Photo-Enforcement for Speeders

We have had them over here for years now and I hate them. They are all over the place. It's hard to travel more than a mile in any city without seeing one.

Wait until the State Authorities discover just how much money they pull in and then you will find them everywhere. Under the guise of safety of course.

 

Stuka, BC, Canada used to have them. They were referred to as cash grab. The signs are still up but the green Astro vans parked on the side of the road are gone. I did pass many of them at about 20-30 over, never received a ticket. I think they were simply removed when the next leadership party came into power. Plus they were expensive to keep running.

re your red light cams, only 20% of ours have film in them. They just sit there and flash for heck of it. If your state has a lot of $$ then I would expect them to hang around. If your living in a penny pinching state I wouldn't worry, they won't stay for long.

 

I hate the idea of automated speed enforcement cameras. Illinois is phasing them in for constructions zones, but I have yet to see one. I typically drive/ride with the flow of traffic or maybe a tick above average, but the idea of machines determining my guilt on something does not appeal to me.

I am all for them at railroad crossing gates however because that truly relates directly to safety, not revenue (which is what the speed cameras are for). I live near 2 crossings and see people violate the gates/lights all the time. In such a hurry to get to or from work I suppose...

Sorry to head off on a slight tangent, but one thing I have noticed is that even though everyone is up in arms over the price of gas, I really have not noticed drivers easing off the throttle. People are so aggressive and most red lights around me are still treated as if they are drag strip Christmas trees. If people would go a little lighter on the gas pedal I think they would be happy with getting noticeably better gas mileage. My Sienna gets only 15 MPG if I really zip around town, but when I consciously take it easy, I am getting 19 - and that adds up.

 

Britian has them and there's even a site on vandalized speed cameras: Speed Cameras

Thank god I don't live there. It would get expensive buying dynamite all the time :lol:

I don't know for sure how exactly the speed camera laws are set up but I bet you could get out of them by giving them a fake name/address of the "actual" driver. Where I live there are red light cameras and I've heard of people getting out of them by filling out the form that comes with the ticket where you tell them who actually drove the car at the time of the "violation". The great thing is once you give them a fake name/address they can't bother you again and they have a ticket that will never be paid for. :rockon:

Plus I can personally say that installing a secret police sticker on the back of your helmet works well for me. :heh: You can get the secret police stickers at this site: Thin Blue Line

 

A driver needs to be officially identified for points to be levied. All these kinds of tickets are just registered owner tickets.

 

As always, the rules are different according to where you are. In Tennessee it's a civil action that doesn't go on your driving record UNLESS you challenge the citation in court and are found guilty.
Only one small town in my area has the speed cameras (several has red-light cameras) and they have created ALOT of controversy.
I don't know that I like the idea of camera enforcement. At intersections, many times I have wished for a Police Officer to be in the area after nearly being splattered by some moron on the cell phone who drives through a red light at 50 mph. I can see an advantage there, they probably actually do make those intersections safer. The speed cameras though, I question their contribution to safety, unless they are used in neighborhoods and not the interstates or highways.

 

I visit my mother-in-law up there often so I am familar with those Scottsdale cameras. But, here is the weird thing, they have warning signs to let you know the cameras are ahead. Seems kinda odd...I mean it is nice...you can slow down before you get to them. But, what is to stop people from speeding like mad (which they do in the Phoenix megalopolis) and then simply slowing down when you see the sign? Seems odd? They sometimes use a van with radar and cameras to do the same thing but it moves around so it can really get ya.

BIG BROTHER!

 

Funny you bring this up Stuka.
Look what I got in the mail this week...



And it was 2 speed cams in a 1/2 mile road.
So I got 2 $40 tickets.

I have the Zumo loaded with the location of most red light cams and speed
cams, but I did not have this location.

I also drive with a V1 for those pesky mobile speed cams.
I'm in the process to have a mount for the V1 in the bike.

Lots of such traps in Maryland.

 

Unfortunately, that has little chance of working with camera enforcement BECAUSE in most places (other than the larger cities/states) the cameras are owned and operated by an independent civilian company/contractor due to their expense. The camera company sends all the recorded violations to the police department for verification of a violation. The only way a citation can be voided is if the reveiwing officer determines the license tag is not clearly visible or the violation isn't clearly shown in the photos. If a citation isn't issued, a reason must be provided to the camera company. Its part of the contract signed between the camera company and government agency that ALL violations will be cited, thats how they are assured the company will make money on the camera installation. THAT is what the controversy I spoke of in an earlier post is all about, citations were issued (by the cameras) to on-duty Highway Patrol cruisers who then began writing citations to on-duty officers of the municipalty who maintains the cameras (Joey, I know you're laughing you butt of at that one) all for speeds less than 15 mph over. It became a vicious little battle.:vader:

 

So very true... guess I'm lucky my speedo runs fast. :wink:

 

Last year speed cameras (Scammeras) in the UK generated £400M, that's about $795M. When you bear in mind that the whole of the UK is smaller than many US states then you see why they are so attractive to the administration.

Easy money targeting the motorist!

 

haha thanks.
I'm starting to look as good as that poser that shows up in your pics. :smile:

Let's see, I was going 41 on a 25 limit on one, and
44 on a 30 limit on the other one.

It was a group of 3 riders. I was going second.
3rd rider noticed the cams and slowed down.
Oh well.
My zumo has been updated with the latest cam locations, so I hope this
won't happen again.

 

Several cities here are pulling the red light cameras due to a very large increase in rear end collisions.

 

Damn Franko if you wanted a picture you should have asked. Nice. how do they know it's you? can't see the face could be anyone wearing that helmet, Yea we up here are starting to see em pop up too. Great, wonder how fast you have to go before it can't catch you.

 

Yo Y2KViffer, that was what I wanted to point out about the warning signs...they tend to make people not only slow down to about 10 mph over the speed limit (from 20 or so over) but sometimes people slow down to the speed limit or even less than the speed limit so that there is a (sudden) net slowing of 10-30 mph which can cause a rear-end collision. (And then as always, the guy in the rear gets the ticket even though it is the JERK in the front that was the idiot that slowed too quickly!)

 

Hmm, that's why tailgating is a big no-no. Seriously, I really think you should always be far away enough to allow distance and time in case of a sudden stop. I really HATE tailgaters and they're one of the reasons why going the speed limit on highways is actually MORE dangerous than going over the speed limit.

Near work there are intersections with red light cameras and the problem is they made the yellow lights too short. My car isn't a ferrari and one time I saw the light go yellow but if I had stopped I would be in the middle of the intersection. And yep, I got a red light ticket and it even said the light was red for .24 seconds. :bs:

From that I contacted the department of transportation about that intersection and to my surprise I got an email back saying that they lengthened the yellow light and it was actually set too short!

I can understand the need for red light cameras as long as the yellow times are reasonable and that it isn't an obvious revenue enhancer.

 

What about those jerks that like to cut into your safety margin. If ya leave more than a car length here, some knob will fill the space guaranteed.

I agree, going slightly faster than everyone else is by far the safest way to travel.