Plenty of Dookies in New Hampshire
We just got back from 8 days in the great State of Maine. The weather wasn’t great but who cares? The sea air, rugged coastline, fantastic seafood and great people easily make up for lousy weather.
To make life even better, Maine is also home to one of the finest, most creative bread bakeries I’ve ever come across… “When Pigs Fly”. On this recent trip I purchased Six grain and pumpkin seed, baby spinach & garlic focaccia and banana, pecan, maple and brown sugar bread. This blog isn’t about When Pigs Fly but I’ll make a note to address this Dookieless business later. If you can’t wait, visit their website at www.sendbread.com. In my humble opinion, there are very few Dookies in the State of Maine.
I’m not so sure about their neighbor to the immediate south.
In order to drive to Maine from any other State, one must travel through New Hampshire; in our case up I-95 for approximately 16 miles. It would appear that New Hampshire has never met a traveller ‘just passing through’ that they weren’t willing to stick it to and no, I’m not talking about the $1.50 toll everyone pays in order to cross the 16 miles between the Massachussetts border and the Maine border. This 16 mile stretch of highway is far more notorious for their ticketing practices.
For about 14 miles of the 16 mile stretch, there is a grass median separating the northbound from the southbound lanes. Look closely and provided the grass hasn’t recently been mowed, you’ll see dozens of pairs of tire tracks across the median. The New Hampshire State Police have a nasty habit of crossing from north to southbound and vice-versa in pursuit of revenue.
On a recent trip home from Maine, we witnessed 12 troopers on I-95. They had set up a minivan on the northbound side, under an overpass with the rear hatch open. A trooper was sitting on the rear bumper aiming his radar gun at oncoming cars just as they rounded the bend. Just beyond the minivan sat the other troopers in cruisers just waiting to pounce. Meanwhile in the driver’s seat, yet another trooper aimed his radar gun at southbound traffic and had troopers waiting to hit their quota as well.
As you approach the toll, the speed limit drops to 35 MPH about a half mile before you get to the toll. Many times I’ve seen cars pulled over in the toll area for speeding as they decelerated to pay the toll.
Now I have absolutely no problem if a policy is designed to keep everyone safe while acting as a deterrent. What I do have a problem is with the fact that this is more about revenue generation and less about safety.
About two years ago, I had the misfortune of being on the receiving end of a speeding ticket in New Hampshire. Admittedly, I was travelling at a speed higher than the posted limit of 65 MHP. I was not going in the low 90’s as the trooper had claimed. In the past on the rare occasion when I had received a ticket, I mailed in the payment and went about my business. This ticket really bother me because there was no way I was travelling at anywhere near 90 miles an hour.
Prior to my mandatory court appearance, we visited Maine once again. (cruise control set at 63 MHP through NH) I took this opportunity to drive about 110 miles in order to sit in the court room to see what would happen and what chance I might have fighting the ticket. During my interactions with the clerk’s office, I came to realize what a finely tuned revenue generator New Hampshire has in operation. If you were issued a ticket by the State Police, your court date would be on a Thursday at 8:30am. Each issuing agency has their own time and date which makes life much easier and much more organized for their shakedown.
What happened was absolutely astonishing. The court doors were opened at 8:00am and court was due to start promptly at 8:30am. I sat quietly in the back as people began to arrive. The troopers also began to arrive as well. As they came in, each trooper said hello to the clerk and was given their stack of tickets for that day.
The troopers then called people one-by-one out of the court room and took them into conference rooms. Deals were cut, fines reduced in return for guilty pleas and upon returning to the court, the trooper informed the clerk that Mr. or Mrs. So-and-So had agreed to plead guilty to a lesser whatever and would pay a fine of $XXX.XX. Mr. or Mrs. So-and-So then left the court, paid by cash, check or credit card and went merrily on their way albeit with less cash that they had when they had arrived. By 9:00am the judge had not yet appeared and there were a few lawyers and two DUI defendants left in the court with me. I counted over $4,000 in revenue based only on what I had actually overheard and I didn’t hear what everyone had agreed to pay. At this point I left too. No use in not being able to watch traffic court because nobody was left to attend traffic court was there?
Perhaps I’m naive but I thought that the troopers were the witnesses for the State and that the prosecutors’ job was to cut deals in return for guilty pleas. Not so in New Hampshire, in fact I haven’t been able to get anyone to explain this phenomena to me yet, either.
Of course to make a long story short, when I had to go back for my traffic court date, the same thing happened. I paid a fine, got no points and no license suspension.
Somebody, somewhere came up with this revenue scheme and others supported it as a good idea. Therein lies the Dookie. I have no problem if I get a ticket and have to pay a fine if a fair an equitable process is in place. I have no problem if in the interest of public safety, the police are out to get people to slow down. I do however have a real problem when traffic ticket issuance becomes a manipulated, anticipated revenue source.
We are brought up to respect and trust law enforcement but the experience in New Hampshire has really shown that power can and is being abused in the quest for revenue. But then again, what should we expect from a State that offers an in-service video for law enforment training entitled “Selling the Traffic Ticket–How to Avoid Unnecessary Court Appearances.”
Oh and should you decide to visit the Great State of Maine, set the cruise control to 64 MPH for at least 16 miles of your journey. You’ll save gas while depriving New Hampshire of their pound of flesh.