Menlo Park, Atherton: Nearly 200 traffic citations given on extra enforcement day

This should get some undivided attention!!

Would someone please explain to me how it is useful to announce ahead of time that the law is going to be enforced on a particular day? What does that say about how we should behave any other day?

@awatkins I believe the reason of announcing enforcement dates is to provide proof to the local concerned citizen that these heightened enforcement actions are real, and not just reported news. Look outside on 3rd wednesday of each month, see all of the extra enforcement, and be generally convinced that it is happening.

If a tree falls in the woods, and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Plus, the overlap of people who follow local police press reports and people who commit these types of traffic violations is probably minimal. If the potential violators who read this newspaper change their driving habits one day a month, that is a small win anyways.

Scyanide —

That’s what I was afraid of. It’s enforcement theater intended to pacify a small audience for political reasons.

"It’s enforcement theater intended to pacify a small audience for political reasons."

whaaaa??!!?!?

Ask a couple hundred drivers who sat on the side of the road, or the thousands and thousands who witnessed the ticketing.

What, pray tell, would you do, dear neighbor?

all designed to make money on tickets...shameful, transparent act

Ever notice that the people who complain the most about these traffic actions are also the same people who are AWFUL drivers?

Having been out on Wednesday early evening for a jog around Sand Hill/Stanford, I can only attest to the fact that law enforcement did only catch a small fraction of offenders.
As any other evenings, I was given no consideration in marked and unmarked crosswalks, and on more than one occasion was chased or bullied while crossing, even though I was getting across faster than most of the drivers would be able to on foot (apparently still not fast enough).

As you can imagine, I have little to no empathy or respect for those who talk "money grab" and "road tax" to justify their dangerous, shameful and criminal behavior.

I always knew if they started to focus on the drivers, the MAIN problem on our roads, the ticket numbers would be astounding. Proof pudding is now being served.

Think this is a money grab? Don't want to add to the cities coffers? Hrere's how you fight back against "The man" trying to grab you money:

Don't be speeding jerk! Hahaha.

@Lousy Drivers Among Us, I haven't had a traffic ticket in 40 years and I'll complain about it. It is revenue generation, not community policing.

Rick -- You haven't had a traffic ticket in 40 years? Guess what -- that's only due to some real luck on your part.

Quite frankly, with an attitude like yours, you're due for a whole bunch of citations...

Ms. Bradshaw, is the S.T.E.P. taskforce's next planned MP/Atherton day perhaps Oct. 16th? The 17th is a Thursday.

-- Rick Moen
rick@linuxmafia.com

The United States Supreme Court ruled (in a Michigan case in the early 1990's if I recall correctly) that the failure to publicize this types of police enforcement can be considered a detention without reasonable suspicion and violates Fourth Amendment rights.

pogo:

I think that decision was in regards to DUI check points. Because they are stopping people with no probable cause. In these enforcement scenarios, the police have probable cause. They have observed a violation and are stopping the driver for that. I don't think there is a requirement to publicize these types of extra enforcement days. I'm not sure what they do it.

I get cut off and flipped off everyday on El Camino from idiots going 50 - 60 Milrs per hour.

Of the nearly 200 citations, how many were bicyclists? Just thought I'd ask.

>> Of the nearly 200 citations, how many were bicyclists?

Was wondering the same. How many of the selfish spandexers were blocking traffic, blowing through stop signs, etc..

If you're taking requests for traffic enforcement:

It might be nice to see some enforcement on bike violations near Menlo-Atherton High School and maybe some general enforcement of the frequently violated provisional license restrictions on teen drivers who have had their licenses for less than one year and are not supposed to be driving other teens.

They already had the big bike crackdown. It didn't yield many results of tickets. At least not anything for the cops to brag about like how many drivers were ticketed in this story. It sounds like it was like shooting fish in a barrel, whereas the bike crackdown did not bring the same ticketing opportunities.
It's understandable: The biggest group of road users who kill or injure the most people should be getting the most tickets whew they break the law.

Round 'em up and ticket 'em up. The offenders will always say "Whaaa, what about bikes? Someone argue with me about bikes"

Haha, yah, bikes. Anyway,pay the fine, don't do it again. Try not to kill anyone.

"The offenders will always say"

Where do the comments on scoflaw bikers say that the commenters were "offenders"?

"Try not to kill anyone."

A spandexer blew thru a stop sign right in front of me this afternoon.

Selfish.

Obviously that ticket was a bitter pill for some to take :)
It's OK, sometimes growth is painful but it's worth it.