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elfsYesternight, as I was driving home along Highway 509, I was coming up on a heavy truck laden down with landfill for the new runway. There are hundreds of these trucks every day passing along the final two-mile stretch until 509 terminates in Burien just south of the airport. As I was coming up on the truck, I realized that I was either going to have to slow down a lot, or swing to the left and speed up. I chose the latter and stomped on the gas. I was probably going a bit over the limit when suddenly there were police lights behind me.
Sigh.
But then, the highway patrol swung away from me and got behind the truck. With a feeling of cold relief I finished my maneuver, now made much easier by the rapidly decelerating truck, and got off the highway to head home.
This happens a lot (the troopers pulling over the landfill trucks, not police lights in my rearview mirror). Every time I drive by that stretch of road, there's at least one state trooper SUV and one truck there by the side of the road. And I can't figure out what's going on. It's just really odd.
And it gives me a bit of a nervous feeling when I see just how stealthed-out the trooper SUVs are. They're indistinguishable from civilian SUVs when the police lights aren't on. But they're less frightening than these monster landfill truck-trains, I suppose. I mean, is the private construction company deliberately putting over-weight trucks down there and this is just the cost of doing business, is it a safety inspection, or what?
And I guess what annoys me most is that this is the mechanism by which two parts of our government-- the port authority and the highway patrol-- interact. It's inefficient in the extreme, and it's burning taxpayer money.
Sigh.
But then, the highway patrol swung away from me and got behind the truck. With a feeling of cold relief I finished my maneuver, now made much easier by the rapidly decelerating truck, and got off the highway to head home.
This happens a lot (the troopers pulling over the landfill trucks, not police lights in my rearview mirror). Every time I drive by that stretch of road, there's at least one state trooper SUV and one truck there by the side of the road. And I can't figure out what's going on. It's just really odd.
And it gives me a bit of a nervous feeling when I see just how stealthed-out the trooper SUVs are. They're indistinguishable from civilian SUVs when the police lights aren't on. But they're less frightening than these monster landfill truck-trains, I suppose. I mean, is the private construction company deliberately putting over-weight trucks down there and this is just the cost of doing business, is it a safety inspection, or what?
And I guess what annoys me most is that this is the mechanism by which two parts of our government-- the port authority and the highway patrol-- interact. It's inefficient in the extreme, and it's burning taxpayer money.
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no subject
Date: 2005-03-13 03:21 am (UTC)So I take it unmarked cars are legal around here?
no subject
Date: 2005-03-13 03:33 am (UTC)The only way for the officer to interact with the truck driver is to cite him. The drivers try to conceal their cites from their companies, which in turn try to conceal them from the Port Authority, as if they care.
A pointed letter from a citizen to the project manager, CC'd to the Port Authority customer service office and your state rep, might get a lot of action. A letter from your state rep, or from the local Highway Patrol commander, would get some action.