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Published on Saturday, July 31, 2004
in the Ft. Myers News-Press
Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Daniel Taylor stood perched in a bucket truck above Interstate 75 with a laser aimed at a white Chevrolet truck heading south.
The trooper clocked it going 82 miles per hour.
Taylor radioed to Trooper Lucy Papp stationed more than a mile south of Corkscrew Road to stop the truck.
“I was just moving with traffic,” Joseph Jones, 56, of Punta Gorda said as Papp wrote him a $153.50 speeding ticket.
Jones was one of hundreds of drivers tagged for wrongdoings Friday along Lee County’s 40-plus miles of I-75 in the first trooper blitz of its kind.
About 30 troopers — more than any number at one time before — set their sights on speeders and aggressive drivers from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and then from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in an effort dubbed Operation Sunrise to Sunset. All office duties were suspended so troopers who normally sit behind a desk would be behind the wheel Friday. Others who usually work in Collier County came up to help in Lee. By the end of the day, 512 tickets were doled out, including 323 for speeding. That averages out to 64 tickets per hour. Troopers said phone calls complaining about aggressive and reckless drivers reduced 66 percent during the eight-hour operation.
“We want to let people know that we are out here stopping people,” Lt. Doug Dodson said. “We are concentrating on speeders. We want to slow the speed down because that contributes to everything else.”
So far this year, 49 people — including six on I-75 — have died on Lee County roads. This is dramatically down from last year’s 71 fatals as of the end of July.
On Friday, drivers tried to explain themselves, but troopers took no excuse.
Jones claimed his speedometer showed he was going 75 miles per hour — not the 82 Taylor tagged him going .
“(Seventy-five) that’s what he was going when he saw me,” Papp said later.
Marc Antoine Saint-Fort, 48, told Sgt. J.B. McPherson that he was on his way to Miami to get a passport to attend his sister’s funeral in Haiti. He was stopped going 94 miles per hour.
“That’s just way too fast,” McPherson explained to the Georgia man.
Saint-Fort quickly gave up. “I’m not going to dispute that,” he said. “I have no right to go that fast.”
The troopers set up shop at three locations.
A pilot circling in a plane over the interstate near Slater Road rattled off vehicle descriptions and their speeds to troopers parked below eager to write their next ticket.
Several miles south, another group waited just south of Corkscrew Road for word from Taylor, who stood about 30 feet in the air in the Department of Transportation bucket truck.
Farther down the interstate, another trooper on the Terry Street overpass aimed his laser at cars roaring underneath. He radioed to more troopers — also known as chase cars — parked in the northbound shoulder. Each site had a trooper dedicated toward drivers who failed to move over. The Move Over law requires motorists to move over one lane when approaching emergency vehicles with lights flashing along the road.
The Department of Transportation had a handful of officers out checking on trucks.
Officials hope this gets the message across that troopers are watching. “It’s been on the radio (news),” Dodson said. “That’s what we want.”
And, they’ll be back out in force again — they’re just not saying when.
“This is not going to be just a one day thing,” Taylor said.
Ticket breakdown
Tickets issued Friday during “Operation Sunrise to Sunset:”
• Speeding tickets -- 323
• Move Over Law violations -- 33
• Aggressive driving -- 22
• Restraint citations -- 5
• Insurance violations -- 8
• Following too close -- 2
• Others -- 119
WHAT SPEEDING COSTS YOU
Exceeding the speed limit by:
6-9 mph -- $78.50
10-14 mph -- $153.50
15-19 mph -- $178.50
20-29 mph -- $203.50
30 or more mph -- $303.50
• Note: Must be be paid within 30 days
Source: Florida Highway Patrol
LEE TRAFFIC FATALITIES
Year / Deaths
1998 -- 77
1999 -- 100
2000 -- 116
2001 -- 118
2002 -- 76
2003 -- 121