The following article was submitted by Sgt. Mark Flaughter of the Apex Police Department Traffic Safety Unit. During the month of August the Apex Police Department issued 632 citations for traffic related offenses. These citations range from failure to stop for a stop sign to felonious hit and run to driving while impaired. Apex officers participated in Mutual Aid DWI checkpoints in several cities and Apex held a Mutual Aid DWI checkpoint on Friday August 27, 2010. The results of the Apex DWI checkpoint were nine DWIs and seventeen other charges. In addition, Apex Police Officers conducted multiple focused patrols in neighborhoods throughout Apex in response to citizen complaints about speeding, stop sign violations and failure to yield to pedestrians.

The Apex Police Department Traffic Safety Unit handles most of the neighborhood complaints by conducting traffic studies, enforcing state laws and town codes and recommending ways for neighborhoods to curb traffic problems.

Many times while enforcing traffic laws, police officers hear excuses and complaints about the violation the driver is being cited for. Some of the complaints are silly, unreasonable and just outrageous. For some reason people think it is okay to speed if they are going downhill. Apparently the thought never occurred to these drivers that they have a brake pedal, that a car going downhill is going to take longer to stop if a child runs out in front of it, and that unless you are on a really steep hill gravity is not likely to cause your car to go fifteen miles per hour over the speed limit.

Still others think it is okay to speed going uphill because they have to accelerate to go up the hill. Other people seem to think that because it is their neighborhood, it is okay to speed there. I’ve stopped many people for speeding only to be told, “I couldn’t be speeding, I live here!” Every now and then the person who initiated the complaint about speeders in the neighborhood gets caught and cited. Sometimes they even say, “I called the police about speeders!”

Probably the most outrageous response to being stopped for a traffic violation is “It’s not fair you’re in an unmarked car, I wouldn’t have done that if I had seen you.” I’ve also had people yell at me for parking behind a bush or tree so that violators could not see me until it was too late.

Whatever the excuse, people need to realize that traffic violations endanger the public, property and everybody in the violators’ vehicle. So if you are one of those who have asked for a warning and gotten a ticket instead, remember when you crash, the crash isn’t going to give you a warning either.