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Zap! Laser tags leadfoots zipping downhill
By AARON SHAROCKMAN, Times Staff Writer LARGO -- Officer Richelle Wasylyna sounds her siren and pets her steering wheel. "Come on," she says as she waits for the eight-cylinder engine to kick in while watching minivans on either side and a black Toyota ahead hit the brakes. "Don't slow down." But the Toyota does. The minivans freeze up, too. "They always do this. Everyone gets scared when they see the lights." While the three cars cower, a white Honda Civic is speeding away. It was going 75 miles an hour in a 55-mile-an-hour stretch along U.S. 19 South. Wasylyna's car is trapped between three soccer moms. "Move," yells Wasylyna in the white and blue squad car, lights flashing, sirens blaring. The Toyota driver doesn't hear or see Wasylyna. Out of options, she darts through the minivans and toward the Civic. That driver notices Wasylyna and her authoritative point through the rearview mirror. "Get over," Wasylyna says. It's over. Another driver's been caught in a speed trap. "That's a bad term," police spokesman Brandon Graham said. Sorry. It's over. Another driver's been caught by the Largo police's Speed Enforcement Detail. "It's not a trap," Graham adds.
Either way, the fine's still the same: $170 for the driver of the Civic. "It's not the worst part of my job," said Wasylyna, who has been with the Largo Police Department since she finished college three years ago. She has encountered plenty of angry drivers and pitiful excuses in that time. "You see so many bad accidents out here that you really want to slow people down when you have the chance." The Largo Police Department has speed enforcement details on its roads regularly to help keep streets safe. Wasylyna, along with Officer Quentin Collomare and Sgt. Kelly Goswick, stopped 18 speeders Tuesday morning on U.S. 19 south of East Bay Drive. This is how it worked: Collomare stands behind a protective wall with a laser device that tracks vehicle speed from a distance. As U.S. 19 southbound traffic tops the overpass above East Bay Drive, Collomare aims and triggers the laser at a vehicle's grill. Instantly, a speed is registered in the gun. It's basically foolproof, Collomare said. And much better than radar, the department's other method of traffic enforcement. "If radar is like a shotgun, laser is a sniper rifle," he said. "It just doesn't miss." If the speed of the vehicle tops 70 miles per hour, 15 miles above the legal limit, Collomare radios a chaser, sitting ready in a squad car. "76, black Pathfinder, center lane," he yells over the din of traffic. That sends Wasylyna flying from an access road onto U.S. 19, reaching 70 miles per hour in seconds. She stops the SUV and checks back with Collomare for the vehicle's speed and the time he clocked it. She writes the information on her right hand for easy reference. By the end of her four-hour shift, her hand is speckled black with numbers. She writes left-handed, and a notepad just doesn't work as well. "That's why I was looking for the alcohol cleaner," said Wasylyna, who usually works nights driving a different car. "I need to wipe my hand clean to keep the numbers straight sometimes." Wasylyna jumps out of the car as soon as it's in park and approaches the SUV. She asks the male driver for his license, registration and insurance. He's been clocked going 21 mph faster than the legal limit, a $170 offense. She takes the papers back to her car, where she checks the license to make sure that it's valid and that the driver isn't wanted for another crime. When everything comes back clear from the dispatcher, she writes out the ticket. The driver wanted a warning but didn't get one. "He was busy talking on his cell phone," Wasylyna said. "He's still on the phone. Well, he can tell them he's going to be a little late." After giving the driver the ticket and presenting his options -- pay the fine, attend traffic school and pay a lesser fine, or go to court -- Wasylyna is back in her squad car and circling back to Collomare's location, where he's waiting to flag another speeder. As soon as she's back in position, she hears: "'71, blue Jeep Wrangler, hard top." The lights flash again and Wasylyna's screaming down the road, dodging dozens of scared drivers. "The time goes fast when you're doing details," Wasylyna said as she whipped onto the county's main artery after the Jeep. "There's so much traffic to pull over. You don't really have a second to relax."
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From the Times North Pinellas desks Letters |
