[horses01]

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one getting the bird. Myself, my kid, and my mother have all been flipped the bird in the past few months. We all have different driving styles, all good mostly.
I didn't understand when I moved here, why half the drivers don't know how to merge into traffic and there is so much tailgating. But then I learned that driver's ed is not required, there are a lot of 14 yr old drivers (supposedly just going to/from school), and my kid's driver's ed teacher signed everyone's certificates so they didn't need to take a driving test. I think that was after only about six drives!

[Mel2882]

I have to admit this is surprising to me. I was just visiting Omaha over the weekend (im from southern california) and couldn't get over how slow everyone was driving. Felt like everyone had lots of time to dilly dally. Maybe I just wasn't there long enough to see.

[omaha hughes]

i admit i do speed somewhat frequently, although it's either on a freeway (especially going 65-70 either on the expressway or on i-80 through town), or going with the flow. i personally view driving slower than the flow and slowing traffic up to be more dangerous than driving 5 over. however, for me, this only applies to streets that are 40 mph speed limit or above. 25 or below i stick to speed religiously, 30-35 i do unless i'm in a hurry (i know it's no excuse, but come on, who hasn't?)

[McBain II]

Originally Posted by MountainMen

That's called heresay

Wrong.

A term applied to that species of testimony given by a witness whorelates, not what he knows personally, but what others have told him, or what he hasheard said by others.

What is HEARSAY? definition of HEARSAY (Black's Law Dictionary)

and OPD won't do anything about it. You could have a grudge against somebody and take a picture of their car and report it. That doesn't prove they were doing anything wrong.

This is mostly correct. Depending on the severity of the alleged violation, they might pursue it. How they handle it if/when they catch the person is dependent on a lot of factors.

The only answer is to clear out all the dinosaurs in OPD (without the bloated pensions based on bogus overtime work) and hire young motivated officers who don't feel entitled.

This one doesn't make any sense. First, you (incorrectly) claim that OPD can't enforce these reports because they are hearsay, then you make a dig at them (bringing up the unrelated pension issue I might add). What kind of cognitive dissonance does that take?

By the way, if you want more young cops on the force, let Suttle and the City Council know you're cool with raising taxes some to fund more recruit classes. OPD hasn't even been able to keep up with attrition due to their budget cuts.

Also, most legitimate cities have traffic enforcement divisions who do nothing but control the problems being discussed in this thread.

OPD has a traffic unit.

City of Omaha Police Department - Police Units

[MountainMen]

If you can see past the narrow courtroom definition of heresay, the widely accepted definition is "Hearsay is information gathered by one person from another person concerning some event, condition, or thing of which the first person had no direct experience." That is exactly what he was describing.

I already suggested a way to pay for the young officers (without raising taxes). You get rid of the old ones who aren't doing their jobs, and you make sure they don't take all the city's money with them when they go. That includes the "traffic unit" which is ineffective if people are freely breaking traffic laws all over the city.

[McBain II]

Originally Posted by MountainMen

If you can see past the narrow courtroom definition of heresay, the widely accepted definition is "Hearsay is information gathered by one person from another person concerning some event, condition, or thing of which the first person had no direct experience." That is exactly what he was describing.

Dude, come on, you're smarter than this. At least I hope.

The definition I posted is from Black's Law Dictionary. It's used as reference by all facets of the criminal justice system, including the freaking Supreme Court. That IS the definition of hearsay.

Even the definition you posted (with no source) says the same damn thing, just worded differently. The situation you describe does NOT fall under hearsay because the person who would be making the complaint witnessed the event first hand, and a violation of the law need not be personally witnessed by law enforcement for it to be actionable. That alone should be pretty well known for anybody who has paid attention to the news and current events.

I already suggested a way to pay for the young officers (without raising taxes). You get rid of the old ones who aren't doing their jobs, and you make sure they don't take all the city's money with them when they go.

Great. Now how do you actually (and legally) go about doing this, as Omaha police officers operate under contract?

That includes the "traffic unit" which is ineffective if people are freely breaking traffic laws all over the city.

This is beyond laughable. There are 821 police officers on the force, according to Wiki (actual number is probably lower now). From there, you have to remove all the high level/management personnel, detectives, training staff, bomb squad, gang unit, air unit...etc. Then you have to take the officers that can be spared for a traffic unit, spread them over the entire city and three different duty shifts.

You SERIOUSLY expect them to be able to stop even a significant portion of the violations? Sorry, that's unrealistic. Their greatest value is deterrence.

[iamjacobm]

I do not share this same experience. I haven't been flipped the bird in years, haven't had to honk or been honked at in months. Heck it has probably been a month since I last heard a honk on the road.

[mostie]

When we moved there a few years ago (we moved out of NE in Sept.), I noticed the same thing. People driving over the speed limit, honking at me or tailing me because I was going the speed limit (Sorry, can't afford a ticket, lol), never failed if a light turned red, there would still be several cars turning through it. Angry people honking, etc.- I'm from CA, and for all people talk about road rage there, I never saw such road rage as I did in Omaha.

[billiefan2000]

Originally Posted by mostie

When we moved there a few years ago (we moved out of NE in Sept.), I noticed the same thing.

People driving over the speed limit,

honking at me or tailing me because I was going the speed limit (Sorry, can't afford a ticket, lol), never failed if a light turned red, there would still be several cars turning through it.

Angry people honking, etc.- I'm from CA, and for all people talk about road rage there, I never saw such road rage as I did in Omaha.

glad someone else is noticing what some dont want to admit: a lot of omaha drivers have a lack of self-control and patience and humility on the road

[McBain II]

Originally Posted by billiefan2000

glad someone else is noticing what some dont want to admit: a lot of omaha drivers have a lack of self-control and patience and humility on the road

What is "a lot"? A handful? A majority? What?

For the record, I've lived in both Omaha and Tampa Bay, and my late father was an over the road trucker for several years. From the experience of both myself and my father, Omaha is pretty unremarkable as far as road rage goes, and what you see is essentially a fact of life when living in a major city.