Austin police are taking to the skies to catch speeders on the ground these
days. APD randomly chooses when to use an airplane to enforce speed limits.
They have been watching you for the past week. The traffic plane is part of
APD's effort to stress "driver safety" on the highyway.
You may have even passed their test without knowing it. From eyes in the skies
to enforcement on the ground, Austin police are cracking down on bad drivers.
"We actually act as a real observation platform, and we communicate with
officers on the ground, to what we see," APD Sgt. Bill Horn said, "When we make
a stop, there's no doubt that the person has continuously been speeding."
Making an average 10 stops per flight hour, APD's "fixed-wing plane" is a high
flying tool to solve traffic troubles.
"We have tailgaiting problems. We have people passing on the shoulder, just
wreckless driving," Horn said.
So far this year, police have seen 51 fatalities on the roads.
"It is inappropriate for a city this size to have that many deaths. We realize
our role in that," Austin Police Chief Stan Knee said.
"I think anything that we do that helps raise the public's awareness of their
driving can only help benefit," Horn said.
On a road like Mopac, you could drive into a speed trap and not even know it.
The white stripes on the side of the road mark the start and end points that
police use to clock speeders from the air.
"We use a calabrated stop watch, and we use a simple time-speed-distance,
formula," Horn said.
Violators caught can be stopped, and ticketed, but the "benefit-of-doubt" about
speed goes to the driver.
"On time-speed-distance, a person could be traveling perhaps 15 miles an hour
over, 12, or 20 in that whole time span, and this is an average speed, so we're
actually giving the benefit to the violator," Horn said.
APD will soon add a new helicopter to its air patrol, and the department plans
to purchase 60 new radars for patrol cars.
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