Rules of Rick
by
Capt. Rick Koop, Crosby Police Department
Things That Go Bump in the Night
Spam, Scams and Dishonest Work
We receive numerous complaints regarding crosswalks and pedestrians. These complaints are from both sides of the issue, with folks complaining that cars don’t stop for them and drivers complaining that folks are standing in crosswalks and not crossing when the drivers stop for them. Here are the legal, as well as practical considerations. Drivers have a legal obligation to yield right of way to pedestrians in a crosswalk while the pedestrian is in their lane. This applies at any intersection, whether the crosswalk is marked, or not.
Pedestrians should never enter a crosswalk, unless they intend to cross the road and may not walk in front of a vehicle that is too close to stop for them. Make sure that the oncoming driver is slowing and appears to see you. Be aware of traffic whose view might be blocked by other vehicles. Never stand in a crosswalk and attempt to direct drivers to continue on by. (That would be my job…)
The laws of physics and driver reaction time also apply. The average driver has a reaction time of about ¾ of a second, assuming the driver is not being distracted by anything. That means that a car moving at 30 MPH will travel about 30 feet before the driver ever touches the brake pedal. A car may take another 30 feet to stop under normal road conditions. A slippery road may require more than 100 feet to stop when going 30 MPH, plus the initial 30 feet of reaction time. Let’s all be careful out there and courteous to each other.
Things That Go Bump in the Night
I recently happened upon a car/deer accident that occurred just after dark. I was driving my personal vehicle, but decided I should check to be sure everyone was all right. The injured deer was in my lane but I did have room to avoid hitting it. This brought some thoughts to mind that I felt I should share.
First, attempting to avoid small road obstructions at highway speeds is generally not a good idea. Many drivers have had serious accidents by attempting to swerve around deer, dogs and other fairly small animals. This is especially true at night, when you don’t see the obstruction until you are quite close it. Abrupt turns often cause a loss of control and a collision with some worse object, like a tree, or another vehicle.
Second, I noted that passing traffic did not seem to be slowing at all when they went by us, even though we had two vehicles on the shoulder with hazard warning lights flashing. We use the term “four-way flashers”, but they are hazard warning lights and should be heeded.
Third, the deer in the road was pretty much invisible to other drivers and was struck many more times while we stood there. I imagine that we were not much more visible to traffic than the deer was. Let’s keep in mind how truly dangerous it is along side a dark roadway.
The police department has taken a number of reports of cars that have been broken into while left unattended at remote areas, such as boat landings and bike, or walking trails. Thieves have been taking purses, wallets, checkbooks and other valuable items from the cars. The thefts are bad enough, but they often also results in damage to the vehicle, such as broken windows or locks. A day on the lake or a nice walk down the trails can really be ruined when this happens.
Do not leave valuables in the vehicles, especially ones that are readily visible. Items of value, or those containing personal data, should never be left on the dash or seats. Remember, identity theft, unauthorized payments on credit cards and forged checks are all things that happen when someone steals these items.
We are strongly urging all drivers to be especially aware of bicycle traffic this summer. It appears that there is more bicycle traffic than in past years and we have had numerous complaints of near collisions between motor vehicles and bicycles in recent weeks. In most cases the fault has been that of the bicycle riders crossing the streets and not yielding to the traffic. That being said, it is would be pretty devastating to hurt, or kill, a bicycle rider, despite the accident being their fault. The police department will be monitoring this closely and will be issuing citations to two and four wheel offenders. Our primary concern is safety for both the bicycle riders and the vehicle passengers and drivers. Bicycle riders should also remember that they may use the crosswalk privileges only if they dismount and walk the bicycle across the street. If they remain on the bicycle, they are bound by the regular traffic laws. Stay safe!
It’s that time of the year when all the kids will be playing outside again. We always put of signs to watch for children when school starts, but we really need to pay attention at the beginning of summer vacation, too. All drivers need to be more aware that children will be playing near our streets and alleys a lot more, now that they are not in school. When a person driving a car sees a ball rolling across the street, they should expect that a child may be right behind.
Many children can’t readily been seen when they are standing in front of a car, or between two parked vehicles. One of the tricks I use is to take a quick glance toward the bottom of cars parked at the edge of the road. I often see a child’s legs or feet, giving me advance warning that they may be ready to run into the street.
Spam, Scams and Dishonest Work
The summer months typically bring forth some dishonest folks who offer to repair driveways, roofs, or other home repairs and then do not complete the work in a satisfactory manner. Please keep in mind that there are a lot of honest, hard working professionals in our area that can be trusted to do a good job. Call them and get an estimate, or if they are too busy to do the job, ask them if they would mind recommending another contractor who they know to be legitimate. If you know of someone else who has had similar work done, you could ask them if they were happy with the contractor they used. Never let allow yourself to be pressured into agreeing to hire someone to do work for you until you are comfortable that they are legitimate.
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Beware of the “work at home” advertisements that are currently being offered. Some of the recent ones are from someone in Nigeria, who sends counterfeit postal money orders. It sounds great when they tell you to deposit the money order and keep 10% for yourself. Unfortunately, after you have sent the other 90% of the money back to them, it is then discovered that the money order was phony. You may be held responsible for the whole amount of the money order. There are many variations of these scams and there are also some legitimate work at home jobs. You really need to do some careful research before committing to any of these jobs. Search the internet for information about the company and you may have all the answers you need! Use Google, Yahoo, or any number of other internet search engines.
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Never take part in a foreign lottery, in which the mail, e-mail, or other notification claims that you have won a large sum of money. First, it is illegal to participate in a foreign lottery, but more importantly, all of them that I have seen have been scams. Never send any money to someone who tells you that they will then send you your winnings. These scam artists will never pay you anything! No legitimate lottery system asks you to send money to them. Quite the contrary, they will make a big public fanfare out of a winner and will never ask you to keep it secret.
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A relatively new scam is where phony companies send you an e-mail which states that your account access has been suspended for suspicious activity, or some similar reason. The e-mail directs you to go to what appears to be a legitimate website to enter new passwords and personal data. Do not do this without first checking with your bank, credit-card company, or whatever business is asking for the data. This is a scam called “phishing”, in which these bandits are just trying to get your personal information to use for identity theft crimes. Legitimate companies generally do not update secure information by e-mail and very few companies ever mandate that you change your password.
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Never give out personal, or financial data, to someone who calls you, unless you are absolutely sure they are legitimate. If you get a phone call asking for that type of information, tell the caller that you do not give that information out over the phone. Then look up the phone number for the company who they claim to work for and call them to ask about it. In almost every case, you will find that it was a scam call, designed to steal information, or money from you.
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Scam artists are also called con artists. “Con” is short for “confidence” and that is what they attempt to do. They gain your confidence by using a good line of talk and attempt to get you comfortable with them. When you feel comfortable with them, you can more easily be talked into giving out information that can later be used to steal your identity, or access your bank, or credit cards.
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”It’s not paranoia if someone is really out to get you.”
This time of the year, we have lots of young children out at bus stops. It’s also the time of the year when darkness is beginning to set in earlier, making it more difficult for us to keep a watchful eye on our children while they play in the neighborhood. Let’s all help ensure that are children are safe from strangers.
This situation came to mind after we received a complaint from a youngster, who said that someone had attempted to coax him into their car. Was this a real threat, or was the child mistaken as to the actual intentions of the adult male in the car? I don’t know, but I really do not wish to take the chance that it was an entirely innocent encounter.
Like the information we issued regarding predatory offenders in the mineland recreation area, we need to be cautious and educate ourselves and our children to the potential dangers of strangers approaching them. They also should understand that some locations are more dangerous than others, such as being near roadways that have little traffic, or near adult oriented businesses, etc. A child, playing alone is at greater risk that one playing with a group of friends.
And not to discriminate against strangers, let’s not forget that many predatory
offenses come from acquaintances and family members. Let’s keep our children as
safe from harm as possible.
Police have long warned parents of the dangers of children using internet chat rooms. It is common place for sexual predators to attempt to identify potential victims by chatting with them and pretending to be their own age.
A new danger has arisen in that regard, called “myspace.com”. It is a web site which allows people to post an online diary, photos of themselves, or any number of other pieces of personal information. The site is designed for ages 14 and above, but there is no way to control whether it is a 7 year old child, or a 35 year old predator who is using the site.
Parents need to monitor their children’s use of the internet and know what sites they are visiting, as well as continually reminding them not to post personal information on these sites. Something as simple as what grade they are in and what city they live in is bad, as it could give a predator an idea who to target. Internet chat room conversations with the same person on several occasions could give a predator all the information he needs to locate and molest a child or teen. The same predator could easily use different names for each chat and get a different bit information each time, eventually knowing all he needs to know to really hurt someone.
CBS News posted the following information on their web site February 6, 2006: The Center for Missing and Exploited Children reported more than 2,600 incidents last year of adults using the Internet to entice children. With numbers like that, you'd think all parents would be hovering over their kids, wanting to know what they're doing online. But authorities say many parents are clueless about their kids' MySpace profiles. Parents can get a lot of tips on internet safety on the Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s web site.
(Note from the webmaster: Although MySpace has received a lot of warning and complaints, there are many other similar sites out on the internet as well. MySpace, and all the other sites like it, can be used for very good purposes--which is mostly used for. If you have concern, with MySpace you can set accounts to "private" so that only allowed friends can see the profile and it makes the account nearly impossible for spam artists and predators to search and locate these accounts.)
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