Subject: [Tweeters] speeding tickets also helping the economy in Central
Date: Apr 15 00:45:48 2015
From: Devorah the Ornithologist - birdologist at gmail.com


although i no longer live in the area, i am a rather fast driver myself,
but i was always careful to travel in company of faster-moving cars --
until one day in central washington state when i was barely missed by a
speed trap where there were several state patrol cars awaiting their latest
victims -- one more patrol car and i would have been caught, too. that made
me re-think my "speeding is okay if just one person is going faster than
me" strategy, although i still drove fast when heading from seattle up to
reifel!

that was years ago, though. perhaps funding cuts have made such activities
unfeasible?


On Wed, Apr 15, 2015 at 6:08 AM, Rex S. Takasugi <rextak at msn.com> wrote:

> Hi, Barb!
>
> Thanks for the warning! I also discovered that one is not allowed
> to stop on the side of the freeway to look at birds. A few years ago I
> stopped by the Ellensburg ponds to show Joyce the Great Blue Heron rookery
> that I see every time I drive by there on my way to some fly fishing spot
> further east, and as we were looking at the herons through the binoculars
> while sitting in the car, a state patrolman pulled up behind me and asked
> me
> if there was a problem. I told him that we were just looking at the
> herons.
> He said that it is illegal to stop on the freeway shoulder, so I moved on
> and fortunately did not get a ticket. As we drove off Joyce commented that
> "he's obviously not a birder!" :-)
>
> Good birding!
>
> Rex Takasugi
> Kent, WA
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
> [mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Barbara
> Deihl
> Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2015 5:08 PM
> To: Tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: [Tweeters] speeding tickets also helping the economy in Central
> WA...
>
> I have had a couple of speeding tickets and pullovers on roads in or near
> Easton and on Umptanum Rd. One of them was due to a solitary,
> newly-lowered
> speed limit sign I missed - it's a 25 mph limit, wedged between a couple of
> 35 mph signs, ironically, right in front of the Sheriff's office just a few
> buildings west of the Roadhouse Grill at the start of Umptanum Rd. As you
> are coming down off the road from the ridge, the downhill grade makes it
> easy to exceed the speed limit going downhill and curves add to the
> possibility of not seeing a limit-change sign.
>
> I pleaded ignorance when the officer pulled me over, noting that the last
> time I'd been in the area, the limit on that entire stretch was 35 mph, but
> I got a ticket anyway, albeit a minorly-reduced one. Later, I called the
> office to contest/complain, citing that there was only one sign with the
> new
> speed limit and that it was placed behind a post at the end of a little
> metal bridge. No more reduction was given.
>
> Seemed obvious to me that this was another of the many 'set-up' speed
> traps,
> merely designed to add to the town's coffers.
>
> Last night, a birder friend D related a situation he'd just experienced
> outside of Roslyn, on a curve/downhill grade leading to an entrance to
> westbound I-90. But his situation was more negative - at least the officer
> was more unpleasant - D tried to talk with the officer and asked some
> questions in a decent tone (or so he claimed), but the officer didn't
> respond in kind. There was something very telling in what the officer
> answered to D's query "Do you ticket many birders?" The man with the badge
> said, without hesitation that yes, he (and maybe others, too), DO get
> (trap?) a lot of birders. Hmmmm !
>
> So, if you do NOT wish to have birds and your birding enhance the economies
> of these towns and cities in this manner, preferring instead to support the
> communities by stopping for food, coffee, gas, lodging, souvenirs and other
> reasonable ways of contributing to these places, it might behoove you to be
> more careful as you race around on their roads chasing the birdies. I
> certainly have taken to being more cognizant of speed limits and my
> Barbmobile's tendency to fly down roads without so much as any pressure on
> the accelerator, placing my foot instead on that other pedal (the one that
> causes a slowing) :-)
>
> By the way, many an evening in Ellensburg, at around 8 or 8:30 through 10
> p.m. closing, you will see one or more of the local police vehicles (white
> Ford compact SUV-type car models) parked in front of the local Starbucks -
> last Thur. there were 6 - all of the officers were inside drinking liquid
> refreshment and engaged in casual conversation. Do with this information
> what you will, though I'm sure there are still a few traffic cops out on
> the
> roads, but maybe fewer than at other times ??? :-)
>
> Any of the rest of you have a birding-related traffic incident (in Central
> WA or elsewhere), a humorous recounting or words of advice to share with
> us?
>
> Gidde-up...no, down !
>
>
> Barb Deihl
> Matthews Beach Neighborhood - NE Seattle
> barbdeihl at comcast.net_______________________________________________
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--
GrrlScientist
Devorah Bennu, PhD
birdologist at gmail.com
http://twitter.com/GrrlScientist
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*sunt lacrimae rerum et mentem mortalia tangunt. *[Virgil, Aeneid]
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