Email hoax claims Michigan State Police are conducting a 31-day 'speeding ticket frenzy' during which troopers will pose as DOT workers to enable them to catch traffic violators unawares. The scheme is called 'Operation Yellow Jacket.'
Description: Email hoax
Circulating since: March 2009 (this version)
Status: False
Email example contributed by Karla W., March 2, 2009:
FW: Operation Yellow Jacket
Look out for MI-DOT trucks parked along the road or suddenly appearing behind you pacing you - it could be a Trooper driving the truck. Called 'Operation Yellow Jacket', each Michigan State Police District has a truck cleaned up and ready to go! These trucks have specially modified engines that can virtually catapult the truck from snow-plow speed to intercept speed in seconds. And when the engine boost kicks in, the warning lights automatically change from flashing yellow to the dreaded red and blue!
Starting March 1, 2009, Michigan will launch a 31 day speeding ticket frenzy. The state estimates that $9 million dollars will be generated in speeding tickets, with an additional $3.5 million in revenue for failure to wear a seatbelt. $1 million will go to pay state troopers overtime. There will be 47 state troopers on duty at all times patrolling the main intersections and highways with the highest rates of speeding.
They are the following:
I-75, especially from the Ohio line north to Woodhaven, and again from Auburn Hills to Flint
I-96 east and west in its entirety
I-275 north and south
I-675 north and south
I-94 east and west from Battle Creek to Jackson
I-696 east and west in its entirety
I-196 east and west
US-131 north and south
I-69 east and west from Lansing to Flint and again from Flint eastward to Port Huron.
I-69 north and south from I-94 to Lansing
M-14 east and west from I-94 to I-275
M-39 from I-94 to I-96
M-59, especially from Pontiac to Utica, and from Utica east
US-10 from Midland to Bay City
US-23 from I-96 to Flint
US-27 from Lansing to Mt. Pleasant
Quotas:
5 mph above the limit can justify a ticket and every state trooper is supposed to pull a car over and write a ticket every 10 to 20 minutes. They have issued 30 brand new unmarked Dodge Charger Police cruisers and canceled all vacation time. In addition, they are bringing in all of their part timers on full time for the month. This nonsense will conclude on April 1.
Driving Ticket fine increase in MI:
Starting on January 15th, the price of a ticket for violation of MI Law 39:3-29 (failure to show your driver's license, registration, or proof of insurance card at the time you are stopped) went from $44.00 to $173.00. Please make sure your vehicles have the proper documents in them. If you jump in the car to run to the store and forget your wallet with your license in it and you are stopped.... Oh well... you just spent $173. And the fine for not having all three documents is $519!!!
Comments: False. Michigan State Police officials have labeled this message a hoax, stating there is "no such effort underway at this time, or any time in the future, to generate revenue through the issuance of traffic citations."
Bogus "speeding ticket frenzy" warnings are an online staple, first erupting in New Jersey in 2005 and cropping up regularly ever since. Prior to the appearance of this version, the last such warning targeting Michigan drivers made the rounds in January 2008.
Although Michigan has no such program, the name "Operation Yellow Jacket" has been applied by other states to public safety projects involving the collaboration of State Police and Departments of Transportation. In Pennsylvania, state troopers actually do masquerade as transportation workers to catch speeding drivers in construction zones. A similar program in North Carolina involves Highway Patrol cruisers hiding behind DOT trucks with radar guns at the ready.
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Sources and further reading:
Michigan's 'Operation Yellow Jacket' Is a Hoax
Michigan State Police, 2 March 2009
Michigan State Police Say Emails Are a Hoax
WWMT-TV News, 2 March 2009
Emails About 'Speeding Ticket Frenzy' a Hoax, Michigan State Police Say
Kalamazoo Gazette, 2 March 2009
Operation Yellow Jacket Stings Highway Speeders
WRAL-TV News (Raleigh, NC), 26 April 2007
Operation Yellow Jacket (Pennsylvania)
Pennsylvania Dept. of Transportation
Hoax: Speeding Ticket Frenzy
Urban Legends, 29 July 2006
Last updated: 03/03/09
