I have been noticing that the AAPD is now resorting to "STEALTH"
tactics in thier pursuit of malcontents and others who offend them
by breaking the traffic laws. What I mean by the aforementioned
tactics is the new blue cars that seem to appear out of nowhere, usually
when you're *thinking* about doing something stupid.

   Also, I have noticed that there are some new speed traps that the
AAPusing..

 Like:
   Fuller Rd at the bridge-- Is there really a need for a 25 MPH zone
  bridge???
2200 Washtenaw. That *really* should be 40 in that stretch
    State between Stimson and Eisenhower...
       watch your speed between Gallup Silkworth and Howard Cooper.
       I have also seen them parked in Hidden Valley Apts.
 Pontiac and Kellogg... 
   There is also a *new* No Turn on Red at Swift and Broadway, and 
 usually there is a cop sitting in the crease between the power station
and the Argo Park entranc.

 use this item to post your war stories and post new speed traps
here... I really *Hate* being hunted and trapped like an animal.
,

43 responses total.

It's no surprise that cops are upping their efforts.  There was an
article in Wednesday's AA News about the city budget.  In the article,
our city manager noted that court revenues, including revenues from
speeding tickets, decreased by more than $600,000 last year despite
hiring six new traffic control officers.

IMHO, hiring more officers to raise revenues is mean-spirited and
dumb.  And since revenues are down, it appears that AA's motorists are
not as stupid as our city council and personnel.

The State Police are lining up along the Michigan Ave entrance ramp to
eastbound I-94 just ahead of the bridge that they used to hide behind.
I've seen as many as four of them there at once!

 Thanks for the warning, that particular stretch of 94 is bad for me. 
as the Aerostar loves to creep up to 65, and hang there especially sine
that part of 94 is downhill somewhat.

    It does seem silly that hiring 6 new officers would do more to decrease
revenue than raise it. Anyhow, maybe all of us AA drivers are getting 
hip to thier beat and not falling for the traps. I have noticed that
on Washtenaw, only a fraction of the drivers exceed the 35 mph edict
I would suspect that the rest are from out of town and are assuming that
there is mortolerance on a street like Washtenaw then there is on
one of thier streets (in thier hometown).

 I have also seen cops hang out at Keech and Stadium, Birk and Stadium,
Main and Stadium and Packard and Eastover.

 Packard between Stadium and Pine Valley ought to be a 35, or a 40
zone, well, maybe a 35. 30 is too low and I suspect that the cops are using
this as an excuse to snag drunks that have the misfortune of drinking
at Frasers.

  The other nite I picked a guy up from City Hall, going to Triangle
Towing. He said that he had been in Robby's and when he came out, they
busted him not more than 1/4 mile from when he got in the car. Now that
is insane to say the least, but at least it IS getting the drunks off
the streets.

I still think Huron Parkway should be 45 or 50.  Notice that HP is
a four-lane divided road for much of its length, but has the same
speed limit as Fuller between HP and Glacier -- a two-lane undivided
street!

There's something fundamentally wrong with the government when they
view enforcement of the laws as a potential profit center.  The
city council should be *happy* that revenues from traffic enforcement
are down; that theoretically means that fewer people are breaking
the law.

The area around the power station and Argo Park is bad; I found out
the hard way that the speed limit over that bridge is only 30 a couple
months ago.  30?  30?!?!

 Indeed it is!!! How did you find out Marc??? I'll bet it was wrapped 
blue paint, and well hidden.

I wrote a letter to the AA News much along the lines of response #1.
Look for it in today's paper.

 cut it out and save it for me, dan.

Didn't get into Tuesday's paper.  Maybe they were just teasing me.

I wonder what the police and city Gov. would do, if just to spite
them everybody followed the traffic laws and they got NO money
from traffic ticket revenues.
I would love to see that happen.

I am doing just that, but not for for spite reasons.

I don't like the points on my record.

re 9... The police would then get tougher and sneakier than they already 
are.

The city council would create laws no one could obey to protect
city income.

Huron Parkway north of the river has always screamed for a 55mph posting.
It's a limited acess divided highyway with tons of run-off.  Not that the
40 it's burdened with now surprises me, AA has always had things notched
down 5-15 mph below comparable roads in more mobile towns.

HP south of the river is ok at 40, 45 is certainly reasonable.  I say that
given its current condition.  With its long overdue rebuilding and
possible improvements at Geddes and Huron River Drive, 50 will soon be
a below average speed.

The cops love the new condos on HP just north of Washtenaw.  Now they don't
have to get up on the grass to hide from people.

Sherriff's hang out at:

North side of Liberty between Zeeb and Wagner.

The Subaru dealer on Jackson Road (west of wagner, before Zeeb)

PB's is a coffee/donut stop (corner Zeeb and Jackson)

State Police:

I-94: East, in the median, as you turn rightish after US-12 goes to Willow
Run.  They also face for Westbound traffic as well.  They hide under the
Rosenville road overpass.  They can be found in the turnarounds between
Rosenville and Belleville Roads.  Watch the forest in the median that is
just east of Metro Airport and before Telegraph.  Watch the hilly median
just east of the Southfield Freeway exit until you hit Oakwood Blvd.  Watch
for Dearborn police around Michigan Ave (US-12).  Once you hit detroit,
don't worry...they don't pull anybody over...no room.

I-94 near Mt. Clemens: watch for State Police Camaros and Mustangs.

I-696 near Roseville... All branches love sitting under those curvy
bridges.  I-696 East, at I-275/I-96 interchange...as you enter 696 going
east, watch for police on the right shuoulder...you can't see them until
its too late.  Also watch for them on the entrance ramp from Grand River in
the same area.

I-75 South of Detroit: Watch the median on the left side at the Fort Street
entrance (it's a left-handed one).  Watch the bridges near S. Rockwood.

US-23: South of AA: Northbound: they like the rest area near Willow Road.

M-14: Both directions, just west of Barton, they like sitting in the median
just as the bridge ends on the west side of the river.  Also, just before
it merges into I-96, they like sitting under the I-275 overpass.

That's all of my tips!

Just like in the old days of CB radios...wow

  
 hey man, with all the driving that I do, and that most of us do, these
are very welcome hints indeed!!! the LAST thing that I need is a $65 or
larger ticket because of something stupid that I did. Mind you, I don't
speed and don't condone it, but this is out and out WAR!!!

RE 14: Wow! thanks:):) I-94 so far has not bothered me.  But Austin Rd once
        and M-52 once got cranky.  And everybody does 65, go figure.

Would this be obstructing the justice?

Who said anything about Justice, were talking about the law.

 absolutly not. This is mere inforamtion that we are pooling together
and compiling, no harm there.

And I was thinking you were disclosing information about how to break
the law but not get cought at the wrong places.

We're not, uh, tracking policeman, but rather, uh,....

FINDING OUT WHERE TO SEND THE DONUTS!

Got to keep the boys in blue happy, right?

On a somewhat related note, while driving from the west side of
Ann Arbor to the Denny's on Washtenaw at around 1:30AM two nights
ago, I saw *five* (count 'em, *five*) police cars.  Three of
them were following each other westbound on Washtenaw, just
east of Stadium.  Curiously enough, when I got to Denny's a few
minutes later, there was another police car still parked in the
lot, and the two cops inside finishing their coffee or whatever.
A good quarter to a third of the AAPD patrol cars must've been
at Denny's around then; I'm sure glad my house wasn't burglarized
that night...

  I once bought 2 officers coffee and doughnuts at the Washtenaw Dairy.
TOTALLY freaked them out.

(There's probably a file on you now...)

I've also seen police sport-utility vehicles parked in the low-sunk
medians (if you're eastbound on I-96, you might barely be able to
see the lights peeking up) near overpasses.

Thanks for the alert.  I-94 at Metro is now clogged due to construction.
I'm switching to M-14/I-96 for the summer.

does anyone know if they'll leave I-96 alone this summer?  I've heard
rumors they're going to tear into it as well.

RE 26: Heh. Metro Airport Security has a whole *fleet* of Jeep Grand 
        Cherokee Laredos. Lessee $25000 x ?. Po Metro airport.

Is it just me, or is the AAPD doing a lot less speed trapping these days?  A
little less than a year ago, when this item was last responded to, I was 
constantly seeing police cars parked in speed trap positions.  In the last 
couple months a speed trap in Ann Arbor seems to be a rather rare occurrence.

You don't drive the Parkway do you?

Not very often, but other streets I drive, like Washtenaw and North Main,
seem to have a much reduced cop presence.

i don't have much to add except that i think that aapd has better things to
do than pull someone overx
why oh why??

So, what about this 70mph speed limit idea, eh?

  To revive another dead or rather long dormant item...

  I'm still doing the cab thing, but down here in Ohio.

  I really havent had many run ins with the Toledo PD, but the one thing they
really don't enforce down here is the speed within the city limits. Just
tonite, I cruised from Dorr and Reynolds all the way downtown doing an average
of 40mph. Between Detroit Ave and Collingwood the speed limit is 30. No one
does 30 on that stretch.

  Conversly, on Central between Reynolds and Secor is the little village of
Ottawa Hills. The cops are very bored, and they enforce the 40 mph on Central
absolutly. There are a few sneaky hiding places, but I'm hip to thier jazz.
I just do 40 and pray I don't get rapped in the ass. It's even worse on
Bancroft.

   Now as for the OHP. My very first run in with them was in a small town
named Van Buren OH. I had my little doodlebug exactly 1 day. I was not aware
of the burned out license plate lite. I'm tooling down SR 618 and I crossed
the tracks. All of a sudden, it was like that scene from Close Encounters.
I mean bright lights and flashers. I stopped and got a warning to fix the
lights.
   The last one was when I was coming back from Cleveland. I was mega tired
and thought the best thing to do was to pull over and sleep in the breakdown
lane. Yeah right. Next thing I know is there is this ex Marine type complete
with high and tight haircut pounding on my window, and yelling at me to stop
sleeping on his turnpike. I was escorted to the nearest rest stop where I was
instructed to sleep for at least 2 hours. He explained in a much lower voice
that I could have been killed by sleeping in the breakdown lane.

   My most recent encounter with the Flat Rock fuzz wasn't pleasant but ended
up better than I expected. I was cruising down Gibralter road, and I had the
Ipod turned up and was grooving to Aretha when I noticed flashing lights. I
pulled over and he asked me if I always do 40 in a 25. I replied that I didn't
and that it just got away from me. I was nice, and penitant, and got off with
a warning to never speed in Flat Rock again. I wasn't even wearing my
seatbelts, but I explained that I don't do seatbelts because they can be used
against me. I did put the seatbelt on, and got my ass out of Michigan.

   Generally, I do not speed. I do not care how late you are for your plane.
It was your fault for not calling the cab sooner. The only reason I'm speeding
is if you're bleeding, and then all you're gonna get is me doing basic first
aid, then a nice slow ride to the hospital. No sense in killing someone.

   I know that this is a callous attitude, but I should not bear the scars
for something that's not my fault in the first place. There will be other
flights, and if need be, I can drive you to where you need to be. 

How can seat belts be used against you?

    Seatbelts are not just the over the waist things, but they also come
across the body, and close to the neck. 

    Some idiot gets in the cab, and sits behind you. He reaches in front grabs
the belt that goes from waist to neck and pulls it tight against your throat.
At this point you either pass out, or wreck the car. I just don't put it on
in the first place. How do I deal with a person behind me? I ask them gently
to please move to the other side because I can't see the rearview. Generally,
they move.

    I have no reservations of driving right into a 7-11 or something if my
life is in peril. Cars carry insurance. Dead is forever. You do the math.

Get a barrier between the front and back seats. I've been in many cabs
with them. 

  then the bad people win. Can't let that happen.

Do you win if you kill yourself by not wearing a seatbelt?

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss