Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

CHP officer Felipe Martinez stops a driver on Highway 85 near Saratoga Avenue.

CHP tracks speeders from air

Crackdown on Highway 85 follows fatalities

By Sarah Lombardo

The California Highway Patrol cars lined the shoulder of the freeway like taxis waiting for fares. As drivers on Highway 85 rounded the bend southbound near the Saratoga Avenue exit, many stepped on their brakes when they spotted the CHP cars. But by then it was too late.

An officer flying in a Cessna 1,400 feet above the freeway had already clocked speeders, and as they passed the patrol cars on the side of the freeway, one patrol car merged into the traffic and the officer turned on the car's lights and pulled the speeder over.

The Napa-based Cessna is part of the ongoing speed enforcement crackdown on Highway 85. Between 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. on Sept. 16, CHP officers issued 30 citations for speeds between 73 and 87 miles per hour. On three previous aerial-enforcement details, a total of 92 citation were issued, many for speeds in excess of 90 miles per hour. The speed limit on Highway 85 is 65 miles per hour. On an average day without the assistance of the airplane, officers generally issue about 10 citations each eight-hour shift.

Although the number of citations does not appear to be decreasing with each day the plane is used, speeds are coming down along the stretch of highway that has claimed six lives in the past seven months.

But what hasn't come down is some drivers' tempers.

"I think [aerial enforcement] is lame," Allison Gamlen, 18, said after being pulled over on Sept. 16 for driving 80 mph. "It isn't fair."

That same day, a passenger riding in a Ford Bronco yelled obscenities at CHP Public Affairs Officer Felipe Martinez, who was writing the Bronco's driver a ticket for doing 76 mph.

Martinez calmly told the passenger that the longer he yelled, the longer the traffic stop would take.

"We try to explain to [drivers] that we get no kick out of doing this, but we are trying to prevent someone from getting hurt," Martinez said. "You have to drive at a safe speed and have time to react. . . . It's to their benefit to drive safely."

But some drivers don't think safer necessarily means slower.

"I don't think you should get pulled over if you are driving safely, no matter what speed," Matt Camisa, a construction worker pulled over for going 73 mph, said. "You see people being reckless, swerving back and forth--they're the ones who should get pulled over. Not just for going eight miles over the speed limit."

Martinez said that although the plane flies relatively low to the ground, many people don't even notice it above them. He said a driver once even refused to sign his speeding ticket, saying he thought the officer was lying about his speed. A call to a sergeant to explain the situation to the driver took care of the problem that time, but it still happens, Martinez said.

"That's one reason we like to advertise that the plane is going to be out and about," Martinez said. "I try to explain to drivers as best I can so they don't feel they're being targeted."

Aerial enforcement has been used for years on highways throughout California. The plane gives officers in the air an advantage to ground-bound officers: the ability to use a stopwatch. According to Martinez, it is illegal for CHP officers to clock drivers using a stopwatch. They must pace drivers' speeds by following them for at least one mile.

But in the air, an officer can use a stopwatch and ground markings to pace drivers. When a car that appears to be going much faster than the rest of traffic passes a predetermined mark on the freeway, the officer begins timing. When the car passes the second mark, the stopwatch stops and the calculations begin. Using a formula, the officer determines the car's speed and radios an officer on the ground. That officer then issues the ticket.

"Basically, what I tell people is if they see themselves passing traffic, they might want to pay more attention to their driving," said Martinez.