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I used to live in a remote mountain village, located on one of the main highways across our central mountain range. 8km or so of the highway leading into the vi
by EdwardDiego 5y ago
I used to live in a remote mountain village, located on one of the main highways across our central mountain range. 8km or so of the highway leading into the village was narrow and winding with no shoulder - the road lines were cut in the horse and coach days, so not designed for cars. It was surrounded by forest, often with bluffs on one side and a 20m drop on the other.
People crossing the centre line on blind corners because they were driving too fast were a real hazard on that section of road.
One summer (when the road was busiest) the Police ran an operation where a helicopter observed the road, and identified vehicles cutting corners, who were then pulled over outside the 8km stretch where it was safe to do so by waiting patrol cars.
They only ran it for a couple of weeks, but the calming effect of it on bad driving on that stretch lasted months, it was awesome.
So the Cessna might not be about making money, and more about the potential presence of the Cessna changing driving patterns increasing safety.
- Dylan16807 5y agoI'm fine with that kind of enforcement for crossing the center line, but that's different from speed limits, and especially people that are going mildly over the speed limit on big close-to-straight roads.
- kmonsen 5y agoIn Norway they put one of those radar boxes with a camera in places like this. They even put a sign a mile before saying there is going to be a box since the objective is not to catch people but to make the average traffic slow down.
- ChrisMarshallNY 5y agoIn the US (at least in NY), traffic tickets are considered income -especially in Manhattan. Some jurisdictions actually plan budgets on it. The same with civil forfeiture.
- xenophonf 5y agoNot to be outdone by NYC, this happened in Chicago, too: > A Tribune examination of overturned red light tickets revealed evidence that the city of Chicago has quietly cast a wider net to snare drivers since switching camera vendors earlier this year amid a bribery scandal. > A before-and-after analysis of photographic evidence and interviews with experts suggests the transition to a new vendor last spring was accompanied by a subtle but significant lowering of the threshold for yellow light times. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-red-light-camera-yellow-timing-20141009-story.html https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-red-light-camera-yell...
- mywittyname 5y agoThis happened all over the US: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ohio-town-must-pay-back-millions-of-fines-collected-from-speed-cameras-court-rules https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ohio-town-must-pay-back-mil...
- nieve 5y agoThe New York Times has been running a series on traffic stops focusing on reasons for the high death rate among motorists who are pulled over, but they also did this long and infuriating piece on the funding issue. It was actually somehow even worse than I expected: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/31/us/police-ticket-quotas-money-funding.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/31/us/police-ticket-quotas-m...
- stopagephobia 5y ago"People will behave well if they think Big Brother is always watching so let's make them think that" Remember when you could leave your house and not get recorded? I miss that.
- EdwardDiego 5y agoWell, I'd prefer that they could drive safely on a dangerous road without a helicopter enforcing it, but human nature is what it is. Far too many people seem to think that their wants and needs and beliefs are so important that fuck the rest of you. (Could also be that old chestnut about 75% of drivers considering themselves above average)