About 7,000 drivers issued tickets on Intercounty Connector

[tgs_bg]

Originally Posted by AeroGuyDC

Actually, your statistics knowledge does need a bit of help. Your analysis is that 14 tickets per day is reasonable. What you failed to look at is the number of tickets as a percentage of overall drivers using the ICC. Indeed, 7,000 tickets could in fact be a very high percentage. That's why the number of tickets as a percentage of drivers has to be looked at. Merely stating that 14 tickets per day is reasonable does not tell the full story.

As far as you reading the article is concerned, you state in a previous post that the 7,000 tickets likely include infractions other than speeding. The article states forthrightly in the very beginning that the study was an analysis of speeding tickets.

From your posts, I gather that you are a law enforcer of some type. Is there any particular reason you are defending law enforcement with your shoddy statistics and inability to understand what you read? Is this the level of intellectual output that we can expect from the typical cop?

I'll answer, but based on your insult towards me and your bias towards police it's quite obvious you are very one-sided and no matter what I say will fall to deaf ears.

You want to talk about my statistics, but then want take a news article for face value. In case you didn’t know, news articles skew statistics and portray an image to the people reading it to fit their objective, and that is normally to get a reaction. Did you see any references in that article? How about any quotes? An interview with anyone “in the know” on that topic, such as a spokesperson for the department, a statistician for the department, or someone who has the ability to look up what kind of tickets were issued out on what jurisdiction? Does that article even tell you how they came to those statistics???? All it says is that it’s obtained by “documents”, but doesn’t state where those documents came from or if it is even a credible source.

The article even tries to tug at your emotions further by stating how people were getting tickets for speeding less than 10 miles per hour. It doesn’t state in there how the MdTA Police, who might stop you for going 20mph over the limit, will often do you a favor and only cite you for going 5 over if you have a clean record. See where I am getting at??? You want to blindly believe everything that is written by the media which have been contorting topics ever since they have been in business, but want to insult and not acknowledge the opinion of someone who actually does the job and has an understanding of how things really work.

MdTA Police use e-tix (electronic citation program) which means the tickets are not handwritten and don’t require your signature. You can view how many tickets/warnings/repair orders have been issued over a period of X amount of days, but the only way to determine what the ticket is, or what roadway it was issued on, it go review each and every stop and write it down yourself. And the only person who can do that is the officer who issued the ticket…. no one else. So unless ABC7 news interviewed every officer working at the ICC and have them willingly disclose that data which, would take a couple hours to do for each officer (which they’re not allowed per department orders to do anyways)… then there is no way what you’re reading in that article is accurate.

I even personally know close to half of the officers assigned to the ICC. Only one or two of them are interested in writing people speeding tickets. The rest look for other traffic violations to enforce.

If your preconceived notions on my “intellectual output” prevent you from comprehending any of this then that’s your problem. Get over it and you might learn something.

[John13]

I used to take the ICC everyday to work and back until I got sick of paying the tolls and moved to Baltimore.

I blew by many speed traps going my standard 64 MPH (when the speed limit was 55) and I was never given a ticket. I remember seeing some speeding past me and thinking they are going to get ticketed, if not that day then shortly in the future.

Someone suggested a 70 MPH limit and I think that is way too fast. There are a few sharp curves that I can see being an increase of accidents. I have not driven on the ICC since they raised the speed limit to 60 but it's my understanding there are now (or are going to be) warning signs for the curves along that road. Good idea. 70 MPH would be a disaster because that would mean many would go 80.

[dkf747]

Agreed. Why weren't the signs up the day it opened? I also agree that some of those curves are a bit sharp, but why not increase the speed on the portions that are safe to increase them?

[John13]

Originally Posted by dkf747

Agreed. Why weren't the signs up the day it opened? I also agree that some of those curves are a bit sharp, but why not increase the speed on the portions that are safe to increase them?

Because at 55 MPH it is not a problem. It wasn't a problem for me going 64 but I did slow down a bit at night when coming from Laurel right before arriving to Gaithersburg. The other dangerous curves are around Georgia Ave. Still, no problem for me going 64. But any faster and I can see there being a problem.

Now that it is 60 MPH the signs needed to go up. That means you may be able to get away with going 69 MPH. I wouldn't recommend taking those curves at that speed.

The 5 MPH increase saves a total of 90 seconds during the entire trip.

It's not worth it to increase it anymore as the faster you go the more of a chance for accidents, especially considering those sharp curves - warning signs or not.

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by John13

Because at 55 MPH it is not a problem.

I have no doubt that I am not the only one who knew people would drive much faster than 55 long before the road opened.

[Mr Beco]

ICC Speed Limit Officially Increases to 60 MPH This Weekend
Weather permitting, officials will change posted limits on Friday and Saturday.
By John Davisson Email the author March 27, 2013


State transportation officials are set to change signs on the Intercounty Connector (MD-200) this weekend to officially increase the speed limit from 55 mph to 60 mph.

Weather permitting, westbound signs will be changed on Friday and eastbound signs on Saturday, according to the Maryland Transportation Authority.

Officials said new warning signs for curves have also been added to the highway, which runs between I-270 and I-95 through Montgomery and Prince George's counties.

The MDTA elected to raise the speed limit this past winter following engineering studies and crash analysis based the ICC’s first year of operations.

“We needed one year of ICC operations and full consideration of the design speed and geometry of the roadway to ensure that a 60 mph speed limit is safe and justifiable," MDTA Executive Secretary Harold M. Bartlett said in a statement.

The authority expects drivers going from one end of the connector to the other to save approximately 90 seconds per trip.

View the MDTA's crash analysis report here.

[Fundman]

Aero - The number of tickets per day number is basically correct. I'm sure he divide the number of days the ICC has been in existence by 7,000 and came up with 14 tickets per day. You are arguing about a totally different point. Whether the police are devoting too much attention to enforcing the traffic violations on the ICC. The truth is that just about every time someone goes for a drive they violate multiple traffic laws. Speeding, no signaling when changing lanes, following too close, etc. It seems that because the volume of cars on the ICC is relatively low the police are able to focus on individual cars easier and are more efficient in writing tickets. While on the Beltway there are so many cars whizzing by the chance of being picked out by a trooper are very low.

[EducatedBro82]

It needs to stay at 60. I will even think 65 will be fairly decent. 70 however is not a good speed. However I'm sure there are people that drive that fast as they do on the Beltway and Parkway.