Kelli Cheatam, reporting in the South Bend Tribune, writes that Berrien Springs police officer Ryan Venno fell off a bridge suffering a compound fracture in his leg while trying to find a spot that wasn’t conspicuous to motorists.
First, let me say that I don’t wish anyone to get hurt and I’m glad he wasn’t hurt more than he was. Second, my tendencies these days are to be very pro-police officer, working as I often do to defend some of them against lawsuits. Those things said, the fact that he was setting up a speed trap really mixes up my inclination toward compassion.
Maybe there are statistics out there that demonstrate the current level of speed enforcement is necessary to keep motorists reasonably safe. But, from my uninformed perspective, speed traps generally look more like revenue tools than safety tools. While driving, I tend to follow a simple rule that one should never speed through a municipality with no obvious source of income. I don’t know if Berrien Springs, Michigan fits that bill, but I find it difficult to believe that their traffic enforcement needs called for six police units at that location.
But, like I said, I’m glad that Officer Venno wasn’t hurt worse than he was, and hopefully his recovery will not be too difficult.
I’ll be on that bridge tomorrow going to Camp Betz with my two oldest boys.
What would most police do without pursuing traffic offenders all day long?
Maybe solve real crimes?!? Patrol neighborhoods, instead of thoroughfares? Get out of their cars once in a while to interact with citizens?
If they did any of those, how would their “training” activities be funded? And how would they get to sit around in traffic court chitchatting like a bunch of schoolkids once every other week?
Good. I don’t care. I’ve got one thing to say about his recovery. Slow down! Gotta love karma.
I honestly don’t care about that. What I do care about are keeping people that are not motorists safe. I’m all for being very strict about speed when the motorists can kill people that are trying to burn less oil and stay in better health.
Going 50 in a 30 can make the difference between breaking some cyclist/pedestrian’s bones or killing them.
If you’re in town and speeding in a 30, you’re getting to your destination only seconds faster, but you might forever change someone’s life for the worse in exchange for those precious seconds.
Going 90 in a 70 just means the car is a little smaller than it would be when it hits the overpass. You’re pretty much dead, regardless. Might as well open it up there.
Speed limits on Interstates are far more for money / show than speed limits in town. There are good reason for those.
That’s a fair point about in-town versus Interstate. I’ve gotten to the point where I really don’t monitor my speed all that closely anymore — I mainly go a speed that feels right to me. That speed is conditioned by years of worrying about the speed as compared to the posted limit. But, now that I think about it, I’m usually not pushing for time in-town; but I probably speed by a greater amount and more frequently on the Interstates.
I think this is funny and I’m glad he got hurt, but before people think I’m a real jerk allow me to explain:
If a firefighter risked his life fighting fires, but had a hobby of lighting homes on fire I think we’d all find justice if he sustained 3rd degree burns while trying to burn someone’s home.
If a pastor spent his life helping others, but helped himself from time to time to the “services” of prepubescent boys then I’d find it funny if he found the clenched fist of an angry father collapsing his nasal passage.
If a nurse spent her time risking infections to help others, except for those times when she intentionally gave patients the wrong drugs to view their reactions, then I think we’d be relieved if she eventually had a lethal injection of her own.
So here we have a cop that has likely put his life at risk protecting others on numerous occasions, but then he also has a habit of ruining lives by being nothing more than a tax collector with a gun. Speed limits are rarely set for safety reasons. Speed limits are set for revenue generation purposes. Governments set rates as low as they can get away with so that they can harvest $200 fines from the public any time they choose. Officer Venno was choosing to exploit people, and for that I laugh at his situation. I hope it has lasting repercussions so that he will forever reconsider moments when it can exploit other people.
FYI, this might help (but, back to my point, please only use on the Interstate)
http://www.trapster.com/
Very useful app.