motorcycle cop on Harvey

12,139 Views | 99 Replies | Last: 8 yr ago by techno-ag
techno-ag
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AG
Gotcha.
PhiAggie
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AG
Sweet! So the bike cops are getting red light runners. Good!
AgsWin2011
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AG
The cops must get on TexAgs. Saw THREE motorcycle cops side by side at that intersection yesterday in the median facing north.
BCStalk
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Should I post more pics, or do you all get the idea?


You dang kids playing on your phone at the light. Jk. Pretty interesting that you can just pull your camera out and pretty much guarantee atleast a few runners every cycle.
PhiAggie
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AG
I've hit the red light twice at that intersection since starting this thread. 2/2 on runners.

I think the size of the intersection encourages runners. Do you see it as much on smaller, tighter intersections?
Carnwellag2
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quote:
quote:
What's your solution for dealing with the red light runners, techno?
Crimes are (and should be) policed relative to their impact on the community. This is a low impact crime.

You should also consider why people run the light. I'm not making excuses for them, but I understand the motivation that makes it worth risking a ticket or accident. If they don't run the light, they end up waiting 2 more minutes. Risk vs. Reward. The permanent way to fix it is to remove the motivation. i.e. Fix the traffic problems. Instead of hiring another cop to police a low impact crime, hire a traffic engineer to solve the underlying problem. And as a bonus we all benefit from more effective traffic planning.
Stucco - low impact unless you are in the other vehicle when they run the red light and hit and kill you.
KidDoc
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They need to make the exit by Spec's a no left turn exit. That area gets insane on the weekends.
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DBSwooper
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I think the size of the intersection encourages runners. Do you see it as much on smaller, tighter intersections?
Yes. The size of the intersection has more to do with light timing, dead-red length specifically than the probability of a violation. Although with the short dead-red times and the high number of violations, a larger intersection makes the violations *seem* worse due to the time it takes to clear the intersection and the time sitting watching the violator pass while your light is green.

Last time I saw a list I believe this intersection was number 2 or 3 in the area for daily volume. Do you remember how the intersection was setup 15 years ago? Southbound Texas never stopped, there was a raised T median and left turn traffic from Harvey entered Texas much like a freeway on-ramp. When Harvey Washbangers opened it became vogue to turn nearly 90-degrees out of the raised section to make the entrance.

A redesign of the roadway corrected the first issue, light timing could help the intersection now slightly, but increased enforcement (as is happening) will make the biggest impact. The intersection has reached a point of size, lanes and design that it would take a significant redesign from the T-intersection to help encourage safer driver interaction. The problem is that the "community memory" of high enforcement areas that helps alleviate high violation problems does not grow like in traditional communities here. It resets every year and so it takes constant enforcement. Constant enforcement requires manpower, which is manpower that is pulled from another spot, school zone, call for service and the hundreds of other things that our local Peace Officers are required to do daily. Even the traffic units (motors) for both cities are quite undersized for the population and violation numbers.

What is the #1 killer of persons in B/CS? Traffic collisions and it has been that way year after year since I've been watching when I moved here in '98.
techno-ag
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Great points, DB. I've often wished CS had more of a grid layout. It might have resulted in Harvey running alongside campus, say, instead of a T-bone intersection there.

Oh well.
BCStalk
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Yes and low quantity of traffic enforcement is having everyone's mindset that they can do whatever they want with no consequences. Red lights, stop signs, blinkers, speeding and much more are just thing people feel way to comfortable doing. Perhaps if people would stop using our local law enforcement for their own personal reasons we could put more on the roads. I can't tell you how many stories I've caught wind of about people yelling at each other and finding the need to use our officers to play referee for them. I understand that's not always the case, but would rather see an officer protecting our roadways then dealing with such minor problems.
AggieJason
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I understand that's not always the case, but would rather see an officer protecting our roadways then dealing with such minor problems.
What's minor to you may not be minor to them. They have the unique disposition of having to assess that need.
RumRunner
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This is not 'Nam, there are rules.... AM I THE ONLY ONE HERE WHO GIVES A &^&%! ABOUT THE RULES!

DBSwooper
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This is not 'Nam, there are rules.... AM I THE ONLY ONE HERE WHO GIVES A &^&%! ABOUT THE RULES!

MARK IT ZERO!
MrMeek
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The last thing k we need is more traffic cops handing out ticky tack citations. This is problem #19865 on the list of things that CS could use.
op_06
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The last thing k we need is more traffic cops handing out ticky tack citations. This is problem #19865 on the list of things that CS could use.


A 3 page thread dedicated to people voicing their concerns over red light running and you see this as a non-issue. Interesting.
Wildmen03
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The last thing k we need is more traffic cops handing out ticky tack citations

Clearly a red light runner.
MrMeek
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no, I'm just not a crabby old fart. I'd rather the police be focusing on real crimes. The city designed a terrible intersection. Human nature dictates that people will run that red light pretty regularly. It's just something to be aware of period there are plenty more pressing things in the world to worry about.
Wildmen03
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Running a red light is a real crime, there's a law against it and everything.
GiveEmHellBill
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Human nature dictates that people will run that red light pretty regularly. It's just something to be aware of period there are plenty more pressing things in the world to worry about.
Dear God this is just sad.

So, it's just going to take someone getting killed by a red light runner for this to be considered something "to worry about"? But, I guess it's just human nature that will dictate that we can blame it on....
op_06
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Human nature dictates that people will run that red light pretty regularly. It's just something to be aware of period there are plenty more pressing things in the world to worry about.


You can't possibly believe that it's "human nature" to consciously and blatantly disregard that particular red light. It's selfishness, stupidity, and a complete lack of patience that "dictate" people to run that red light constantly.
MrMeek
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We all have our own risk reward metrics. Clearly this is a place where a significant number of people find the risk worth the reward. That's not really controversial. I'd rather see it re-engineered or the timing tinkered with rather than using our police resources for petty traffic violations. If our police have nothing better to do we should trim the force.
FlyRod
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Definitely a red light runner.
MrMeek
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Definitely a red light runner.


Completely false.
techno-ag
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We all have our own risk reward metrics. Clearly this is a place where a significant number of people find the risk worth the reward. That's not really controversial. I'd rather see it re-engineered or the timing tinkered with rather than using our police resources for petty traffic violations. If our police have nothing better to do we should trim the force.
He's got a point. Re-engineering the light is simpler than trying to re-engineer the attitudes of a student population that changes every year/semester. I could see where better timing 24/7 might reinforce the behavior we want to see at that intersection (not running red lights) as opposed to sporadic enforcement by motorcycle cops.
Tyrion Lannister
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If only there was some sort of impartial mechanism that could be put in place and punish people who disregard red lights. It could be automated so people couldn't talk their way out of it and there could be no claims of favortism, racism, or any other ism. People could also have an opportunity to challenge it and watch the video of their vehicle running the light.

Lets put our heads together and figure out something like this to do. It could be a huge money maker for the city, and maybe make some intersections a little safer too.



This.
MrMeek
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quote:
quote:
If only there was some sort of impartial mechanism that could be put in place and punish people who disregard red lights. It could be automated so people couldn't talk their way out of it and there could be no claims of favortism, racism, or any other ism. People could also have an opportunity to challenge it and watch the video of their vehicle running the light.

Lets put our heads together and figure out something like this to do. It could be a huge money maker for the city, and maybe make some intersections a little safer too.



This.


I reject the idea that being a huge moneymaker for the city should ever be a consideration whether a legal course of action is appropriate or not. I don't want municipal laws driven by a profit motive
PhiAggie
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They have enough time....longer yellow lights simply mean more running the light to get through the intersection.
TJJackson
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I honestly don't know what would work besides an armada of bike cops.
techno-ag
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quote:
quote:
If only there was some sort of impartial mechanism that could be put in place and punish people who disregard red lights. It could be automated so people couldn't talk their way out of it and there could be no claims of favortism, racism, or any other ism. People could also have an opportunity to challenge it and watch the video of their vehicle running the light.

Lets put our heads together and figure out something like this to do. It could be a huge money maker for the city, and maybe make some intersections a little safer too.



This.
Ain't gonna happen again. Voters rejected it.
MrMeek
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They have enough time....longer yellow lights simply mean more running the light to get through the intersection.


you might have the left turn light be red for a couple seconds before opposing traffic gets the green to help mitigate potential accidents.
techno-ag
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They have enough time....longer yellow lights simply mean more running the light to get through the intersection.
Maybe. But it also keeps opposing traffic on red longer, so there are fewer potential cars in the intersection at the same time.
 
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