CHP Air Speed Enforcement

[RadioGuy1951]

After working for CDF, I know how fragile our bodies are compared to crunched steel & flying glass shards...the worst task in this world is knocking on a door to explain that somebody is not coming home tonight...(your loved one is now at the Coronors office, tagged & bagged)...

As for car speed, off & on ramps, the fast drivers need to remember that many cars can not accelerate as fast as others...many econo cars are 4 banger automatics without a whole lot of "get up & go", whether driven by little old ladies or a housewife with kids...also, some drivers are not checking their mirrors as often as needed and can be surprised when a fast moving car all of a sudden shows up, and a driver that is surprised can sometimes do unexplained manuvuers adding to the danger...

[mkewman]

Originally Posted by tahoekid77

The SAC aircraft are based in Auburn. I was thinking of taking a field trip out there one of these days. I can use my pilot credentials to walk around the tarmac and ask silly questions if the CHP troopers are hanging around. (Hey, do you guys do ride-alongs?)

Word of advice. DO NOT DO IT... They DO NOT LIKE VISITS. Just trust me on this one...

[kma371]

Originally Posted by RadioGuy1951

Why not (if that's the posted speed limit)...???

Are you above the law...???

Are you too self important...???

Do you not know how to plan your trips & schedules...???

Driving is not an act of instant gratification, as much as some might want it to be...

If you are so outragous that you are going faster than traffic flow and stand out enough to draw attention to yourself, and get a ticket, it is your fault, the fault of the other drivers, the fault of the lawmakers, or the fault of the CHP...???

chill out dude. its lyrics to a song.

[duster]

Originally Posted by kma371

all i know is they can take my license and all that jive, but I can't drive 55

had to do it

Nice quote Bill! Some of us got it! LOL


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[kma371]

Originally Posted by duster

Nice quote Bill! Some of us got it! LOL


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well at least someone understood my weak attempt to insert some humor in this thread

[KD6RRR]

Actually RadioGuy, KMA was quoting lyrics from a rather infamous Sammy Hager hit song, not expressing his inability to obey posted speed limits. Although I am sure that he has exceeded the speed limit several times in his life when behind the wheel of his patrol car.

[kma371]

Originally Posted by KD6RRR

Although I am sure that he has exceeded the speed limit several times in his life when behind the wheel of his patrol car.

I want to invoke my right to remain silent

[Exsmokey]

Originally Posted by kma371

all i know is they can take my license and all that jive, but I can't drive 55

had to do it

Yes you CAN. You should have said you WON'T.

Wanted to do it.

[Exsmokey]

Originally Posted by KD6RRR

Actually RadioGuy, KMA was quoting lyrics from a rather infamous Sammy Hager hit song, not expressing his inability to obey posted speed limits. Although I am sure that he has exceeded the speed limit several times in his life when behind the wheel of his patrol car.

The attempt at humor was less than weak with me. I've never heard of Sammy Hager, let alone his infamous hit song. But, of course, that weak attempt at humor reminds me of the scene from the movie, Bonnie and Clyde, the one where Faye Dunaway gets up in the morning, and the camera shot is of the mirror. I'm sure the audience reaction was the same when you saw it also. No, actually it is more like that line from the Peter, Paul and Mary song "Blowin in the Wind" or perhaps the Kansas song "Dust in the Wind." The trouble with quoting a line from a song or movie is that not everyone knows what you are quoting and not everyone may care.

We have a local newspaper publisher who writes and says something similar to "but when the town council decided to delay the vote, it had all the success that John Travolta's character in 'Pulp Fiction', when he ordered the drink." Since I didn't see nor want to see "Pulp Fiction" you want to let me know in English why the town council was less than successful?"

Your humor attempt may not have been weak at all, more likely it was obscure for some of us.

*EDIT* But just to show there are no hard feelings and that I might have a sense of humor I ask you what happened when old Sammy could not drive 55? The cops, uh um, Karted him off. Just as well as he can't Kari a tune anyway.

[KD6RRR]

Well it's even worse than you think! I misspelled Hagar's last name!

[norcalscan]

Originally Posted by mkewman

Word of advice. DO NOT DO IT... They DO NOT LIKE VISITS. Just trust me on this one...

Is that just the Auburn/Sac crew or all chp air bases? Because they have been all smiles at Benton Air Park for H14 and H16, Air 11 and Air 13.

[mkewman]

Originally Posted by norcalscan

Is that just the Auburn/Sac crew or all chp air bases? Because they have been all smiles at Benton Air Park for H14 and H16, Air 11 and Air 13.

I haven't tried to visit any other base since my experience at Auburn. I assume it's just the PCSO Falcon/CHP crew up at Auburn.

[tahoekid77]

CHP used to fly a Mooney in the bay area a few years ago. I've not seen it now since about 2009. I heard them one afternoon come up on the Santa Cruz Sheriff channel as they followed a possible DUI, and he guided them to the guy and made the stop. I guess their own guys were out of the area. But their Sacramento Air Force is a regular fare these days.

[tahoekid77]

I drove down from Truckee into SAC and Bay Area on Thursday, and you guessed it, I heard AIR 21 again in their usual spot between Clipper Gap and Dry Creek roads, Eastbound. I heard on my scanner, then saw a guy who was snagged going over 100 mph.

The other interesting thing is for the first time in a very long time, another aircraft being used in the bay area. I have some audio I need to edit, but its interesting to listen to... (will post a follow up here later)

[jeremyphoto23]

I had Air21 on my channel today when I was working...they seem to be up all the time and available to local LE agencies...and if not, available for callout from Auburn. Air21 and H20 out of Auburn cover a large area and a lot of the time are up simultaneously in various parts of Valley Div.

I did a fly along with PCSO on Falc30, it was pretty cool, amazing what the pilots do in the air, number of radio frequencies they monitor, etc.




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[tahoekid77]

Edited copy of the audio/video from Thursday (3/14) coming out of the Sierra. Excuse my riders blurt (it was kind of funny though). CHP AIr 21 snags some guy doing 105, another 85.
Due to the camera lens you cannot see the plane, but I could tell he was doing some rather steep turns in order to keep his eye on the trooper below.

I'm curious if they fly solo or have someone else at the controls.

CHP Air 21 I-80 - YouTube

[Exsmokey]

It would be interesting to look at traffic accident statistics for that stretch of highway. For the CHP to use the resources they do on that length of highway tells me that they have to justify, within the agency, a reason for doing so. That reason is likely the number of accidents that have occurred in the past, prior to stepped up enforcement, or by the seriousness of the accidents, or a combination of the two. The time of day when those accidents occur is usually taken into account.

The CHP in the eastern Sierra target areas that have the most and the most serious accidents. It does not take too much time living in an area and reading the papers and listening to a scanner to figure out what those areas of highway are. When I drive I see the CHP presence in those areas more than I do in other areas. One place that appears to be an exception is the long 6% grade between Crowley Lake and Bishop. On the downhill or southbound lanes the CHP sits on the lower portion of the grade to check downhill speed. When people speed down the grade they generally keep the speed up for another 5 miles in the flats north of Bishop and then don't slow down once they reach Bishop, even though the reduction from 65 to 35 and eventually 25 are well marked and easily obtainable because the distances between 10 mph reductions is adequate,

Speeding drivers, for a number of reasons, usually speed through towns when they also speed on the highways so enforcement away from the towns is important for traffic safety in towns.

There is a lot of slow traffic on this grade as trucks have to slow to 35, due in part because of the number of brake fires and brake failure incidents that have happened there. Cars moving at the speed limit have enough trouble sensing the speed of these slower moving vehicles due to the speed differential. When the speed limit is exceeded this factor is increased and vehicles traveling the speed limit can't often judge the speed of the over the limit drivers to the rear. I've had some close calls with 80+ mph vehicles when I'm trying to get around a slow truck, RV or trailer towing vehicle. The problem is that the speeders are traveling faster than safe given the sight distances involved.

[gmclam]

Originally Posted by Exsmokey

It would be interesting to look at traffic accident statistics for that stretch of highway.

The stretches of highway where I see or hear them doing enforcement are all staight stretches of road (Hwy 80 Placer county line to 80/Business 80 split, Clipper Gap to Bowman, Hwy 50 from Sunrise to Folsom Blvd) where drivers just tend to open up the throttle.

Some of the more deadly locations are not as much related to pure speed as inadequate road for the quantity of traffic, such as Hwy 12 on both sides of Rio Vista, Hwy 49 between Auburn & Grass Valley and Hwy 99 from Sacramento to the 99/70 split were previously much more deadly areas until the roads were improved.

I'd like to see them concentrate on other enforcement issues and not just speed. Drivers using the shoulder to pass, "distracted", coming up on slow traffic (driving too closely), not keeping to the right regardless of speed (if you're not passing move to the right), failure to signal adequately before you move (indecisions kill) and tons more. I could show 100s of locations where most vehicles are causing a violation and these seem to lierally go 'under the radar'.

When I've discussed it with LEOs, I am told they only concentrate on the so-called big 3 violations that cause the most deaths or serious injuries. WOW. My point is that some driver doing oh 80 in a 65 zone who is abiding by ALL other laws of the road is not nearly a threat to others as many of the abive violations I listed.

[russianspd]

Originally Posted by tahoekid77

Edited copy of the audio/video from Thursday (3/14) coming out of the Sierra. Excuse my riders blurt (it was kind of funny though). CHP AIr 21 snags some guy doing 105, another 85.
Due to the camera lens you cannot see the plane, but I could tell he was doing some rather steep turns in order to keep his eye on the trooper below.

I'm curious if they fly solo or have someone else at the controls.

CHP Air 21 I-80 - YouTube

If it is a single engine plane like a Cessna or Mooney than most likely they incorporate two pilots. If they do as much work up there as I suspect it would be an issue of Pilot safety to have one guy doing all the work.

[mkewman]

Originally Posted by gmclam

Some of the more deadly locations are not as much related to pure speed as inadequate road for the quantity of traffic, such as Hwy 12 on both sides of Rio Vista, Hwy 49 between Auburn & Grass Valley and Hwy 99 from Sacramento to the 99/70 split were previously much more deadly areas until the roads were improved.

I'd like to see them concentrate on other enforcement issues and not just speed. Drivers using the shoulder to pass, "distracted", coming up on slow traffic (driving too closely), not keeping to the right regardless of speed (if you're not passing move to the right), failure to signal adequately before you move (indecisions kill) and tons more. I could show 100s of locations where most vehicles are causing a violation and these seem to lierally go 'under the radar'.

Boom.

I completely agree. Highway 49 is extremely dangerous between Combie road and Grass Valley. I routinely see midlife-crisis-mobiles going 70 or 80 on this stretch, crossing the double yellows, drafting the semis (my personal pet peeve... you can cost a trucker his JOB if YOU hit HIM because you're being a jackass.) etc.

I think what it comes down to is grants. I suspect the CHP doesn't get federal monies for things other than Speed, DUI enforcement, and "Distracted" driving, and that's why they don't focus on these other things... but I could be wrong.