one less thing to worry about....

[JohnMcIntyre]

AKA European innovation.....



The time has almost come to surrender my Montana title & tags and re-register my 1-ton with a European title & tags, especially as I crested a hill outside Oxford and got zapped by a concealed speed camera (35mph in a 30mph posted limit - I missed the speed limit change sign ).



Don't get me wrong, I'm not condoning speeding but the traffic fines generated , fund even more cameras... it's a vicious spiral. (The fines start at the equivalent of US$100 a pop plus a black mark on your licence, which if you inadvertently get too many of in a 3 year period, means automatic driver's licence disqualification for a minimum of 6 months, with no appeal.



FYI, these speed cameras are hooked upto the national DMV database and ordinarily after getting zapped, a couple of days later you receive a letter in the mail with your commemorative picture and an invitation to to make a contribution to a licensed bandit... . such a shame that this database cannot relate (sic!) to Montana tags, but... . I came across this gizmo the other day and it got me thinking... . is there an equivalent in the USofA (yet!?)



Check this out..... Geodesy speedwarning system ..... If your Browser is Flash enabled, you can also view a near real-time simulation of the system in operation on your virtual dashboard.



I'm now seriously considering this item as every time you detect a new camera location, which has not yet been reported to the master database, the first filing/uploading of such a report to the system has an added financial incentive (approx US$75 per new camera location!), which in theory means that the master database should be updated pretty regularly for everyone's benefit.....

 

[mdlowry]

Looks like a really good idea.



What I've been wondering about those cameras though is how they know that you were driving and hadn't loaned your truck to a friend for a while. It doesn't seem right that you should get a fine for something you didn't do. I wonder if it matters to them?



Michael

 

[Sky]

When I lived in Canada they had these out for awhile. One of my friends got mad when he got the picture of his truck and a ticket in the mail, so he took a picture of a $100. 00 bill (the cost of the ticket) and mailed it in. LOL, about 2 weeks later he got another ticket in the mail with a picture of jail.

 

[Don M]

Man I hate Big Brother camera stuff!!

I would look into getting one of those if I were you.



This kinda stuff is going to become more and more frequent as time goes by. Might have to run the dern things over!!!!





Don~

 

[JohnMcIntyre]

Chainsaw retribution!!

Originally posted by Don M

Might have to run the dern things over!!!!Don~

Don, someone is already way ahead of you... ... There's a documented case of roadrage with the victim being one of these cameras no less!! The driver was seen to slam on the brakes just after he had his photograph taken and he used a convenient chainsaw from the back of his truck to chop down the camera, before driving off with the camera and support pole.



No doubt the other people on the roll of film were quietly grateful too and when the police finally arrived to investigate, everyone had a case of severe short term memory loss. . LOL



JMc

 

[JohnMcIntyre]

Between the rock and the hard place...

Originally posted by mdlowry

Looks like a really good idea.



What I've been wondering about those cameras though is how they know that you were driving and hadn't loaned your truck to a friend for a while. It doesn't seem right that you should get a fine for something you didn't do.

Michael, the authorities argue the point that if you loaned the vehicle to someone and can prove it, then they'll send the citation to that person instead, so someone, somewhere will get nailed. Remember, you always have a choice!



JMc

 

[Sky]

Gee officer someone stole my truck that day and all be damn if they didnt return it.

 

[Todd G]

In Phoenix, we've had photo-radar for at least 10 years. Certain cities make their budgets on it. Many people try and fight the tickets in court but very few win. The cameras are pretty good. They can tell who was driving. They will send the ticket to the owner of the vehicle and its up to you to prove you were not driving.



Now all the cities are putting in re-light cameras to catch those idiots that run red-lights. This doesn't bother me near as much.



Big Brother is watching.

 

[JohnMcIntyre]

Originally posted by Sky

Gee officer someone stole my truck that day and all be damn if they didnt return it.

How many times would that work? Go figure... It's a fine line between crass stupidity and ignorance of the law, which as everyone knows, is no excuse.



JMc

 

[JohnMcIntyre]

Big Brother feedback....

Originally posted by Todd G

In Phoenix, we've had photo-radar for at least 10 years. Certain cities make their budgets on it.

Thanks Todd - the original question still stands however..... Is there an equivalent system operating in the USofA yet, where people can contribute to and benefit from the speed camera location knowledge pool? The GPS system is already there and not too long ago the accuracy factor was increased significantly when Uncle Sam decided that the increased granularity of the information provided by the GPS low orbit satellites was not a threat to National Security and the rest is history... .



JMc

 

[Ramboy]

John,

Just heard a humorous item on the news this morning that in ( I believe) Gloucester, England, the people hated these things so bad that they had already destroyed four cameras and one pole. Maybe that is the way to beat them - make it too expensive to keep replacing them.

Phil

 

[JConley]

In Texas they would call these speed cameras targets. I dont mind the stoplight cameras, but the speeding cameras would be fair game.

 

[Don M]

Ive pretty much adopted the attitude of "when live serves you lemons, make lemonade" and can think of ways to do away with the cameras. One by one, or even broader, all at once.

Creativity is a cool thing. Getting mad and smashing them without thinking of the circumstances is prolly not the best thing like a mentioned doing earlier. Nonetheless, it would be fun!





Meanwhile, places like England will continue to install these things to improve their "bottom line" or budget to get more money to install more cameras.



These agencies that approve these things and agree with them for the simple reason they can do their budget some financial good and they wont have to go out and actually do a little work themselves do it like they are the a starving squirrel going after the proverbial last peanut on earth. .





Is there a single case of these things saving a life? I doubt it!

Technical substaniation was probably never asked for after the petty salesmen told the agencies they would help their bottom line by installing them. I can hear it now "less officers on the street, but higher revenue to boot"



They should take the dern money they use on cameras and figure out a way to speed the traffic up. We should all be traveling at 200MPH plus by now. I still roll along the same speed my granddad did at my age. Yeah,we have cameras to catch people speeding but we still all travel at 70 MPH! Does that sound right to you?





Don~

 

[Jetson]

Ever seen the car races where the lense is covered by a piece of plastic that reels across it. What if you had a plastic cover over your license plate on a motorized loop reel that had a clear portion and a blacked out portion... . Clear then black. clear then black...

 

[Don M]

Jetson,



There are countermeasures for the dern cameras. Something right along the lines you are speaking of. Just a little different.

There are visually clear lenses that fit over the plates that actually distort the image the camera sees. Rendering the camera picture taken, useless. To the naked eye the license plate appears normal. Its a cat and mouse game so it seems. Some cameras are now equiped with lenses that will see the plate with the countermeasure.



What about something like a EMP gun that would destroy them. Under hood mounted, stealth like.



Industrial laser equipment could deal with them as well.



Lots of cool things to stop them.



Just gotta make lemonade.



Don~

 

[mdlowry]

Re: Between the rock and the hard place...

Originally posted by JohnMcIntyre





Michael, the authorities argue the point that if you loaned the vehicle to someone and can prove it, then they'll send the citation to that person instead, so someone, somewhere will get nailed. Remember, you always have a choice!



JMc

I thought that the government had to prove your guilt. Now we have to prove our innocence. Isn't this backwards?



Michael

 

[Sky]

Originally posted by JohnMcIntyre





How many times would that work? Go figure... It's a fine line between crass stupidity and ignorance of the law, which as everyone knows, is no excuse.



JMc

John that was a joke



In Canada they are set up in mini vans so you have to destroy the vehicle if you want to destroy the camera.

 

[Crash_AF]

Originally posted by Sky

In Canada they are set up in mini vans so you have to destroy the vehicle if you want to destroy the camera. [/B]

So what's the problem with that? Less minivans on the road is a good thing.



How about making friends with a towing company owner and having him tow them for being abandoned?



Joe

 

[JohnMcIntyre]

Originally posted by Sky

John that was a joke - In Canada they are set up in mini vans so you have to destroy the vehicle if you want to destroy the camera.

and here's another joke from the British newspapers this morning ... ...



JMc





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[Un-Hemi]

One of the political parties running in our last election promised to eliminate the photo-radar trucks if they were elected. They won by a landslide!! The trucks are GONE from this province.



The program cost far more than it ever collected in fines, and the trucks were SSSOOOOOOOOO obvious that one would have to be asleep to get busted. They were all deluxe GM Astrovans, by the way, not Caravans. Only the best for our men in Blue.