After witnessing various town officials ignore several residents' complaints related to the quality of life here in Mt.Gretna, I decided to measure and record certain aspects of what those complaints were about. So, I purchased a radar gun with a big digital display and set it up in the front yard. I also positoned the video recorder to record the readouts as vehicles drove through Mt. Gretna on 117.
The usual findings are that the largest majority of drivers on this road travel at well over the speed limit--even 50mph is not unusual. And, this routine speeding happens even with Cornwall Police cruisers parked at the tennis courts or elsewhere in Mt. Gretna.
Here is a sampling of readouts from just a ten minute time span, recorded in early Sept. Again, remember, this is just a ten minute time frame--which means that there are hundreds of speeding vehicles blasting through Mt. Gretna in a week. And, remember, that on a prolific month of ticket writing for Cornwall P.D., they maybe issue one ticket--and, I have never seen that speed radar trailer actually IN Mt. Gretna or used for obtaining detailed speed data (as Chief Harris touted that it was capable of when the trailer was acquired).
There are even more pix like these from that time period--but I think the point is made...
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6 comments:
I can understand a concern about speeding, but i am just curious as to how it lowers your quality of life? and im sure if the police were pulling over more vehicles for speeding, than then would be accused of profiling against gretna citizens, since a very large portion of the traffic that travels through mt gretna is residents.
Harold,
Thanks for your comments.
In response, first let me state that I am curious as to how you know the composition of the traffic that travels through mt. gretna? You state, as if it is a fact, that "a very large portion of the traffic that travels through mt. gretna is residents." The recordings that I have witnessed clearly establish that a VERY large portion of the traffic is indeed NOT mt. gretna residents. I would love to compare my research and recordings with yours, unless of course, your assertion is just an assumption--which you should acknowledge, if so.
(On a minor note, it is also illogical to assert that residents actually travel "through" their place of residence--as you assert, rather than to and from.)
Further, your expression of this unfounded assumption brings to the front another fallacy that a number of mt. gretna officials have touted: that the police actually do routinely and unbiasedly enforce traffic laws here. This simply is not the case--especially when you compare their record (or, non-record) of traffic law citations issued with the actual conditions present on this road. Even though there may be thousands of speeders a week on this road, the Cornwall P.D. can actually go whole months without giving on single traffic citation. Check their reports...
Second, uuhhmm, let's see, would I rather see a pedestrian, a bicyclist, or myself creamed by a speeder on that road or would I rather pay for actually violating a traffic law? I think the choice is fairly obvious.
So, your logic is flawed:
1. The largest number of travellers on SR 117 through mt. gretna are mt. gretna residents.[Let's just give you this assumption.]
2. Violation of traffic laws does indeed occur on this section of a state road. [Your comment seems to concede that violations are occuring.]
3. Ergo, the majority of those violating traffic laws on this section of road are mt. gretna residents.
4. However, a resident's violation of a traffic law in their own town is inherently less of a "violation" (or "safer") than a non-resident's violation of the same law in that town.
5. Ergo, traffic law violators do not deserve to be prosecuted for their misconduct if they violate the law in their own town.
Is that what you are asking us to believe--that Cornwall P.D. would NOT issue tickets in a non-biased manner--that they would only issue to residents? (Is this a subtle way to suggest that Cornwall P.D. would use that enforcement obligation to harass certain residents?) Or that the Cornwall P.D is afraid of accusations of profiling (which, by the way, would be completely without merit since residents are NOT a protected class)?
Or, that you want us to be policed in a manner that shows favoritism towards a certain class of individuals--you want residents to go unticketed? Or do you want us to believe that a resident's violation of speeding laws is "safer" than a non-resident's violation of traffic laws?
None of those make any sense--or, at least, they are not indicative of a community that operates under the "rule of law", rather than a hicksteristic believe that local politics and community identity is based on some modern version of "royalty." Is that what we have here?
And, as for the failure to see how something like chronic speeding relates to quality of life in a community, I have one response: Have we lost our minds! Well, maybe the issue isn't that we may have lost our minds, but that we have lost our national identity.
Please, go back and explore the reason why we even have traffic laws and police. Motor vehicles are deadly machines whose operation obligates our government to regulate their use and existence--for our safety, and for the safety of our children and our environment. I do not see that fact changing anytime soon.
But, as for the national identity thing, it really seems that your comment, and the positions of local public officials and police show that our sense of entitlement to and identity with our cars has usurped our national identity as capitalist entrepeneurs. Our citizens feel entitled to speed through their own home towns. Our citizens feel entitled to participate in motorvehicle related activities that burden 3rd party property owners and create great safety issues. Our government uses taxpayer money to bail out poorly performing car manufacturers even though our economy's free market capitalism dictates that the poor performers be trimmed from the market. Our government spends buckets of taxpayer money putting more cars in citizen's hands even though it is urgently pursuing a contradictory path to "reduce our national dependence on fossil fuels" I could go on, but I think this is enough for others to seriously question their own assumptions and priorities on this issue.
I am curious as to how rampant and routine speeding does NOT lower our quality of life.
I just remembered an incident that happened a few years ago in New England that will help to illuminate my argument that we have an innapropriate and unhealthy relationship with cars when we can't see repeated traffic violations as a quality of life issue. It was autumn and several neighborhood kids were raking and playing in fallen leaves. One little girl decided to surprise her dad by hiding in one of the leaf piles, but when he arrived home, he decided to park his truck in the leaf pile. She died.
I don't want to seem insensitive to this guy--that's a tragic thing to live with. But, the reality is that he didn't do anything a zillion other drivers aren't also doing everyday--he was just "exercising his "right"" to propel his deadly machine in a manner in which he could not, and did not, verify was safe.
Again, motor vehicles are deadly machines and you must earn--and maintain, the opportunity to operate them by doing so safely. THEY ARE NOT CONVENIENCES, ENTITLEMENTS,OR TOYS, and we certainly must always repsect their capacity to injure or cause harm. Always.
And for those of us who haven't forgotten this--who realize the great danger involved here, seeing rampant and routine speeding on a road that we have to live on, walk on, and drive on daily, frays the nerves, elevates the stress levels, and takes a toll on each of us physically, emotionally, and socially.
It seems to me that that nature of the traffic is changing. Of late I have noticed many large trucks on 117. I am not sure if this is because of the work at 117/322 or some other work, but just today on my walk to and from the post office I saw a large dump truck, an 18 wheel propane truck (not the delivery kind for houses) and an 18 wheeler truck - don't know the technical term, but it was big. This is in addition to the usual assortment of large work trucks, contractors, delivery trucks, and well the autos. Hard to believe they are not just using 117 to pass through. As for quality of life, have one of those babies screaming by you makes you think twice about walking. having many of them makes you think about getting a mailbox or driving to the post office. Both seem crazy since the choice to walk in Mt. Gretna should be a no brainer.
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