticket. You do not have to pay otherwise.
I do know as I just went to court for the same thing and it was explained to me by the judge.

gilberte · #18 06/26/06, 06:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered

You can give a tag number to law enforcement and sometimes they will issue a ticket. If the person shows up for court the ticket will be thrown out. If they don't show up the ticket stands. A law enforcement officer has to see the person commit the crime before he can write a ticket. You do not have to pay otherwise.
I do know as I just went to court for the same thing and it was explained to me by the judge.

Well I wasn't going to respond to this, but the more I thought about it the more I thought someone might take it as gospel and it might keep them from reporting a violation they might otherwise have reported. If you see a violation and can furnish enough credible evidence of the violation and violator, the police can issue a summons to court based on that.

WisJim · #19 06/26/06, 09:00 AM

A comment on the school area speed zones being effective 24/7: My understanding is that school yards with playground equipment, etc., are attractive to childeren even when school isn't in session, so kids may be around the area at any time, and other events attracting children occur at schools outside of regular school hours, so the 24/7 reduced speed in a school zone makes sense to me.

Unregistered · #20 06/27/06, 12:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gilberte

Well I wasn't going to respond to this, but the more I thought about it the more I thought someone might take it as gospel and it might keep them from reporting a violation they might otherwise have reported. If you see a violation and can furnish enough credible evidence of the violation and violator, the police can issue a summons to court based on that.

As I stated, the police can issue a summons based on a tag number. If you will pay the fine they will gladly take it. If you go to court instead they will find you not guilty. Like many things, if you will pay they will take your money. If you will not pay there isn't anything they can do.

In my case. I ran a stop sign coming from the veterans hospital. The hospital director saw me and turned around and followed me for a ways and took down my license number. He had a policeman send me a ticket in the mail. I went to court and pleaded not guilty. There wasn't a law enforcement officer there to testify against me, only the hospital director. The judge had no other option but to find me not guilty. He also gave a little speach about those people who waste his time.

Just because you recieve a ticket does not make you guilty. That has to be proven. Without a law enforcement officer that is impossible. Private citizens do not have the right to write tickets.