From Seattle Times....



'Road crew' might really be surveying your speed along I-5





By DAVID EGGERT

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER



Aug. 23 - You can't say you weren't warned.







This morning, on Interstate 5 in Snohomish County, the state Department of Transportation worker you see using the surveying tripod in a construction zone might not be what he seems.

In fact, he could be a state trooper -- zapping your vehicle with a radar gun.

Trooper Lance Ramsay, who implemented the new ploy this week, wants drivers to think twice when they see orange barrels and cones.

"Is there going to be a trooper there monitoring my speed?" he said yesterday. "If we can get that thought into everybody's head, it's going to save lives."

The sting, Ramsay said, is prompted by last week's death of DOT worker Wayne "Jake" Baardson, who was killed by an erratic driver on state Route 18 near Kent.

On Wednesday, troopers set up a mock construction site along U.S. Route 2 near Lake Stevens. Ramsay wore the garb of a typical DOT worker: jeans, a hard hat and a reflective orange vest.

But atop what appeared to be a surveyor's tripod was his laser. Down the highway: eight uniformed troopers on motorcycles and in patrol cars.

In about two hours, the troopers doled out 76 speeding tickets, more than one every two minutes. The drivers face only the standard fine, however, because it was a fake construction zone.

But this morning, Ramsay and company will check speeds in a real construction area along I-5 between the 164th and 128th street exits in Snohomish County, meaning fines will double.

Someone caught driving 71 mph in a 60-mph zone, for instance, will be slapped with a $210 ticket.

"We want everyone to give DOT workers the same amount of respect they give us when they see our patrol cars," Ramsay said.

The Washington State Patrol got the idea from Florida state troopers, who have been doing undercover construction stings for a few years.

Ramsay said drivers are so used to construction in the Puget Sound region that they forget that real people put their lives in danger along highways and other roads.

The stings will continue in Snohomish County through next week. After that, they could be staged in King County and statewide, Ramsay said.

"We'll make sure people don't go back to their relaxed ways," he said.

Those tricky bastards. What will they think of next?

Don't worry it certainly won't involve protecting our cars from getting stolen.

Ain't it the truth. I guess nailing people to the wall for harmless speeding is more their game.

Well it creates revenue.. if they could find a way to ticket us when our car got stolen you could bet they would be all over it... hmmmm, let's see we are going to issue a report for your stolen car, but we have to write you a ticket for owning a desirable car.. had you of purchased a Pinto this would never had happened.

What a bunch of BS! I drive right through that construction zone every day, and that is the same streach of road I did the 134 mph run in my vert on. https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...>/rolleyes.gif

Well, ****, I'd better go trade my seven in for a Pinto immediately! Or perhaps I could get that Pacer I've always desired.