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I wonder if the end game is allowing citizens to basically report traffic violations in general. I know some states struck down red light cameras, but other ar

I wonder if the end game is allowing citizens to basically report traffic violations in general. I know some states struck down red light cameras, but other areas allow people to report idling cars. Interesting times. Personally I’m very bitter about cars double parking in bike lanes, so if I could get a cut I would go way out of my way to record videos and report all of them, ha…

jinwoo68 3y ago
Korea once allowed people to report a certain kind of traffic violations. It caused a lot of abuses. Paparazzi style stuff... Intentionally making other drivers violate traffic rules... etc.
- mcbutterbunz 3y ago
  Yeah this feels like a bad idea. People usually associate a police state with the police vs the people but when the people are the police, you start to distrust everyone.
  - ryandrake 3y ago
    If I could get a small cut of the ticket revenue, I would just camp out on a highway overpass with a good zoom camera and take pictures of people on the highway playing with their phones. From a recent bus ride, sitting high up and looking down into people’s cars, I’d say 80-90% were scrolling social media or texts while driving. I’d have a nice steady income an be doing an actual public service, unlike the cops (wherever they are these days). This shit actually causes accidents.
    - ta1243 3y ago
      > From a recent bus ride, sitting high up and looking down into people’s cars, I’d say 80-90% were scrolling social media or texts while driving Are you talking about drivers sat stopped at red lights or drivers actually driving along. I'd struggle to believe either. An AI powered operation a few months ago in the UK showed that those not wearing seatbelts outnumbered phones 4:1, which would suggest a maximum of 25% on social media. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-65139997 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-65139997
  - morkalork 3y ago
    Really? I thought citizen informers (voluntary and coerced) were a core component of police states. The Stasi had incredible numbers of them.
    - LorenPechtel 3y ago
      The key factor would be that it would require video proof of the offense. And it would be things that the people felt were wrong, not merely the state felt was wrong.
- hatsunearu 3y ago
  It's still allowed. Abuse is not common.
- LorenPechtel 3y ago
  I would think a system could be made. A specialized dashcam that signs the video, you submit a chunk showing the offense and say 30 seconds on either side so the police can see if it was provoked.
programmertote 3y ago
I hope that one day, our cars are equipped with outward facing cameras, and the feature to auto-report speeding and dangerous driving behaviors on the road to the authorities and/or the insurers. I drive in Miami proper and EVERY TIME I'm on the road (especially when heading into/out of Miami), I would encounter at least two cars that drives very dangerously (not just speeding, but like cutting across you--driving in the center lane--very closely from the right lane; not signaling and making a sudden right turn into a street in a crowded street; etc. I had to buy up a front and rear facing dashcams, and I sometimes wish I had a button on my steering wheel that would send the last 10 seconds or so of the dashcam recording to the insurance companies or the traffic police.
- cmh89 3y ago
  Miami has the most reckless drivers I've experienced in the US. I don't know if its confirmation bias but man, I was stressed even in a car there.
  - selimthegrim 3y ago
    New Orleans must give it a run for its money.
  - programmertote 3y ago
    Not confirmation bias. I have lived in NYC and NJ (right across NYC); Philadelphia; and SF (that was 15 years ago, so maybe things have changed?). I have also driven in Boston, Houston, and LA. The most difficult (nerve-wrecking) places to drive were Miami and LA. At least in LA, you see traffic police cars every now and then, so people are a bit wary of speeding. Here in Miami, it is lawless (literally almost no traffic police car on the highway leading to Miami), which emboldens rule breakers. I always drive defensively and I am sick of having to pay rising-significantly-faster-than-inflation-rate (part of it is greedflation by insurers, I think, and part of it is because I live in Miami, one of the most natural disaster prone places in the US) premiums for the last two years. It's worse when insurers claim that after COVID, people drive more recklessly and thus, they are paying out more (again, not sure if it is entirely true, but if it's solely based on my Miami driving experience, it likely has some sliver of truth). I truly wish insurers have better information on driving behaviors to really punish reckless drivers, but I know that the reality would be that insurers will punish both reckless and defensive drivers because more profit. Sorry about the rant. :)

jinwoo68 3y ago

Korea once allowed people to report a certain kind of traffic violations. It caused a lot of abuses. Paparazzi style stuff... Intentionally making other drivers violate traffic rules... etc.

mcbutterbunz 3y ago
Yeah this feels like a bad idea. People usually associate a police state with the police vs the people but when the people are the police, you start to distrust everyone.
- ryandrake 3y ago
  If I could get a small cut of the ticket revenue, I would just camp out on a highway overpass with a good zoom camera and take pictures of people on the highway playing with their phones. From a recent bus ride, sitting high up and looking down into people’s cars, I’d say 80-90% were scrolling social media or texts while driving. I’d have a nice steady income an be doing an actual public service, unlike the cops (wherever they are these days). This shit actually causes accidents.
  - ta1243 3y ago
    > From a recent bus ride, sitting high up and looking down into people’s cars, I’d say 80-90% were scrolling social media or texts while driving Are you talking about drivers sat stopped at red lights or drivers actually driving along. I'd struggle to believe either. An AI powered operation a few months ago in the UK showed that those not wearing seatbelts outnumbered phones 4:1, which would suggest a maximum of 25% on social media. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-65139997 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-65139997
- morkalork 3y ago
  Really? I thought citizen informers (voluntary and coerced) were a core component of police states. The Stasi had incredible numbers of them.
  - LorenPechtel 3y ago
    The key factor would be that it would require video proof of the offense. And it would be things that the people felt were wrong, not merely the state felt was wrong.
hatsunearu 3y ago
It's still allowed. Abuse is not common.
LorenPechtel 3y ago
I would think a system could be made. A specialized dashcam that signs the video, you submit a chunk showing the offense and say 30 seconds on either side so the police can see if it was provoked.

programmertote 3y ago

I hope that one day, our cars are equipped with outward facing cameras, and the feature to auto-report speeding and dangerous driving behaviors on the road to the authorities and/or the insurers. I drive in Miami proper and EVERY TIME I'm on the road (especially when heading into/out of Miami), I would encounter at least two cars that drives very dangerously (not just speeding, but like cutting across you--driving in the center lane--very closely from the right lane; not signaling and making a sudden right turn into a street in a crowded street; etc. I had to buy up a front and rear facing dashcams, and I sometimes wish I had a button on my steering wheel that would send the last 10 seconds or so of the dashcam recording to the insurance companies or the traffic police.

cmh89 3y ago
Miami has the most reckless drivers I've experienced in the US. I don't know if its confirmation bias but man, I was stressed even in a car there.
- selimthegrim 3y ago
  New Orleans must give it a run for its money.
- programmertote 3y ago
  Not confirmation bias. I have lived in NYC and NJ (right across NYC); Philadelphia; and SF (that was 15 years ago, so maybe things have changed?). I have also driven in Boston, Houston, and LA. The most difficult (nerve-wrecking) places to drive were Miami and LA. At least in LA, you see traffic police cars every now and then, so people are a bit wary of speeding. Here in Miami, it is lawless (literally almost no traffic police car on the highway leading to Miami), which emboldens rule breakers. I always drive defensively and I am sick of having to pay rising-significantly-faster-than-inflation-rate (part of it is greedflation by insurers, I think, and part of it is because I live in Miami, one of the most natural disaster prone places in the US) premiums for the last two years. It's worse when insurers claim that after COVID, people drive more recklessly and thus, they are paying out more (again, not sure if it is entirely true, but if it's solely based on my Miami driving experience, it likely has some sliver of truth). I truly wish insurers have better information on driving behaviors to really punish reckless drivers, but I know that the reality would be that insurers will punish both reckless and defensive drivers because more profit. Sorry about the rant. :)