Author Topic: Radar Detectors (Read 3751 times)

mrblack · « **Reply #45 on:** November 05, 2003, 02:41:53 AM »

Just get a good lawyer and beat the ticket in court.
thats what I do but then again i'm a jew:aok

beet1e · « **Reply #46 on:** November 05, 2003, 03:07:47 AM »

Had a depressing email from my brother this morning, concerning speed traps on the M4 motorway which runs West out of London, past London's #1 airport (Heathrow/LHR), out through Berkshire where I live, and continues across the Severn Bridge all the way into South Wales. About 200 miles. The email is in purple, and I've got some questions for you guys, and for Maverick.

One for you , I think. Bloody speed cameras! It's not speed that kills, it's bad driving, lack of control and inappropriate speed. I recently did 110 on the Newbury bypass perfectly safely, but will willingly slow to 25 on narrow country lanes and built up areas. Tailgating is another major cause of accidents.
Sneaky big brother......

Subject: M4 Speed Cameras - for those who haven't received it already You may want to share the info below with any of your drivers who use the M4:
For those of you who travel the M4: New electronic signs on the M4 were switched on today, Tuesday 21 October. The bad news is that they are rigged with the SPECS speed cameras. SPECS is a computer-camera based system. As you go past the sign a digital camera reads your number plate. When you go past the next sign your number plate is read again. The computer 'knows' how far apart the signs are so it can work out your average speed between the two, or three or four. The system is fully automatic and will issue a ticket without any form of human intervention. It does this for every single vehicle that passes. You
will not know you've been caught as the cameras don't flash. They work 24/7, 365 days a year, and theoretically, there's absolutely no limit on the number of tickets that the system can issue. The whole section of the M4 between Theale (J12) and Membury Services (between J14 and J15) is wired, both ways. The system is set to trigger a ticket at 78 mph. Radar detectors will be of no use as SPECS is entirely passive, there is no radar or laser beam to detect. Be warned and be careful.

Well guys, what do you think of that? No camera flash, passive system - detectors are useless. The bad news for you guys is that this technology can be exported...

The maximum limit on British motorways is 70mph, but most people (myself included) do about 90, slowing down as traffic conditions require. In fog with vis at 100 yards or less, I'll be doing 30 - and still seeing idiots pass me at 70-80. We'll be getting our first major fog pile-up any time now that it's November. I've never had a ticket in Britain.

So I don't agree that speed kills. But excessive speed for the conditions is different. Go to Germany and travel on the autobahn and you'll see Mercs doing 150+ - perfectly legally. BUT!!! They place great importance on moving back to the right hand lane after overtaking - totally different from the dorks on the M4 who just sit in the middle lane at 60 or less when the left lane is free. (We drive on the wrong side here, remember.) Would be interesting to compare Germany's traffic accident mortality rate with that of Britain and the US where we have speed limits on our major highways.

Just recently in CA, I was never sure what the speed limit was on the freeways. I know a lot has changed since the double nickel days of the 80s, so was looking for speed signs, but hardly saw any! Most of the traffic seemed to be doing about 75-80, so I did too.

Maverick - what would have happened if I had been pulled over for speeding? What do you do with foreigners with foreign licences? My understanding is that you have to give up your licence to the cop if you get a ticket. But for someone who might later be travelling to another destination where they intend to rent another car, it would be unacceptable.

I'm mildly surprised not to have received a traffic ticket in recent visits to the US. In the double nickel days, I recall that speed limits were much more rigorously enforced there than in Britain at that time.

Dowding · « **Reply #47 on:** November 05, 2003, 03:45:26 AM »

SPECS is already on a road near me (notorious Stocksbridge bypass near Sheffield). This road has claimed scores of lives in a decade, mainly because it has three lanes available - two when it goes uphill, leaving a single carriage-way for the downhill direction. This alternates with the terrain. Idiots would cross the double white lines on the single carriage way on a particular bad corner and end up killing themselves and others in head on collisions.

Last year a whole family was wiped out, including a couple of young twins. So the police, in their infinite wisdom and because they have decided that catching burglars is too tricky, decided that speeding was to blame (not a crappy layout and head-on collisions) and installed SPECS. That thing is lethal. I think it was getting thousands of people a week in the month after switch on.

Ironically, two people have already died on the road after SPECS was installed so maybe it wasn't due to speeding afterall...

I'm sick to death of the gatso speed cameras too. I've been driving seven years and have had two speeding tickets in the last three months - one was a mobile detector van, the other a gatso. **** the police.

moose · « **Reply #48 on:** November 05, 2003, 04:04:35 AM »

It was 1 ticket and 1 warning in OH, not 3

Although while on my recent road trip, I managed to get none, even in Ohio where the staties must breed faster then rabbits. Ive never seen so many cruisers before.

Leslie · « **Reply #49 on:** November 05, 2003, 04:07:15 AM »

Sometimes I see a Police box along the highway that shows your speed...no cameras that I know of, but it seems it would beplausible to issue tickets using that device if it was so rigged. And that is a relatively crude looking device on a small trailer.

About actually putting that into practice would be another thing. My guess is it would cost more money to operate the system, than it would generate in tickets...the same way some taxes lose money through the expense of collecting them. Costs more to collect the tax than what comes in.

Think about all the unpaid speeding tickets there are out there. The police do a "raid" on the scofflaws about every 5 years or so. Big operation rounding up 3,000 speeders and making them pay their fines. And those folks didn't recieve a ticket in the mail, they were pulled over.

That is high technology Beet1e, but I don't think it would go over well here in the US, giving speeding tickets that way. It would probably tie up the courts from people contesting their ticket. It may even be a constitutional issue, though I don't know how, I'm sure somebody would find something

Why go to all the trouble of high tech cameras, when cars could just have a speeding ticket box installed in the dash, which would automatically spit out a ticket every time the car exceeded the speed limit.

Les

Btw, I don't use a radar detector in my car. Not saying I don't occasionally move along on the interstate, but it seems the most likely place to get a speeding ticket is in a small town, where the speed limit changes abruply from 55 to 35. You better be going 35 too.

capt. apathy · « **Reply #50 on:** November 05, 2003, 04:54:46 AM »

Quote

but it seems it would beplausible to issue tickets using that device if it was so rigged.

we've had them here for a few years ( 6 or 8 maybe). it's set up in a van, you just see a flash, no speed print out.

they sold the public on them by saying we can use them in residential areas and get some of the speed down in areas where it's not cost effective to post an officer. (although I don't think the goal should be for a traffic cop to generate enough fines to pay his wages)

they hire a private contractor to run the equipment and it shoots your picture with the time and speed printed on it. later an officer reviews the pics and writes the tickets. the same company also runs the red-light cameras.

the thing is the contracted company gets a certain amount of cash per ticket, and they are in the game to make money. so while we where told it would be used only on residential streets, you only see it set up on roads that are technicly residential (usually 2 lanes each direction, or at the very least 1 each and a turn lane in the middle), bussy high traffic streets with maybe one house (that was built before the zoning changes) every couple blocks.

you can't get them to set it up on street like mine. where it's really needed and what we told it would be used for.

my street is narrow, maybe 18 inches on either side of your car (between you and parked cars), one car has to pull over for a car to pass by in the oposite direction. the speed is posted at 25 but you really can't safely go over 15-20. there are at least 30 kids under the age of 12 on this block.

3 blocks over is a major road, wide lanes, 5 feet of bike lane on each shoulder plus room for parking, speed limit 35. in the afternoon when traffics bad and kids are playing outside cars leave the busy street and use streets like mine to go around the traffic. they do 30-40 down a street full of kids, with no visability at all, and we can't get them to do anything about it. (the city not the police, on this issue the police are very understanding. only gave me a warning for slapping a guy I stopped on my street, and hinted heavily to him that they could find things to write him up on if he where to push the issue of his split lip.)

lately I've been hearing the city mentioning more and more how hard it is to safely pull people over on I-84 where it goes through town, I'm sure they are trying to get a foot in the door to set up cameras on the freeway next.

Leslie · « **Reply #51 on:** November 05, 2003, 05:57:11 AM »

Yes, we had that situation with "parking nazies" last year in downtown. And that was from the mayor and city council, who want to revitalize the downtown ghost town. The "parking nazies" were ticket happy, and made people afraid to go downtown. Hell, people were already afraid because of the low life that hangs out there.

Mobile's solution to the residential speeding was speed tables and speed islands on most residential city streets. You go slow if you know they're there...all it takes is one time of going fast to have damage to the car in most cases. A lot of folks here think it's a waste of money. I think it works, still it doesn't do the job of radar cops on motorcycles, which is the ultimate speed deterent.

We used to have them here a few years ago, and I've seen a couple lately. I tell you what...I never speeded just thinking about the possibility and likelihood they were there. Couple tickets was all it took for me to slow down. I think the city stopped the motorcycle patrol because it was dangerous for the guys doing it, and one was killed in a bad wreck by a speeder in a car who didn't see him. Their job was extremely dangerous.

One radar policeman used to park outside my house and he slowed down the speeders considerably. He was a black guy and everyone loved him. The police do a pretty good job with public relations.

With cameras and automatic responses (from computers) to given situations, we are moving closer to the future, as depicted in science fiction movies. Not a good thing to happen, at least as far as I'm concerned.

Les

Dinger · « **Reply #52 on:** November 05, 2003, 09:16:04 AM »

as far as speed cameras go, the citizenry of the US has a bunch of guns for a reason, and it ain't to stop the king of England from coming back.

slimm50 · « **Reply #53 on:** November 05, 2003, 09:44:05 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by davidpt40
I've never had a ticket.

Famous last words...heheheheh. Bets, anyone?

BlckMgk · « **Reply #54 on:** November 05, 2003, 10:37:56 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by capt. apathy
every time I get a BS speeding ticket it goes that way.

"I have you on radar doing 84 in a 55 but I'll cut you slack and write it for 72, after that it gets expensive"

"can I see the reading on the gun?"

"no I cleared it"

What they do around my parts of town, is they go in every morning (or before their duty hours) and submit a calibration test, showing if the gun is working properly. If the calibration is with in standards, the officers word is all he needs to get you on the ticket. If he says you were going 75 in a 65, and he brings the calibration reports for that day, as proper and with in standard, not much you can do unless he did something blatantly wrong.

-BM

capt. apathy · « **Reply #55 on:** November 05, 2003, 10:44:49 AM »

right, but if he's not lying why wouldn't he let me see the reading? I can see no honest reason for this policy. the only benifit I can see would be for liars.

Maverick · « **Reply #56 on:** November 05, 2003, 10:57:25 AM »

Beetle,

Foriegn drivers were treated the same as any other. The citation was issued and a court date assigned. We did not take the license or cause the driver to walk unless they were driving on a suspended license already.

During the Iranian hostage situation we did have a large contingent of Iranians going to college in town. They thought it was funny to disregard tickets and tried to get around by not having their license in the car. We used several methods of determining identity. Some got their passports put into evidence when they gave false names when stopped. We also towed quite a few trans ams (those and firebirds were the car of choice for them) since the driver didn't have a license or other documentation with them and we were not going to allow the car to be parked unsecured where it was likely to be stolen. That hurt worse than just about anything else since they had to show registration and so on to get it back.

SOB · « **Reply #57 on:** November 05, 2003, 11:19:33 AM »

Mav... how would you go about pulling over multiple cars? I can't quite work out how you'd do that.

Maverick · « **Reply #58 on:** November 05, 2003, 02:32:10 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by SOB
Mav... how would you go about pulling over multiple cars? I can't quite work out how you'd do that.

SOB,

In the case of pulling over a couple cars while I was on my bike I pull along side the last one, got the drivers attention and motioned him to follow me then stopped the first normally. Quite a bit easier on a bike. If one did try to get away, I went after him and let the other one go.

Most of the time for sign (example, illegal turns) violations you step out into the roadway and motion them over before they get moving very fast. then direct them to stop at the curb. This was usually around a corner so we didn't clutter up the main street. Again if one decided to run away I went after him. Only happened a couple times. The bike was right next to me and I was ready to drive.

Watching the drivers and how they respond gives an idea of what they are likely to do. It's really not a good idea but I got away with it. Some circumstances made it more feasible than other locations. This is especially true for sign violations such as do not enter, do not turn here, no left turn etc., when there is a convoy as the later drivers just follow the first in the violation without thinking or looking what they were doing.

SOB · « **Reply #59 on:** November 05, 2003, 05:29:52 PM »

Thanks Mav, that makes sense...I was thinking of a patrol car doing it and couldn't figure how one would wrangle up multiple cars.

I once saw what you mentioned about standing on the side of the road, only it was a few of the less intelligent troopers in WA state. Well, I can only assume their intelligence based on their actions. They were standing around a blind corner on I-405 on the left side of the carpool lane to motion single occupant cars to pull over for ticketing. Naturally, they were doing this in the midst of rush hour traffic so they basically brought the southbound lanes of the freeway to a near standstill.