...today, and the sun isn't even up. Seems some people just can't be inconvenienced with slowing down on the way to work.

I've never understood rushing to work.

standard reply to FU in response to a ticket:

Could you give me a minute to determine if that's a bribe or a threat?"

Ya, try riding a bicycle to work in the morning

Unfortunately, my position in the AM is static...working traffic for a local industry. They'll be easy enough to spot again though, especially with the Indiana and Michigan plates.

Yankees, of course.

That's not too bad at all, Pat.

I get that before I even leave my house in the morning.

It has been bliss since leaving work in the US for abroad in 2004. Calgary was as bad as it got and they were so damn polite in my 8 mile journey it was almost sickening. Since then it has been a personal driver or swift company provided transport so I am more than clueless on a commute. Here in Korea I hop on a company provided mini-bus just down the hill and get off at my office building in Samsung's yard 20 minutes later. Not a bad way to end this thing...

I envy you not. Baling again today here. Most everyone I will see today will drive up, shake my hand and give me money. I like this approach best.

Yer giving Rodney Dangerfield a run for his money Pat

Most of the people I work with are polite too. When these people act like jerks, I just think to myself..."But for the grace of God, there go I". They must lead miserable lives.

I'm tellin' ya. I'll be lucky to survive this little gig.

Bob is still in the running!

Contact the head of safety or security and have them banned for a while.

Jerks won't get up in time for the traffic to make it to work on time.

That's why my folks start at my yard. I set the time to allow them to get to the plants on time.

If they show up late, I set start time 1/2 hour earlier the next 2 days. Peer pressure works wonders.

Indeed they must. Seems to make it worse on them when they see you are happy too...

I know you're right about that. The problem is not with the facilities personnel though, it's traffic passing a construction gate at 85mph. My job is to empty these lots without anybody dying and this particular one is a real challenge. Like sheep, these guys just aren't prepared to alter their ritual.

Edited to add...maybe they haven't had their coffee.

I try to not leave the house until after morning rush hour.

Seriously, if you lived in Indiana wouldn't you be miserable?

I'd be pretty miserable for sure.......almost as miserable as I'd be if I had to write traffic tickets.

Boy, tell me about it! If Montana had all the police it needed Montana could end property and income tax and balance it's budget on speeding tickets alone.

Of course, the police would have to slow down long enough to write the tickets!

If you got an SOB for a Boss like I do then you would understand. Anyone comes in late is going to get yelled at.

I used to see people who if they were 5 minutes late they got fired. So, with bad traffic, the pressures are kind of understandable.
Doesn't make it right, just makes it so.

Yessir. I may put a couple of traffic units out there for a few days and see if calling in late from the jail works out better for them.

Leaving earlier is a difficult concept for many.

+1

Odd thing is ... It's okay if you get to work on time then screw around for an hour getting coffee, BS'ing
about the NFL games on Sunday ... etc. BUT come in 5 minutes late and you are in for some schit.

And this from a Practicing Divorce Attorney!!!!!

Amen to that!

ding, ding, ding

Except for rare circumstance there is no excuse. Just get up earlier.

You forget that speed limits are just "suggestions" that some of us follow to the great irritation of those whose right to speed we inhibit.

Yes, but after the first day they won't have to call in.

A couple of large companies here have somehow arranged for Harris County sheriff's deputies to park in the median of major streets, with lights flashing, at entrances to major plants. They do it both to get people to slow down, and occasionally they stop traffic so people can make left turns safely. Usually they are out during rush hours.

Our problem areas arenschool zones. And I have no objection to writing tickets to people who speed through school zones. It's less than a quarter mile, you can survive driving at the 15mph limit for that long.

You would be absolutely amazed at the amount of people i stop doing 40 plus through that zone

The best ones are the ones who try and get out of the speed violation by saying how sorry they are for not seeing the flashing lights indicating the zone, because they were sending a text message

A local leo gave tickets at 60 and 50 mph- two each- in our local 25 mph residential zone. The way people are behaving astonishes me anymore. I suppose it should have dulled by now but to me it is still amazing. Driving, rudeness, whatever.

And, Pat, if you'd stopped me I hope I'd have been polite at least.

Here that would just get them another ticket.

You should try to get out of our church lot after Mass! Kath and I just sit there and watch the games till it is empty, much wonderment to behold. Christian brotherly love seems to be left in the pew.

he's just bragging, or wishing.

=======

Here, they just park some unmanned patrol cars in the hot spots.

Seems to work.

they tried that in Greensboro, but the cars end up on blocks.

Rush hour in my town is non existent in the morning.....

but to get across town between 5 and 5:15 in the evening can occasionally be a nuisance...

I know a Baptist will, being filled with the Holy Ghost and fearless, run your ass over in a flash on his way to the fried chicken dinner..

Can't be having any of that common sense. When the snow starts flying they drive just as fast.

Just like shutting down a road or highway for a bad crash. Folks only know one way to get to work and they line up beeping their horns and backing up traffic even worse. I wish I had a nickle everytime someone asked if they could drive through the crash debris so they could get to work.

Amen to that. And at crashes I"m on my own dime and volunteering to try to avoid getting run over...

RE leaving in time, I hate anything but rural. I hate even driving to our town of 4500 to go to work every day. I don't like traffic...

That being said if I was in a city I'd figure out what would get me to work about 15 minutes or so early, under most situations barring a wreck or shut down roadway or flat or such... and then if any of the above happens I'll call in that X happened and I am on my way in, see ya when I get there.

If thats unsatisfactory to work, they don't have to fire me, I'll give em the finger myself.

Getting to work or being in the process of doing one's work are reasons to exceed the speed limit which are held especially sacred by many.

If I had a dollar for each one that tried, we both be just as rich.

I wish you guys would carry some brooms in your squad cars. That debris needs to be cleaned up faster.

Some places only have one way to get from A to B.

I can hear it now.......

LT; "I had a gal banging on my door all night.......I finally got up and let her out!"1

It cracked me up hearing Pat talk about traffic in Texas.

I say, "Pat, WTF are you talking about, there's 4 trucks". I saw more vehicles in the Buc 'ee's parking lot than I did on the hiway...that is until Houston.

Until you run northern Va streets, don't talk to me about traffic.
You don't know traffic.

It sid here too, matter of fact it won one fella who I stopped for 48 in a 15 a shiny set of bracelets and an arraignment in front of the judge that morning

That's the problem with this gig, Bob. Traffic is moving at a stead 85-90mph and I'm standing in the middle of it. In the dark.

Didn't momma teach you not to play in the road?

Yeah...but Daddy taught me you do whatever it takes to feed my family.

Most hear that!

I figure tickets are just part of the game. Say I get 1 ticket a year for $150.00. I run 10 miles and hour over the limit to and from work. That saves me 7.5 minute each way or 15 minutes a day. Thats a hour and fifteen minutes a week if I work 48 weeks a year that saves me 60 hours a years. So that means that ticket costs me $2.50 per hour well worth it in my book. I dont even come close to getting 1 ticket a year. Its been 6 years since my last one. I will probably get two of them tomorrow after writing this post.

That's okay, it's been at least 15 years since I wrote one. My theory is that anybody worth my time is going to jail.

I wish all LE had that same attitude and left us poor hardworkin people alone .
I does bother me when people dont slow down when it is obvious some one is working on the road or directing traffic.

If that's what you're doing you need to find a really good shrink now, cause this ain't fixin itself. There's just way too many levels of wrong there.

Yeah you right. Hopefully it won't last long. Of course, "in the dark" is referring to the fact that there are no lights other than my emergency lights and road flares. They don't seem to matter, as one driver said....."Officer, I'm doing the speed limit.". 75mph is a little fast to drive though a road block.

Having regularly done Charlotte, NC traffic, Dallas traffic, San Francisco traffic, and now Houston traffic, I can assure you traffic sucks in Houston

I live 15 miles from work, and if I don't leave before 7, it can take 90 minutes. If I leave at 6:30, it's an hour

But Shanghai is somewhat worse.

You got me!

Break out the spike strips and utilize the magnum Taser. That, or do what the MSP jokers do on overnight details: sleep.

You are assuming they had any to leave in the pew.

Traffic in Shanghai likely makes any North American traffic seem tame. From my recollection the phrase "salmon run" comes to mind. 34 million people one city...

I live on the outskirts of our city of 85,000 (this is the major hub of Northern BC). I have a grueling 6 mile/9 minute drive down a picturesque road following a river to the downtown core. 4 traffic lights! In rush hour this can stretch out to 12 to 14 minutes.

I'll take small city Northern BC.

i normally a pretty good driver but on hwy 93 the speed limit fluctuates from 45-70 with a few random 50, 55 and 65 in the mix, and one trooper has got me 3 times doing 65 in the 55, he's always cool about it and I'm always nice to him.

Update...It's amazing how word spreads when half a dozen traffic units concentrate on a relatively small area.

there's an app for that...