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2 The Evening Sun, Hanover, Pa. Monday, January 17, 1977Speed Traps A Multimillion Dollar Industry‘'SPEED I RAPS”—1 his Associated Press cartoon map indicates eleven of the most frequently tfied speed traps uhere police apprehend speed limit violators across Pennsylvania. According to the Department of Revenue, fines totaled about $4.4 million in fiscal year 1975*76. (AP■• • •By BOB DVDRCIIAK\ssim iated Press WriterClifford Gailey, CressonTownship's only fulltimeI oliceman, watched thecalibrated speedometer in his unmarked brown sedan climb 70 miles per hour as he pursued a car through a school zone.i fiat ,ii rest. fne of the 130 he averages each month along a stretch of U S. 22 in Cambria County, cost the violator $145. The 49*year old police chief earns more than $ Ho,000 for the state that way each year. ♦.rhat's a lot of money,” Gailey said. “I know I sure Wouldn't want to pay it .” Catching speeders is more than a cat and mouse game for state and local police in Pennsylvania. It’s a multimilliondollar industry.Keeping a wary vigil in reduced speed zones, lurking at the foot of a hill or disguised in plain c lothes in what lookslike a disabled van, police are coiled to spring a speed trap“For every businessman who tells us we re doing a good job, there s three peoplewho have gotten speeding citations who say we’re bummers and racketeers/’ he said. I ^ •“We’re just doing what a police department is supposed to do, enforce the law/* State police, who alone an authorized to use radar, don t see themselves as revenueproducers either.“That perverts the entire purpose of law enforcement,saia Cox. , S : In addition to being the law, traveling at the slower posted rate of speed has resulted in greater safety, Cox said In 1976, state police investigated 1,013 road deaths, 30 fewerthan the preceding year“We’re not saving the number of accidents has decreased, but the severity has, Cox said. “We also can’t take* all the credit tor that, but wed like to take lome.”To enforce the speed limit,state police admit they are pulling all stops.“We have speed traps everywhere,” said Cox. “It s done on a very random basisand it’s a psychological type thing No one knows where we ll be next.*1 •At one time, state policewere only permitted to useradar during the daylight hours and only in marked police cars. But that made it easy for the alert drivers to know when they could speed up and not get caught.“We found when we were highly visible, it just did not work,” said Cox. “So we became a ‘Sneaky Pete.’ We use unconvent ional vehicles in unconventional locations.” Police have also adopted a tactic that Cox calls “selective enforcement.” “We don’t have the men and equipment to patrol constantly,” Cox said. “So we'll borrow men and equipment from several traps and put them on one section of highway. Then we II pour it on.”Because state police keep no records on the number of tickets handed out at a particular location, it's tough to pinpoint the most productive speed traps.But some areas provide good cover for traps becauseof curves or hills andmotorists don’t know* to slow down until it’s too late.Some of the more notorious areas include a spot nearBellefonte along Interstate 8( in Centre County Washington in Washingtor County along Interstate 70; Meadville in Crawforc County on Interstate 79; anti the four tunnels along the Pennsylvania Turnpike.Another favorite police location is at Mile Post 72.ftalong the turnpikes Nor theast Extension neai Interstate 80.NORMAUCTIONWill be heldTuesday, January 18at 6:30
Newspaper Details
Hanover Evening Sun
Hanover, Pennsylvania, US
Mon, Jan 17, 1977
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Altoona A.
PA, USA 20 Mar 2019
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