The California Highway Patrol has started cracking down on
speeding violators statewide after counties spanning the state have
shown a trend of motorists
’ blatant disregard for speed limits.
The California Highway Patrol has started cracking down on speeding violators statewide after counties spanning the state have shown a trend of motorists’ blatant disregard for speed limits.
The area CHP will be doing specific enforcement days periodically throughout March and the following months, looking expressly for speeders, CHP Officer Terry Mayes said.
“We’ll be out en masse to slow them down,” said Mayes, who works out of the CHP office in Gilroy. “It will seem like we’re everywhere. It will make some people very happy and some people very sad, but our idea is to make it safer.”
The added enforcement came with increased speeding statistics and an elevated number of complaints coming in, especially from Highways 101 and 156, Mayes said.
“If people can’t discipline themselves and be mindful of the posted speed limit, then they’re going to start paying the county,” she said. “And they’re not inexpensive tickets.”
The minimum fine for a speeding ticket in San Benito County is $110 for a violation of between 1 and 15 mph over the speed limit. It increases significantly with prior speeding violations and a higher rate of speed, according to the county’s traffic court.
Officers will be using various means of monitoring motorists’ speed, from traffic radar to the basic pacing of a vehicle (following a vehicle at a set distance behind to establish a rate of speed).
They also will utilize speed teams in conjunction with an airplane, which can radio down the exact position of a speeding car to stationary units on the ground, Mayes said.
“You won’t know until you see a row of black and whites behind you, and then you’ll think, ‘Oh no,’ ” she said. “It’s something to think about all the time.”
Speeding is the primary cause of collisions statewide, and once a car’s speed exceeds 65 mph the probability of death in a crash increases significantly, she said.
