Speed cameras - big brother is here

[SneakyStuff]

I live in Montgomery County where the OP is talking about and I can't help but laugh at the whole thing. The cameras would all be gone in a month if people STOPPED SPEEDING! No speeding = no money = no incentives for lawmakers to place more of these annoying cameras.

I bet you were that kid in class who told everyone in class to be quiet, because you were trying to learn.

If you think I don't care about this issue you're wrong. And you can't fault my reasoning because if the lawmakers intend to treat speeding as something taxable we as citizens can choose to boycott speeding (90% of the speed cameras in use are clearly marked with photo enforcement signs and you have 11mph leeway). Frankly I don't know what else to say because the referendum effort in Montgomery county failed due to lack of signatures and people keep electing the council members that make these cameras a priority issue. Maybe now that the program is state wide though people will wake up for the 2010 elections.

http://www.stopbigbrothermd.org/

If anyone is actually interested in what's going on in Maryland with these cameras that site has a lot of good information, including a tab at the top with camera locations on Google maps.

 

[shira]

If you think I don't care about this issue you're wrong. And you can't fault my reasoning because if the lawmakers intend to treat speeding as something taxable we as citizens can choose to boycott speeding (90% of the speed cameras in use are clearly marked with photo enforcement signs and you have 11mph leeway). Frankly I don't know what else to say because the referendum effort in Montgomery county failed due to lack of signatures and people keep electing the council members that make these cameras a priority issue. Maybe now that the program is state wide though people will wake up for the 2010 elections.

http://www.stopbigbrothermd.org/

If anyone is actually interested in what's going on in Maryland with these cameras that site has a lot of good information.

It's one thing if you live in an area and see the cameras as they're installed. It's another entirely when you drive in an unfamiliar area - especially at night - and get a surprise in the mail. It's especially galling when you have many year's experience safely driving a particular stretch of road several times a year. And then - surprise - the rules change.

11-over sounds like a lot. But there are many locations where 11-over is nothing.

When enough people get burned, speed cameras in MD will be history.

 

[SneakyStuff]

It's one thing if you live in an area and see the cameras as they're installed. It's another entirely when you drive in an unfamiliar area - especially at night - and get a surprise in the mail. It's especially galling when you have many year's experience safely driving a particular stretch of road several times a year. And then - surprise - the rules change.

11-over sounds like a lot. But there are many locations where 11-over is nothing.

When enough people get burned, speed cameras in MD will be history.

I literally just edited my post with you in mind check the tab up top on the website I linked. It has the locations of the speed cameras if you would like to know.

 

[ahurtt]

I guess I don't understand the law in Alabama-it's illegal to OWN a car that had been speeding? Bizarre. How about this situation: I'm visiting my brother in Alabama, he decides he wants to try out my new ride so we swap cars and drive through the same camera trap at the same speed. He ends up with a ticket for the car I'm driving but I don't get a ticket because he's driving my car registered in CT? Or how about rental vehicles-will I be immune from camera tickets if the car I pick up from the airport is registered outside of AL? I think this has a lot more to do with revenue enhancement than public safety.

We had an analogous situation here when GPS was new. Rental companies would install a hidden GPS in the car ,and bury in the fine print of the rental agreement that you would pay a couple hundred dollar penalty if you exceeded 85 mph (way above the legal speed limits here). The rental company would bill your credit card for these penalties months after the rental based on info from the GPS. Our state's Attorney General took the rental companies to court and beat the pants off the rental companies on this, they had to pay back all the penalties, etc.

LOL sorry, I meant Montgomery County, Maryland not Alabama. Forgot that little detail. But at any rate. . .the way it works here is that the citation is issued to the car (or more realistically the car's owner), not the driver of the car.

 

[kalrith]

We have red-light cameras in our town. I remember reading an article about 6 months or a year after they started enforcing them. It said that the city was disappointed that it wasn't raising the estimated revenue from the red-light cameras. They were basically saying that they wish more people broke the law in order to pad their pockets. Those cameras aren't there for one bit of safety; the one and only reason is revenue.

 

[GroundedSailor]

I haven't kept up since I purchased my Escort, but at the time I purchased, the V1 was acknowledged as the most sensitive HIGHWAY radar detector, slightly ahead of the 9500ci.

However, a MAJOR problem with the V1 is falsing: In the city, the V1 will drive you nuts with all of the false alarms. The 9500ci remembers where it detected a signal (it uses the GPS and stores all alarms), and won't signal you if the same signal in the same location is detected four times in a row. So, over time, you're only alerted to new signals. The V1 just keeps on beeping every time is detects a signal.

Also, the V1 doesn't have the speed-camera database, so you won't know ahead of time whether that signal you're alerted to is just a stray or is a camera.

And the V1 isn't detector-detector-proof. I commute into Virginia and DC, where radar detectors are illegal. The cops will detect your V1 (and confiscate it), but can't detect the 9500ci.

Finally, the 9500ci has a built in laser-jammer. The widely accepted wisdom is: if your detector alerts you to a laser, it's too late. The 9500ci jams incoming laser, so you won't get a ticket. The V1 doesn't jam.

I agree that lots of people swear by the V1. It's a great detector for the open road, but there's a reason people pay five times as much for the 9500ci, installed.

I will accept the escort has a lot of bells and whistles, but for pure detection the V1 is hard to beat.

FYI the V1 is detector-detector-proof as you put it. I have driven in Virginia in the left lane with a cop in the right lane and have not been detected, same story in DC. Have also been in Canada and not picked up. I do have a remote display which hides the lights from eyes looking in. I live in SE PA and visit my family in NC so I drive thro' VA fairly often and I never leave home without the V1.

The danger with suppressing falsing is that 9 times out of 10 it could be the door opener but that 1 time there is a smokey on a revenue enhancement mission you could be in trouble. V1 has a logic mode which suppresses most false radiations. I am happy to live with a few false alarms to avoid getting surprised.

As far as laser goes, the V1 is very good at picking up stray radiations so you do get advance warning. Only if you are the only car on the road will laser catch you.

 

[vhx]

Just go so fast it reads 90 over so they think it's a malfunction in the camera.

 

[Pulsar]

The problem is that many of the posted speed limits are, objectively, lower than what they should be. If 85% of the traffic feels comfortable driving at a higher speed, that's an excellent indication that the speed limits are too low.

I suspect it would take an enormous amount of time and money (and liability) to have somebody (or more likely a group of people) evaluate each and every speed limit to make sure they are all set at 'reasonable' speeds?

Instead, they have a set of guidelines they follow to make the choosing of speeds more efficient, and then they allow challenges to change the speeds in locations where people disagree with the speed.

So, if you truly don't like the speed of a given area, (and this is to the original poster, not you whippersnapper), get off your ass, stop your speeding, and try to get the speed changed for the betterment of everyone who drives on those roads. Otherwise, it's all just whining.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Has anyone here ever succeeded in getting a speed limit raised? Trying to convince a local government to raise the speed on a road is probably like trying to budge a 2000 pound rhinocerous.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

someone should market fold away liscence plates. Rather than slow down just hit the button as you approach camera and your plate flips away or a "retractable shielding covers it" . Flip the button again once you are in the clear to reveal the plate again.

PWNED.

 

[SphinxnihpS]

Are speed cameras new in the USA or something? We've had them since the beginning of time. I find the best way to defeat them is to drive within marked speed limits. Extreme, I know.

You seem to have a funny sense of humor for someone with a TJ quote in his sig.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Are speed cameras new in the USA or something? We've had them since the beginning of time. I find the best way to defeat them is to drive within marked speed limits. Extreme, I know.

Thats not defeat, that's submission.

 

[Cogman]

Thats not defeat, that's submission.

Damn you cameras! I'm going to be hip and cool and drive over the speed limit!

I'm sure that if there was a device that could accurately detect that someone was using a cell phone while driving, that you guy would complain about some imagined freedom loss.

The camera's enforce the law, just like cops enforce the law. You don't want a speeding ticket? Don't Speed. It is really that simple. The cameras are only perceived as unfair because they are always on and they aren't lenient.

Fine, if the speeding limit is too low, petition to get it raised (Though, whatever the speed-limit is, you'll probably complain because it is too low.).

I really don't care if the law is dumb, retarded, ect. It is the law. You only have yourself and your neighbors to blame for its existence.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Damn you cameras! I'm going to be hip and cool and drive over the speed limit!

I'm sure that if there was a device that could accurately detect that someone was using a cell phone while driving, that you guy would complain about some imagined freedom loss.

The camera's enforce the law, just like cops enforce the law. You don't want a speeding ticket? Don't Speed. It is really that simple. The cameras are only perceived as unfair because they are always on and they aren't lenient.

Fine, if the speeding limit is too low, petition to get it raised (Though, whatever the speed-limit is, you'll probably complain because it is too low.).

I really don't care if the law is dumb, retarded, ect. It is the law. You only have yourself and your neighbors to blame for its existence.

I disagree. If they can prove that the camera systems are unhackable which they cannot then I might be more inclined to trust the system. Also driving isn't an objective black or white task, traversing the landscape on foot, bike, air or automobile is a subjective task. Some situations require slowing to crawl others require lightning reflexes and speed.

Secondly the use of technology to catch someone who has already "broke the law" is a flawed .....lets just apply a band-aid approach.

They should be using technology to remove the problem. My car speed should be regulated by sensors in the road and the traffic flow communicating to my engine.

 

[waggy]

I drive the speed limit. and in the camp of IF you get caught pay the damn ticket and take it like a man.

BUT i am against the damn cameras. Both speed ones and red light ones.

 

[Cogman]

I disagree. If they can prove that the camera systems are unhackable which they cannot then I might be more inclined to trust the system. Also driving isn't an objective black or white task, traversing the landscape on foot, bike, air or automobile is a subjective task. Some situations require slowing to crawl others require lightning reflexes and speed.

Secondly the use of technology to catch someone who has already "broke the law" is a flawed .....lets just apply a band-aid approach.

They should be using technology to remove the problem. My car speed should be regulated by sensors in the road and the traffic flow communicating to my engine.

By that logic, we should ban computers from all government establishments, because they can't prove that their systems can't be hacked.

Tell me, how do we PROVE that a system can't be hacked?

Also, if someone is going above the speed limit, the camera flashes. Going above the speed limit = breaking the law. It doesn't matter if you are avoiding an earthquake or tsunami, you are still breaking the law.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

By that logic, we should ban computers from all government establishments, because they can't prove that their systems can't be hacked.

Tell me, how do we PROVE that a system can't be hacked?

Also, if someone is going above the speed limit, the camera flashes. Going above the speed limit = breaking the law. It doesn't matter if you are avoiding an earthquake or tsunami, you are still breaking the law.

Am I still breaking the law if it was my car but I wasn't the one driving? :awe: again we have judges and a court system because life and laws are not objective black or white.

 

[Robor]

We have red-light cameras in our town. I remember reading an article about 6 months or a year after they started enforcing them. It said that the city was disappointed that it wasn't raising the estimated revenue from the red-light cameras. They were basically saying that they wish more people broke the law in order to pad their pockets. Those cameras aren't there for one bit of safety; the one and only reason is revenue.

Yep, just like most tickets. About 2 years ago I got a ticket for crossing a solid white line between the right lane and turn lane to turn into it. There was no one behind me so I was not endangering anyone. I didn't get out of 1st gear before a cop stepped out from behind a van to flag me into a parking lot.

There were 2 cars getting tickets in front of me (they had a sting setup). They told me I was illegally passing on the right. I asked him how I was supposed to use the turn lane if I didn't pass the stopped cars and he told me I crossed the solid line so it was illegal passing. He said they had a lot of accidents at this intersection and were out there 'all the time' to try and reduce the accidents. I told him I was new to the area (I was - new job) and never saw them or an accident. I got a ticket anyway. Three kickers...

1) When I got to work and told my coworkers it seemed like 1 out of 3 got flagged there in the last few years.

2) The sting was setup so I was directed into the parking lot through the exit and left through the entrance (very safe).

3) The intersection went under construction 3 days later (they were getting their last sting in before they lost their great revenue generating spot).