‘Selective’ U.S. 29 trap irks Bedford man
The numbing reality of bill paying and government regulation, from taxes to traffic tickets, can make you feel like a rat running on a wheel in a cage.
Gregg Cadiero understands. The 50-year-old Bedford man and his family were cruising the main artery of Albemarle County on a Memorial Day weekend with traffic packed like Krispy Kreme doughnuts on the frosting conveyor.
Bumper to bumper
“Traffic was suddenly braking and slowing down and getting all goofy and the people behind me were right on my bumper. We’d already seen an accident, so I moved over to the left and accelerated so I wouldn’t get hit from behind,” he recalled. “When I saw the officer, I figured that’s why everyone was slamming on their brakes and running into each other.”
It was a “selective enforcement” operation.
“It was a speed trap, except you really couldn’t speed because traffic was so heavy and people so crazy,” he said. “We were on our way to Dulles Airport to see some family friends and the next thing we see is a policeman with a handheld radar gun.”
What Mr. Cadiero ran into was a one-day enforcement operation jointly operated by the Virginia State Police, Albemarle County Sheriff’s Office and county police along the length of U.S. 29 in the county.
Called Operation Border to Border, the enforcement resulted in 280 traffic tickets issued to 250 drivers, including one to Mr. Cadiero.
Click It or Ticket
The Memorial Day enforcement came at the end of a two-week Click It or Ticket campaign to enforce seatbelt laws. The campaign resulted in 1,812 vehicles being stopped and 1,192 traffic tickets written in the county. Less than 3 percent of the tickets — 35 — were for seatbelt violations.
In Mr. Cadiero’s case, the radar gun got him traveling 57 in a 45. His explanation of speeding up to avoid a crash, and his 11-year ticket-free driving record, were of no avail.
“He told me that he had no choice but to give me a ticket because they were doing a ‘selective enforcement’ program. I didn’t know what that meant, but I guessed he didn’t have any choice in the matter,” Mr. Cadiero said.
“I understand why they set up enforcement areas for drunk drivers. I don’t have a problem with that. But I could only see one reason to set up speed traps all up and down U.S. 29 on a major holiday and that was to make money.”
It piqued him enough to make Mr. Cadiero want to write a letter questioning the need for the enforcement along with a check for the ticket.
His letter, he said, resulted in a continuation of trial so that he could attend and make his comments in person. He did so, telling the judge that it was wrong to take away an officer’s discretion just to make money. The judge said speeding was speeding, regardless of the excuse, and there was no leeway in the speed limit.
Neither would concede, and, in court, the tie goes to the government; Mr. Cadiero paid his fine.
That doesn’t mean he’s accepted it, however.
“It doesn’t bother me that I got a ticket. What bothers me is that the police were out there to write as many tickets as they could,” he said. “It was about money and that seems like a disservice to the public, and it’s a disservice that the judicial system is in on it.”
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Reader Reactions
“Mr. C” here. To antiboyd, nowhere did I say I was “...crawling along…“. Traffic was actually going smoothly in spite of the amount of cars on the road. I would say at or near 45 mph. No, I did not see memorials. I was too busy driving. I am sorry for any fatalities resulting from irresponsible driving, but I was not in that category (as for the thick headed moron comment, you can bite me).
If you were going 45 mph and everyone in front of you suddenly slowed, and you had the option of changing lanes under acceleration or being rear ended, what would you do?
The only reason everyone suddenly slowed was because an officer was standing on the edge of the road, 30 feet from his car, with hand held radar follwing orders to do selective enforcement.
My point in going to court was to have “judgement” applied to my situation. I was not being reckless, I was being defensive. That particular day, the officer was not allowed to use any training recieved to assess situations and make field decisions because his orders were to write tickets (i.e. make money).
Also, I paid my ticket, mailed it in with a letter of explination and a copy of my driving record attached because I could not be in court that day. It was the Circuit Court that rescheduled the hearing, not me. The second date was one I could attend, so I stood behind my letter and made the appearance. It doesn’t take giant cahones to do that, but rather the expectation that judgement would be applied to the summons and my reason for going over 45 mph would be weighed against “selective enforcement”.
What I got was a stone-faced Judge, that I was paying, doing simple math. He had no intention of doing his job (judging) because he was there to make money for the state.
You offer a “...better solution…“ so it’s hard to tell where you really stand on this issue. Your reference to “trapping” speeders clearly shows you speak from both sides of your mouth. Perhaps you are just covering your a$$ in case this happens to you some day (and I sincerely hope it does). Whether you agree with me or not, I believe it’s clear where I stand on selective enforcement, unlike you. If you think I drove for 2+ hours and missed time from work for traffic court “fame” you are wrong.
Now for jocamel64. Again with the speeding, aggressive, erratic, irresponsible driving crap. Choosing between being in an accident or avoiding it, I chose avoidance. I’m not talking about hitting the ditch and getting on two wheels ala Dukes of Hazzard here, just a simple lane change under mild acceleration The $121 ticket was much cheaper than the bodywork would have been. As for the fines, I would suspect the money stays in the State (where do you think it goes, overseas?)
When you and antiboyd get your selective enforcement tickets, do not fuss or get upset, no matter what the circumstances are. Kiss the officer on the lips and thank him for allowing you to contribute. Jocamel64, pay the fine on-line without an utterance. Antiboyd, you go ahead and pay double since you think I got off so easy.
And let’s not forget the Circuit Court Judges. On selective enforcement ticket day in court, just put your robe on a third grader, give them a calculator and take the day off. If your not going to do your jobs, there’s no reason to be there.
This article irks me. I like Bryan McKenzie. What I dislike is giving this man a public forum with no rebuttal. Bryan either agrees with the man, or he’s been duped—and I figures him too smart to be duped.
To Mr. Cadiero. There is a da_n good reason there is a 45 mph speed limit on sections of 29. You might think that driving “bumper to bumper” and crawling along, you might have noticed the memorials left behind for the casualties of irresponsible driving.
It take a pretty thick head to believe that enforcement is about money. The reality is we (the taxpayer) cannot afford to patrol the highway 24/7 for morons that do not feel that the speed laws apply to them, or their situation. Focused (not “selective”, which implies that Mr. C was somehow singled out for some other reason than the obvious) enforcement is a reasonable way to manage finite resources.
I will say this. A better solution, where safety is the main issue, is to park a cruiser in key visible locations with its lights flashing, which can send a message without “trapping” speeders. But, honestly, Mr. C has one giant set of cahones to continue his hearing to argue his case in front of a traffic judge. As far as I am concerned, he did not pay near enough for his 15 minutes of fame.
This gentleman obviously doesn’t drive 29N or 29S very much. Speeding and aggressive driving are the norm instead of the isolated incident.
It really doesn’t matter if the county or city benefit from the added revenue. I don’t believe they do get a percentage or a cut of the monies generated from tickets and/or fines.
The point is that erratic and irresponsible driving is dangerous and if he was speeding he deserved a ticket just like anyone else.
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