Alton police motor vehicle stops
 

Most of time when I travel on Rt 28 from Wolfeboro to Alton there seems to be an Alton police SUV either stopping someone or sitting on the side of the road waiting to go after someone. Did that section of highway get built so that Alton could get revenue from speeders. It is very hard to go the speed limit because of the long downhill grades and long stretches of straight highway. I try to go the speed limit but if I'm not careful I slowly creep up to 65 or 70 on some of the long downhill sections.

According to the Alton Police Report that is this weeks "The Baysider" the Police made 75 motor vehicle stops and handled eight motor vehicle complaint-incidents for the week of March 24-30.

75 motor vehicle stops in one week...this SUV police car must be dedicated strictly to catching speeders on Rt 28.

That is 75 dumb drivers who weren't paying attention to the posted speed limit for that roadway, which by the way had a horrible double fatal accident recently of which travel above the speed limit had part in.
I say Kudos for them for knowing the hotspots and nailing speeders. A good Police officer knows the bad spots of their district. If that is where you see them set up, then that must be a really bad spot of the town. No conspiracy here just good police work.
It has you looking!
Work on getting the heavy foot off the pedal or do what I do, use cruise control if you have it so that the car does the work for you. I agree it is a tough roadway to control the average speed.
At 65 or 70 mph, if things go bad for you in that area of roadway you will either end up in the woods or into the front of oncoming traffic. Maintain the speed of your car and you will maintain better control if a animal pops out, ice or even drifting off center.

Pretty simple
 

If you do not break the law, in this case speeding you will have no problems. Just an FYI, I am sure your vehicle has brakes, use them when going down hill to control your speed, that way you will not have any issues. See how easy this is! :D

I stay at 55 with no problem. Most people speed. There are very very few of us that travel at the speed limit (or less than 5 miles over). I think it should be enforced throughout the state. It would pay off the National debt.

Try going 1 mile under and watch the pile up behind you.

What Alton is doing is good police work and is most likely based on accidents and radar observation of vehicle speeds in that area. I live in Derry and we have a couple of very steep hills on Rt 28 bypass that police patrol frequently for vehicles exceeding the speed limit which is only 30. Gotta use your brakes when you start picking up speed down a steep hill. It saves lives.

As Sammy Hagar sang "I can't drive 55"

Not just Alton...
 

I don't drive 28 every day, but I have seen my share of either State Police or Wolfeboro's Finest in the 40 MPH zone on 28 just east of Springfield Pt Rd. They watch both ways, catching those coming up the hill accelerating to 55 well before the sign, or catching those coming over and down the hill who have not slowed down from 55.

As for driving the 55 speed limit portion, all else fails, use your cruise control. ;)

One other thing...
 

the report says 75 Motor Vehicle stops. It doesn't say tickets issued. Nor does it say they were speeding violations. They could be equipment problems like a light out, inspection sticker violation, failure to signal...etc.

Do they have a presence on the highways in Alton????? Yes they do. Is it just rte 28? Nope...watch yourself on Main St, Rte 11 in the bay to past Sandy Point, Rte 11 East of the circle...heck, watch your speed in Alton. You will probably get stopped, but not necessarily ticketed. they do issue warnings, both written and verbal...This I have personal experience in. :D

Cruise control does not slow a vehicle when going down hill and that is when the law of physics takes over. However brakes should take care of that.

The other day I saw a person that had been stopped at the bottom of one of the hills by the Alton Police and he had his head on the steering wheel while the officer was talking to him. It was about 8:00am and the guy was probably thinking about what he was going to do at work and didn't pay any attention as to how fast he was going or to the SUV parked at the bottom of the hill.

I'll bet that over 80% of the vehicles I see traveling on that stretch of highway are going over the speed limit. I'm not saying it's right and that they shouldn't slow down, but it doesn't look like giving out tickets has done much for slowing them down...however it has made some money for Alton.;)

My 2008 Jeep GC will downshift to engine brake when using the cruise control. Some of the more pricey cars will apply the brake also. New gadgets, just gotta pay through the nose for them...

Sounds like they are just doing their job. Imagine what the roads would be like if there was no enforcement at all. I suspect that in a 55 zone you have to be at least 5 over to get a flash of the lights, maybe 10 to get a warning and even more over to get a ticket.

I was told by a local officer that any tickets that are written, that money goes to the state, not the town. I don't have any evidence to back that up though...

You are correct. That makes local enforcement a matter of public safety rather that revenue enhancement. Sometimes NH laws get it right.

Alton voters rejected only one funding request on the town ballot for 2013: Article 11 requested $40,000 to be placed in the Police Vehicle Capital Reserve Account.
Could this have something to do with more vehicles being stopped.

This is what the article says...and it failed:

Most do indeed hold the speed, up or down hill. If yours does not, you may want to get it checked.

cruise control
 

My cruise control on my 2010 Corolla will keep me at around 5 MPH going down hill, even the hill on the bypass coming down to the Laconia airport area.

My wife's Trailblazer, on the other hand, learned its speed control from a bobsled going down a track...faster and faster and faster....yup, that's where the breaks come in....:)

If you want to test out the accuracy of your spedo, take a ride thru Moultonboro

Come on, do any quick searching and you will see that speed limits are as much for revenue as safety.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,490629,00.html

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/id...cession_ahead/

I have to admit seeing Rusty whine about speeding tickets gives me a little schadenfreude.

More towns should follow Altons lead.
 

I believe if more towns followed suet then our area would be a lot safer.
Not enough is done to crack down on speeding, and another thing on the rise is running red lights.

Those who missed news of that head-on collision can read about it here and here.

Unfortunately, most of the revenue goes to the insurance companies. At least around here in Mass, the infractions stay on your record for 7 years. That's 7 years the insurance company gets to collect more money.

I see cars patrolling Route 11 going between Guilford and Alton all the time. And the speed limit changes quite a bit on that road.

That accident had nothing to do with speed.

This is what the Alton chief of police said:

Police Chief Ryan Heath told Foster's Daily Democrat that both drivers had been traveling the 55 mph speed limit. He said there were no signs of braking by either driver. Alcohol and drugs did not appear to be factors.

Read more: http://www.wmur.com/news/nh-news/Vic...#ixzz2PaVAONtT

Did anyone ever hear what caused that accident?

The revenue in NH gets split in half going to the town other half to the state. It also depends on who stops you local, state, or a sheriff. Every state is different.

The real speed trap
 

The real speed "trap" is the sudden 40 mph stretch on Rt 11 in front of Johnson's. It goes from 55mph down to 40 through the intersection at Depot Road. So easy to forget and so easy to get caught. 55 in a 40 cost me $101 -Damn.

Another Alton speed trap
 

Another spot where I've seen the Alton police watching for speeders is at the western intersection of Rt 11 and 11-D where the speed limit changes from 55 to 40 mph just before Minge Cove Road.

Just a point to mention that I did not know. The insurance company has the right to collect a surcharge for UP TO the 7 yrs. Progressive only went back three yrs. on me. It saved me a lot of money a while back.

No money goes to the town and it does not matter what agency writes the ticket. The only money that would go to a town would be if someone was given a ticket for a city/town ordinance violation. Otherwise, speeding tickets and other state law violations go to the state. Once received by the state, most of the fine goes toward the general fund, with other portions of the fine going to other funds of the state budget.

I'll take your word for it because to be honest with you I don't really know.
Maybe an ataboy and a pat on the back is good enough for town cops.

However... Why would a town policeman spend many hours patrolling a state highway and not get any monetary benefits out of it?? It must cost the town for gas, wear and tear on the car, salaries and benefits, etc. to have a town policeman stop so many vehicles in one week. I see the Alton police van on Rt 28 nine times out of ten when I travel that road.

I'm all for safety on our highways but to sit at the bottom of a hill and wait for someone that is speeding to go by seems like a redundant useless thing to do week after week. There must be another solution to slow the bad guys down.

As I said before, 80% of the vehicles that travel on Rt 28 from wolfeboro to Alton are going over the speed limit.

Because the majority (80%) of the drivers are speeding/driving OVER the posted limit, that makes it OK..?.. Seems to me, they are ENFORCING speed limits and doing their jobs. I see no conflict or downside here.

Here is one of the many I found online on the break down. I couldn't find anything for New Hampshire.

http://blog.motorists.org/where-does...ing-ticket-go/


Its just not Alton here is an article from the Eagle Tribune.

I much prefer regular traffic enforcement instead of occasional enforcement. I try to go speed limit but it is very difficult to when everyone around you is trying to drive through you. I wish towns and states would either consistently enforce speed limits or raise them, particularly in areas where the bulk of traffic regularly drives over speed limit.

As I stated earlier this is correct, they are paid to the state.
http://www.nh.gov/safety/divisions/d...et-payment.htm

I have never seen a line item on the Town of Alton revenue side where the state returns any of the traffic fine money to the town. Maybe Winnisquamguy is aware of a way that 50% is returned to the towns that I an not aware of.

i've always liked Spike Strips as an effective way to slow cars down. If the officer has a brother in law in the tire business it's a Win Win. :D :D NB

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_strips

One way that it comes to towns from the State is via grant money for extra hours for patrol for speeding, etc. Alton has received grants in the past for such programs. I am not clear on whether or not the grant money comes from revenues raised from paid speeding tickets.

As someone who lives on a main road in town, I'm happy to see the police on patrol because when word gets out that drivers in violation of the speed limit are getting tickets, then people remember to slow down in certain areas. Speed limits in school zones are especially important because of the increased pedestrian traffic at certain times of the day. People have been arrested for excessive speed in those zones - and rightly so.

If you don't want the state to make money off you or your car insurance company to make more money off you, just don't speed. It's pretty simple.

tax dollars
 

Alton seems to spend alot of time running radar all throughout the town..

i work second shift and go through every week night around 11:30

these are their 'hot spots" to sit;

Alton- New Druham line on side of the road

Wayside/hardware store parking lot

In front of the bathroom (by shibleys)

at the exit to the campground across from mounts dock

sandy point

scenic view

MM parking lot

side of Rt11 just past MM

West Alton fire station

and most recent Alton/gilford line

all with lights OFF!

OH YAH, and does the town really need 8 SUV'S????? That average 12 MPG?

Funny, it is usually those who are the biggest violators who scream the loudest.:emb: :emb:
IMHO if your driving more then 5 over in anything under 55 zone your just asking to get a ticket.

Only 80% speed. That's a laugh. Try 99%. I drive route 11 through New Durham and Alton to Gilford. I DO the speed limit and slow down to 40 at the places where it does drop to 40. No one ever brakes behind me, they just creap up and tail gate. By the time I get though the 40 MPH area there are always 4 to 10 cars behind me. Especially on Route 11 between the circle in Alton and the New Durhan/Farmington line.
I am one of the 1% and it really frustrates drivers that come barreling up behind. I pull over many many times to let them fly away hoping there is a police car up ahead.

I'm one who goes no more then 5 over, but when those same drivers creep up and tailgate I slow down to exactly the speed limit.
I've been at the 25 limit going through a school zone and had drivers who had to be doing at least 35 when the light is flashing indicating the speed limit is 25 and ride my ass. It really pisses them off when I slow down to 20.

Just so you know, that kind of "retaliation" is considered aggressive driving. If you are spending so much time looking in the rear view mirror as an affront to other drivers, you also can't be paying full attention to what is in front of you and making you a less safe driver.

If you are so mad, just pull over and let them go. But intentionally going below the speed limit is likely to get the opposite effect of what you want is serves to create conflict on the road.

Basically you just admitted to having road rage tendencies.