Mounties plan to search sky and low for speeders

[Dion]

From the cockpit, an RCMP officer uses a stopwatch to determine how long it takes a suspected speeder to pass from line to line -- if the vehicle is speeding, the airborne officer radios ahead to Mounties waiting on the ground.

The advantage for police is that a number of speeders can be caught at once. So long as the officer in the plane bears witness to the correct vehicle being pulled off the road, the charge will stick.

"In a particular zone, you could monitor five vehicles and call in five vehicles all at once, all speeding," said Hardy.

The planes were only grounded as speed traps in the 1990s, after laser speed guns were introduced.

Hwy. 1 and Hwy. 2 are on the list for air-patrols in the Calgary area, and other detachments throughout the province are expected to make the return to propeller-policing within a month or two.

"I can spot many violaters if I drive along the highway, but there are not a lot of safe turn-around spots for me to go and get them," said Const. Troy Savinkoff, also of the Cochrane detachment.

"As soon as I go stationary, traffic slows right down, usually because people are flashing each other and warning of a speed trap ahead."

There's no warning for those scurrying down the highway, as the police plane swoops above.

http://www.calgarysun.com/news/colum...28806-sun.html

[Dan02]

how many mounties does it take to catch a speeder??

[habernac]

we used to watch highway 2 for planes flying over the road for these kinds of speed traps.

[Cheese]

someone is watching you...watching you...

[Ozy_Flame]

...Because we're not going to see a big freakin' helicopter or plane flying relatively low to the ground hovering around the QE2.

That's even more obvious than a cop car on the side, not to mention gives you time to respond.

Thanks RCMP!

[Dion]

[wooohooo]

I can't imagine it would be cheap to have a helicopter up there for a long period of time... so they're going to have to catch a lot of people.

And seriously, a stop watch?? We are in the era of modern technology and the best they can come up with is a stop watch? I would think that throws reliability out the window.

[Cowperson]

Originally Posted by habernac

we used to watch highway 2 for planes flying over the road for these kinds of speed traps.

This is as old as the hair on gramma's chest.

Cowperson

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

...Because we're not going to see a big freakin' helicopter or plane flying relatively low to the ground hovering around the QE2.

That's even more obvious than a cop car on the side, not to mention gives you time to respond.

Thanks RCMP!

I remember a speed trap like this in Banff national park a number of years back...and they caught a lot of speeders. I don't know if its that easy to take note of. I was lucky enough to escape, but a lot of my friends (we were going for a sporting event in separate vehicles) were ticketed this way.

[Bobblehead]

Ontario started doing this a year ago (again - they used to do it in the 70s).
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/sto...opp-plane.html

I saw a report on the news and they don't need to fly very low, they just go by 2 marks on the road. They know how far apart the marks are so it is easy to figure out your speed.

Aircraft observers use the Robic stopwatch Model SC-808 to monitor and determine vehicle speeds. As the target vehicle crosses the painted “hash mark” on the highway, the watch is activated. When the vehicle crosses the next roadway marking 500 metres away, the stopwatch is deactivated and the vehicle speed is automatically calculated and displayed. The use of this technology ensures accuracy and efficiency in speed enforcement from the air.

http://www.opp.ca/Organization/Traff...pp_006442.html

[Berger_4_]

My high school physics teacher told us that the markings used to be a quarter mile apart, so when the highway was empty, they'd go drag racing using the markings as start-stop lines haha.

I wonder how they can tell which car is which? I guess what I mean is how they'll be able to track more than one car at a time? Just the 5 in a row or something?

[The Ditch]

How much does this cost?

[mikey_the_redneck]

Great.......so more of our tax money goes into more methods for the police (cough) revenue collectors (cough) to make more money off us.
Meanwhile, to save money here in Lethbridge they now route all our 9-1-1 calls through Calgary.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by mikey_the_redneck

Great.......so more of our tax money goes into more methods for the police (cough) revenue collectors (cough) to make more money off us.

Meh. Whether or not you get into a situation where you have to pay the tax is completely up to you. Some people just see speeding as a behaviour they have zero control over. I don't really get it.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by mikey_the_redneck

Great.......so more of our tax money goes into more methods for the police (cough) revenue collectors (cough) to make more money off us.
Meanwhile, to save money here in Lethbridge they now route all our 9-1-1 calls through Calgary.

It's a tax on stupidity...and I'm all for that.

[CrusaderPi]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

It's a tax on stupidity...and I'm all for that.

It's a tax on poor road design and artificially low speed limits.

[Draug]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

...Because we're not going to see a big freakin' helicopter or plane flying relatively low to the ground hovering around the QE2.

That's even more obvious than a cop car on the side, not to mention gives you time to respond.

Thanks RCMP!

They don't use helicopters, they use propeller planes. And, they are harder to spot than you would think unless you are really diligent at looking for them.

They fly quite high and do not fly directly above the highway so they blend in with every other small personal aircraft out there.

[burn_this_city]

Just watch for lines across the road and a plane flying above. Seems simple enough.

[Antithesis]

Originally Posted by CrusaderPi

It's a tax on poor road design and artificially low speed limits.

But if you know what the law is, and you choose to break it, and then get upset when caught and provided with a consequence, that does seem a little silly to me. That being said, I've been accused of being a granny when it comes to road matters (especially speeding) and I am sure that my opinion on the matter is more likely to get catcalls ("No one asked for a posted about the merits of speeding/not speeding! This is a post about the waste of our money as taxpayers!") than a lot of support.

If this IS about outrage over the waste of taxpayers' money, why not really sock it to the man and make it such a huge waste that they decide not to do it any more - by obeying the speed limits (or being close enough to them)? If they have no success they'll stop doing it.

/soapbox

[Draug]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

Just watch for lines across the road and a plane flying above. Seems simple enough.

Yes, it is a simple concept.

But, it isnt like there are only a couple of lines. They'll re-paint the markers pretty much solid all the way from Calgary to Edmonton, for example. The only way to know which sections they are timing in is to see the actual plane.

Radar and laser traps have always been the easiest to avoid, especially lately. Even though the Sherrifs are numerous, they aren't that sharpest tools in the shed, so they aren't great at catching a seasoned speeder. Back in the day, the air patrol was the hardest to evade, and it will be again.