Above it all, troopers can see

Published 11:10 pm Friday, August 31, 2007

EVERETT — You’re sitting in stop-and-go traffic, slowly inching along when it happens.

A car flies by on your right, zipping ahead in an exit lane. Sure enough, the same car flashes its left blinker and noses its way back into traffic.

It’s not only unfair, officials said, it’s dangerous and often illegal.

“It’s nice to write tickets when people are doing things like this,” said Troy Davis, a Washington State Patrol trooper watching the violation from thousands of feet above I-5.

During Wednesday afternoon’s rush hour, troopers on the ground and in the air targeted drivers on northbound I-5 who were using the exit lane to Broadway and 41st Street in Everett to speed ahead and then cut back into slow-moving traffic.

“This is aggressive driving and leads to road rage,” trooper Kirk Rudeen said. “It’s no different when someone cuts in front of you at the supermarket. You just don’t do it.”

Aggressive driving is particularly dangerous in the narrow and congested construction zone on I-5, Rudeen said.

In recent weeks, flying debris and out-of-control cars have come close to causing serious injuries to construction workers. Officials have lowered the speed limit to try to avoid accidents. They want the public’s help, too.

“We’re asking people to be considerate, to watch speed going into construction zones, be very aware of signage, be very aware of lane changes, and understand it’s going to take a few minutes longer to get through. Take a few breaths,” Rudeen said.

The area is so busy, it’s hard for troopers to position motorcycles and patrol cars in the area.

Thousands of feet above, though, there’s plenty of space for a State Patrol airplane.

“They don’t know we’re up here,” Davis, a state patrol pilot, said.

Keeping an eye from above on dangerous areas is just one way troopers are deploying the versatile airplanes.

Since January 2006, the State Patrol has increasingly used the specially equipped planes to work with troopers on the ground. They work speed patrol, pinpoint traffic accidents and provide backup to troopers on the ground, among other duties.

On Wednesday, circling over I-5, the airplane was videotaping people cutting the gore point, the triangle-shaped zone painted on roadways that extend from onramps and offramps.

Troopers in the sky then directed troopers on the ground, waiting in a safe area, to pull over the vehicle that cut the line.

“The aircraft is critical in working it,” Rudeen said.

Drivers caught cutting the gore point were written $411 tickets, Rudeen said. Video of the offense is available to be used as evidence, if necessary.

Trooper Jason Crum sat in the back of the plane operating the camera, known as Forward Looking Infrared Radar or FLIR.

It can record images in the dark and through cloud cover. Even though the plane is circling, Crum can hold the camera steady with the aid of a gyroscope.

The plane can be circling slowly over Everett one moment and quickly divert to an incident near Lynnwood the next. Minutes later, the plane could be at the opposite end of the county.

“When you’re flying 150 mph like the crow flies, you’re covering a lot of ground,” Rudeen said. “You don’t have to wait for traffic. You don’t have to stop for stop signs.”

The planes cost about $150 an hour to fly, roughly a third the cost to operate a helicopter, Rudeen said. Still, more than being cost efficient, the fleet of planes is one more way the patrol is working to keep the state’s road safe.

And even if people think they can outrun a state trooper on the ground, they better think twice. A trooper up above very likely could be watching.

“Once we lock onto him, he’s not getting away,” Davis said.

Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437 or jholtz@heraldnet.com.