Police presence on roads: Are our roads over-policed? (Wayne: inspection, law)

[KathrynAragon]

I just returned to Texas from spending the holidays in SW Ohio and wow, I was definitely struck by the sheer number of police cars parked along various highways. I thought it was maybe just because of holiday traffic but this is making me wonder if it's typical.

(No, I didn't get pulled over, even with my out of state plates!)

[bomgd3]

Originally Posted by KathrynAragon

I just returned to Texas from spending the holidays in SW Ohio and wow, I was definitely struck by the sheer number of police cars parked along various highways. I thought it was maybe just because of holiday traffic but this is making me wonder if it's typical.

(No, I didn't get pulled over, even with my out of state plates!)

Yup, it's crazy. It's not just the holidays. I commute 120 miles daily and it would be very typical to see at least 5 police officers. I'm really not sure it's a good use of police resources when we have so many other law enforcement problems in this part of Ohio

[IonRedline08]

Originally Posted by SlideRules99

Well, I’ve lived in 6 states and have travelled most of the lower 48, and would concur that OH seems to have a very large police presence on the roads and highways.

I generally keep with the flow of traffic, and might creep 5-8 mph over the highway speed limits.

In 28 years of driving OUTSIDE the state of OH, I can only remember two instances of being physically pulled over for speeding and getting handed a ticket.

During that same stretch, I made a handful of visits to NE OH to see family, and got nailed twice in maybe 60 days of total driving in OH.

Same driving habits. Twice in 28 years, vs twice in 60 days...LOL. Could just be back luck, who knows...

On visits to OH, the wife (west coaster) would remark with surprise at the number of police. Maybe that’s due to the route we would take (OH Turnpike from CLE to Y-town), but they do seem to be everywhere...set up on surface streets, 2-4 lane roads, etc.

Not sure how I feel about it. It’s kinda’ nice not having “the Fast and the Furious” play out on OH roads. Lord knows I never see cops in OR, and wouldn’t mind some visible signs of law and order here.

I totally get your point on prioritization of resources. There needs to be a balance. Maybe OH is overdoing it a tad.

I'm almost identical to you in that I've lived in 6 states and travelled all over and Ohio has, without a doubt, the most heavily policed roads I've ever seen. We just drove to Youngstown from Southern California. I saw, at most, 5 state troopers the entire way until I hit the border of Ohio.. We saw so many as soon as we crossed over and it continued the whole way.

[Ohiogirl81]

While my experience with the OSP is minimal - one speeding ticket on I-90 in Ashtabula County, and I deserved it for doing 85 in a 55 mph zone with my dad's Chevy Impala wagon - I've had more negative encounters with county sheriff's deputies when it comes to speed traps and traffic stops. The sheriff's departments also like to line their coffers.

When I lived in Lake County, back in the Dark Ages, the sheriff's deputies liked to hide parked in car dealer lots on Mentor Avenue in Painesville Township. Clever little devils.

[jcp123]

Ohio and Louisiana are definitely tops when the sheer volume of cops on the roads is the question. My hunch is that drug trafficking (or the perception of such?) has something to do with it, as it’s the only state I can remember with regularly posted signs about drug activity/trafficking and a hotline to call. Ohio Turnpike is the heaviest, but NE Ohio in general is the heaviest. Anywhere near Akron, Canton, Youngstown, etc is where they love to be. Most other places have quite a few county mounties out too.

As mentioned, Louisiana is the only other state I can think of which has its highways flooded with so many cops, so constantly, but other states such as Indian and Illinois can be fairly heavily policed as well. PA, too, and certain parts of Oklahoma. Virginia has a reputation as an awful speed trap state, but I honestly don’t see that much enforcement there.

[roodd279]

The OP is plenty old now, maybe never see this but -



if you're referring to the 50mph - then you can only be referring to 680. many - many - fatal accidents on this road due to speeding. There's a reason it's 50 and not 70. I agree many bozos do cruise along at 70 - but check out the skid marks and broken guard rails and all the rest.



The police presence is not (strictly) about giving tickets - but tends to cause a slow down at the busiest times of day.



Go down there Sunday morning - no cops, 70mph is the norm.



It's a horrible comment, though, about the the value of the vehicles. Plenty o'people on that road are just passing through, while even locally, it's folks from Canfield, Boardman, Poland - they can afford it. When I'm passed on that stretch - it's not by a '89 Ford Encore, but by a new BMW SUV.


The rest of your commute is on the turnpike, and a small stretch of i80, I imagine. That's the OSP - not y-town cops - and their strategy is their own. You may have noticed the huge - giant - signs every where that say ZERO TOLERANCE CORRIDOR.



Why not stay on the turnpike one more exit - and come up from the South? Depends where you're working, might be a few minutes longer - but no 680.



You've been warned. Don't speed, and you won't have a problem.

[on3]

Originally Posted by LTU2

bomgd3, As far Linndale is concerned, the Mayor's Court there was abolished in 2012, now Parma has jurisdiction to hear traffic offenses for Linndale.

The best thing about traffic offenses is most Municipalities mirror state law at the penalty phase, violations of a general nature are classified as Minor Misdemeanors, no jail, money fine only, but can codify them as an arrestable offense, M-4 and above, if they choose.

Just as a side note, the Ohio Highway Patrol has traffic jurisdiction on all roads and highways, not just Interstates and State Routes, which may or may not be how Connecticut or New Hampshire operates their State units.

Even going 1 mile over the speed limit is a "prima-facie" offense, however the driver has a presumption of defense that such was not a disregard of public safety, too fast for road conditions, etc. The court must weigh these factors.

That’s awesome even though this should have happened a long time ago. Lindale was a joke.

[bomgd3]

Wow!! The New York Times had a front page article today about overpolicing in traffic enforcement and Ohio gets top billing in the article! They specifically mention ****ty micro-towns like Newburgh Heights, Linndale, Bratenahl, which have really large police forces that focus on generating outsize revenue. I'm so glad I'm not the only one who feels Ohio is completely over-policed. I really do appreciate what police do for public safety but there are some very bad incentives that encourage the wrong kind of policing.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/31/u...y-funding.html

I live in Shaker Heights and we are a perfect example. There's a famous speed trap along Van Aken Boulevard that slows down to a 20 MPH zone during school hours for a small private school. There are almost NEVER any kids out near the road. It's a tiny private school and you barely ever see any kids. There are wide sidewalks and a very wide shoulder where cars can parallel park. But there is a police officer there 80% of the time running his radar and pulling people over for doing ~30-35 mph on a MAJOR FOUR LANE BOULEVARD (plus parallel parking). Meanwhile, just a few miles away, historic Shaker Square is losing all of its businesses and turning decrepit, which I strongly feel is due to violent crime that, while infrequent, is enough to scare away residents from its otherwise charming (and mostly dying) businesses. The town could place an officer there 24/7 to stave off violent crime and improve confidence in the area, but they'd rather pull over people on their way to work on Van Aken in a very safe part of town.

[TXStrat]

Native Ohioan, but honorary Texan for the past 30 years or so. Have lived all over the US, and abroad. Ohio does have an above average enforcement policy. While it may vary between jurisdictions, it is pretty aggressive in the aggregate. Sure, there are areas in Texas that were notorious for speed traps. There was a town in central Texas that made national news back in the late 80s, or early 90s. Town of 600 people with 20+ police vehicles that made their living off military traffic on US 190. However, if you drive through any major city in Texas, on an interstate, and you're not going 80+ in the left lane, you will get run over. Not at all uncommon to be driving through Houston on I-10, and pass Houston PD vehicles going 75+ and not even hit the brakes.

Bottom line guidance for Ohio is drive at the speed you can afford. If you don't mind making a contribution to the local municipality you're travelling through, by all means, drive the speed you want. If you are more financially risk averse, drive the posted speed limit.

[on3]

There's not much for police to do in certain parts of Ohio. If there was, we wouldn't have instances like the same police officer giving me a window tint ticket 5 years apart over a 15 year span (3 times total) in a location of Ohio that was only visited 5 times max if that LMFAO!!! Have to call it like I see it and this happened to me and it sure as hell wasn't just by chance. The 3rd time it happened I told the officer "you realize you are the only person in Ohio that's given me this ticket 3 times in the last 15 years... I told you last time that the tint isn't coming off. See you in 5 years buddy, tell city hall not to spend it all in one place" LOL....

Good luck trying to convince me that the enforcement isn't over the top in Ohio based on my personal experience. You won't get far with that endeavor, I promise.

The irony is that if you were to sum up all the miles driven by those in Ohio in a given year compared to a different state and the numbers were similar, the # of accidents wouldn't be any lower in Ohio by any meaningful margin compared to the other states to justify the overly enforcement policies of traffic in Ohio. So if the metric isn't any better, why do we Ohioans continue to allow themselves to deal with this nonsense? Laziness? Ignorance? A combination of both?