That's just personal observation and cops aren't on every corner, Little says. When violators are seen, "we are going to definitely enforce the law."
That's the principle, but maybe not the practice.
Says me? No, that's what Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey says.
Traffic fatalities have doubled in the past year, Ramsey told me in an exclusive interview.
"Our cops aren't writing tickets like they should be. Our moving violations in general have been down for the past couple of years," he said.
That's a serious problem.
"Whether a person dies from a gunshot wound or a traffic accident, they're just as dead," Ramsey says, and he's had meetings to discuss increasing enforcement.
Without enforcement, all laws are laughable.
"I'm not talking about a quota," he says in an imagined address to the troops, "but if you see a violation, especially a serious violation, write it! Don't just let it go. That's public safety; it's part of our mission."
It's one thing to say it, it's another to get cops to do it.
Recalling his days as a Chicago street cop, Ramsey says he preferred arresting bad guys to writing tickets. He knows the cop mentality.
How do you correct that?
The same way his watch commander corrected him, by watching his production. His boss would ask him, "You mean you never see anyone in violation?"
Like many of you, barely a day passes when I'm not in danger because of some dumbbell who's yakking on the phone, especially dangerous at intersections where they make turns with their ears and mouths engaged, but their eyes and brains on hold.
Citing a study done by the University of Utah, Nationwide Insurance reports that "distraction from cellphone use while driving (handheld or hands-free)" slows a driver's reaction time as much as having a blood-alcohol level at the legal limit of .08.
