British man recieves a speeding ticket for doing 37MPH in a parked car.

[dmcowen674]

I detour one or two red light cameras every day.

I'd rather burn more gas then let them get one cent from me, via that abortion.

You would not be able to do that here in Chicago, there is a camera at nearly every corner.

I have watched the camera at my corner go off for no reason all the time.

I think they are like dogs and bark at the wind.

 

[kalrith]

Indeed it's not the camera's fault, but if they're just gonna cause more problems than they solve, then they might as well not install them in the first place.

They're installed to make money, not to reduce problems. There was an article in my local newspaper about how the city was disappointed that the revenue from our newly installed red-light cameras did not hit the projections that they had. Basically, they were saying that they wished more people were running red lights, because that would pad their pocket books more.

Red-light cameras, speeding cameras, etc. are about revenue, not about saving lives or making the roads safer.

 

[JS80]

Red light cameras are just as bad, and we have plenty of those.

CA has rolling stop cameras too.

 

[Zenmervolt]

It's not the cameras that cause accidents, it's the drivers not knowing how to deal with them. If you enter the intersection while it's yellow you're fine, unless somebody set up the camera wrong. And if you're the driver behind another car, it's your resposibility to make sure you're not going to fuck up the guy ahead of you. It's not the cameras fault the 2nd guy didn't leave enough room to stop... it's his own.

Studies have shown that simply making the yellow light longer is significantly more effective at making an intersection safer than installing a red light camera is. Other studies have shown that a large number of intersections with red light cameras have the yellow light set below the minimum required time for the intersection.

Red light cameras do not make intersections safer; they simply increase revenue for the police.

ZV

 

[VirtualLarry]

It's not the cameras that cause accidents, it's the drivers not knowing how to deal with them. If you enter the intersection while it's yellow you're fine, unless somebody set up the camera wrong. And if you're the driver behind another car, it's your resposibility to make sure you're not going to fuck up the guy ahead of you. It's not the cameras fault the 2nd guy didn't leave enough room to stop... it's his own.

That's not true. They recently added some lights and a camera near me, and the lights are so short, if you are travelling at 40-50mph (the speed limit in the area), and the light turns yellow, you don't have a chance of making it through before the light turns red. It's that quick. Personally, I think that's very dangerous, because now, when I approach that light, I'm ready to SLAM on my brakes if it turns yellow on me, because I don't want a ticket.

For comparison, two towns over, there's a light, in a 30mph zone, and when it turns yellow, you can still coast through the light easily before it turns red.

Edit: Some people have mentioned 3.3s and 2.7s for yellow lights, I'm pretty certain that this light is shorter than that even.

 

[Bignate603]

They're already in Arizona. I got flashed by one...at 62mph in a 65mph zone. /facepalm

I've gotten flashed by one before. It's in a ridiculous speed trap. It's 45 mph before and after one single block and it's not a school zone.

After you have a few people slam on their brakes in front of you and slow down to 10 under as soon as they see a camera you'll figure out pretty fast that they don't increase safety.

 

[Wreckem]

I wish that every asswipe who is again red light cameras gets t-boned by a red light runner....that would be divine justice in my book...

Thats if you believe red light cameras prevent accidents. When in reality studies in a variety of cities have shown the number of accidents have gone up after red light cameras were installed.

My city spent millions installing red light cameras to only stop using them a year and a half later.

 

[fleabag]

That's not true. They recently added some lights and a camera near me, and the lights are so short, if you are travelling at 40-50mph (the speed limit in the area), and the light turns yellow, you don't have a chance of making it through before the light turns red. It's that quick. Personally, I think that's very dangerous, because now, when I approach that light, I'm ready to SLAM on my brakes if it turns yellow on me, because I don't want a ticket.

For comparison, two towns over, there's a light, in a 30mph zone, and when it turns yellow, you can still coast through the light easily before it turns red.

Edit: Some people have mentioned 3.3s and 2.7s for yellow lights, I'm pretty certain that this light is shorter than that even.

In california, the law says the yellow light must stay on for a minimum of 3 seconds. In the traffic safety handbook, it also has the suggestion for an additional 1 second for every 10mph above 30mph. So a stoplight on a road with a 45mph limit SHOULD have the yellow light stay illuminated for 4.5seconds. If the yellow light in California stays on for less than 3 seconds (is common but not legal, for the purpose of moving traffic quicker through the area) and you are pulled over for running a red light, you CAN contest the ticket on these grounds and win.

Also if the front wheels of the car are over the white line for the entrance of the intersection by the time the light turns red, for the purposes of "running a red light", you technically have not run a red light and therefore should not receive a ticket but if you do, you can contest this in court. If the light is red before your front wheels are over the white lines for the entrance of the intersection, then you've run a red light and can get a ticket.

 

[jlee]

Just another way for the police to be lazy and incompetent.

We had a malfunctioning red light ticket. It issued tickets for running red lights to 10,000+ people turning right and the cops did not even check until someone called and complain. They are supposed to verify a certain percent of them I thought. Apparently they just sit there and did nothing but get paid.

Quite often it's a third party contractor that runs the red light cameras, not the police department.

 

[Parasitic]

Red light cameras are all BS anyhow. San Diego turned them off for a while because of the disputes mentioned earlier, but recently turned them back on.

It only instills fears in law-abiding drivers. The rich still roll through them in their Mercedes or Porsche. They have those cams on Wilshire Blvd in LA and I see them go off all the time, always on expensive cars.

It's gotten ridiculous to the point that in NYC the fine for running a red by red light cameras constitutes the same amount of fine as a parking ticket.

 

[Zebo]

If that shit comes to USA I'm gonna put one of the James Bond rotary switches on my plate. Off or null most of the time, then real plate if cop ever gets close.

 

[spacejamz]

Why would a UK article about the UK issuing a speeding citation list the speed limit and the speeder's 'alleged' speed in MPH (shouldn't it have been in KM/hr)???

Shens???

 

[Rubycon]

Speed cameras are so 1970...

Today they could embed transponders in the plates and if you fly though a school zone you get a citation. To prevent theft (and switching plates!) there would be a matching device in the car tied into the VIN so if you switched to a mismatched plate every location you drive past would record a violation and they would catch up to you!

GPS devices can also do similar tasks even record driving patterns, etc. These could be periodically uploaded to motor vehicle authorities who would use advanced algorithms based on weather, time of day, traffic conditions, road conditions, age of driver, condition of vehicle and type of vehicle to assess how much of a risky driver you are. This would be shared with insurance (CLUE data) companies as well as registration renewals. Risky drivers would pay considerably more for everything from tags, taxes, fuel, insurance. Imagine a system like that! Slow down and drive like a civilized person and you would be rewarded with much lower operating costs. Don't pay for registration or parking tickets your car gets electronically disabled! HAHA!

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Why would a UK article about the UK issuing a speeding citation list the speed limit and the speeder's 'alleged' speed in MPH (shouldn't it have been in KM/hr)???

Shens???

Ever notice how Top Gear always refers to MPH and never km/h?

 

[Fenixgoon]

My car was written off because a guy who ran a stop sign and i'm still against red light cameras. From what I've seen, all they do is encourage people to stomp on the brakes when the light turns yellow.

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/02/288.asp



The people who put those cameras in place even when they know the cameras cause car accidents should be thrown in jail for life. Not joking.

furthermore, many cities have been shown to decrease the length of the yellow light (minimum of 3 or 4 seconds, IIRC) to below the federally regulated minimum (means more redlight runners = more $$)

 

[waggy]

Speed cameras are so 1970...

Today they could embed transponders in the plates and if you fly though a school zone you get a citation. To prevent theft (and switching plates!) there would be a matching device in the car tied into the VIN so if you switched to a mismatched plate every location you drive past would record a violation and they would catch up to you!

GPS devices can also do similar tasks even record driving patterns, etc. These could be periodically uploaded to motor vehicle authorities who would use advanced algorithms based on weather, time of day, traffic conditions, road conditions, age of driver, condition of vehicle and type of vehicle to assess how much of a risky driver you are. This would be shared with insurance (CLUE data) companies as well as registration renewals. Risky drivers would pay considerably more for everything from tags, taxes, fuel, insurance. Imagine a system like that! Slow down and drive like a civilized person and you would be rewarded with much lower operating costs. Don't pay for registration or parking tickets your car gets electronically disabled! HAHA!

yeap. i give it 20 years before all cars have to have GPS, onstar type device.

didn't Or try to force people to get a GPS device for just this type of thing?