It is no secret that everyon behaves as a driver when they see a cop car. And I see that in the event of an emergency, police should be easily identified. But, should some traffic cops drive a plain, common, unmarked Ford Focus? When the many misbehaving drivers of the world act up, they could be caught redhanded.
The plain knowlege of any car being a cop to me would cause at least some to drive better, more often.
Thoughts?
If they were after deterrence rather than revenue, there would be no such things as speed traps.
IMHO, it’s good that they’re marked. Not only does it allow me to notice them and slow down so I don’t violate their oh-so-precious little “speeding” laws, but I wouldn’t know who to get out of the way of on the road. Other vehicles have flashing lights, which color is for the cops, I have no idea. I’d feel pretty dumb pulling over to let some hick in a pickup pass by, or the car running ahead of the “wide load” truck carrying half a frickin’ house on it. I imagine it also helps with roadside trouble, we can see a cop is on the scene and that it’s being taken care of so we don’t need to stop and help.
Where do you live?
We have unmarked vehicles all over the place.
And yes, I mean vehicles, not cars. Everyday I see people pulled over by law enforcement driving SUVs, pickup trucks, panel vans, red sports cars, and the typical ugly it-can’t-be-anything-else-other-than-a-cop-in-drag, er, unmarked car.
They can use unmarked cars all they like. The problem is that in many areas, an unmarked car can’t pull someone over. In fact when I lived in Florida, they went out of their way to tell people not to pull over for one. Any idiot can buy himself a fake dash siren and start car jacking people.
So if they drive unmarked cars, they have to work in tandem. An unmarked car nailing speeders, a marked one pulling them over. I’ve heard news stories on this being done, but it isn’t a good use of police money unless they expect to catch a lot of speeders on a stretch of road. And traffic monitoring is expected to turn a profit.
Very true. When I lived in Florida, I was told quite bluntly by a police officer that you are not required to pull over for an unmarked police vehicle.
It is recommended that if you do pull over, make sure that it is a well-lit public place with many witnesses.
Not sure if I understand. Knowing there could be speed traps doesn’t make you drive slower?
Deterrence is having a cop car in areas where people tend to speed.
A blind speedtrap as only one obejctive: revenue. The logic is that since there is no policeman to be seen, it cannot be a deterrent.
A very good point. Perhaps the cars could have some sort of special marking. Plates, stickers, cop in uniform.
Try hard enough and one could copy a black and white. It has happened before.
Duckster, I’m someplace long ago (duh! Just look at my locastion to your left :P) But really, I live in large western city full of bad drivers . Come to think of it, in other cities, I have seen unmarked cars pull people over, however (at least to me) they were still goverment vehicles- navy blue/ black US made with exempted plates.
Then again, I have had knowlege of goverement cars for a while, so maybe I notice these things more.
But if everyone knew there could be unmarked police cars and speed traps anywhere, wouldn’t they hesitate to speed even when there are no police cars visible? Doesn’t that count as deterrence?
**But if everyone knew there could be unmarked police cars and speed traps anywhere, wouldn’t they hesitate to speed even when there are no police cars visible? Doesn’t that count as deterrence? **
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scr4 makes my argument ahead of me…
Uh, I have a friend who used to pull over cars using nothing but his emergency flashers and a Mag-Lite held out the window. You wouldn’t believe what people would stop for. This is why I think unmarked cars are potentially a bigger hazard to lawlessness than any kind of deterrent. Drivers won’t slow down for every car–they’re just not that paranoid. In my town, we’ve learned to recognize undercover cars at a distance–our department moronically puchased a whole fleet of unmarked cars that were the same make, model, and color and then outfitted them with garish antennas that were impossible to miss. Sigh…