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Police use judgment, not just about giving you a ticket, but when and where they will look for infractions, so it's not a reverse lottery. It's not random. The

Police use judgment, not just about giving you a ticket, but when and where they will look for infractions, so it's not a reverse lottery. It's not random. The think of the children argument is often used to enhance laws and punishments. I don't really mind the GPS everywhere tracking, but what you're asking for is ridiculous even to me.

deleted 13y ago
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mikeash 13y ago
I've received a single speeding ticket in my life. It was from an automated camera set up on a section of freeway where the speed limit is 45 and the average speed of traffic is about 60. There's a speed camera set up there. The trick is that the camera can't be certain of which car it's tracking unless there's only one car in view. Given the density of traffic there, it's a total crapshoot as to whether you'll be alone in the camera's field of view as you go past. Given the speed of traffic there, it's difficult, and dangerous, to drive slow enough not to get a ticket if you are. And this is hardly unique, of course. Cops operate under similar constraints (although they can tell cars apart better than a camera system) and their placement is unpredictable. There are certainly non-random components, but there are substantial random components too.
- rayiner 13y ago
  I've received two speeding tickets in my life. One was a speed trap where a road went from a 50 mph limit to a 30 mph limit, and there was always a cop waiting there. It wasn't, however, random: everyone duly slowed down to 35 except me who drove through at 55. In retrospect, the speed trap itself is justified. It was positioned where the road transitioned from unincorporated county to an incorporated city, and the city didn't want cars zooming through its Main Street at 55. The other time I received a ticket, I was also driving way faster than traffic. In my experience, that's mostly when people get tickets--not randomly for exceeding the speed limit when everyone else is also speeding, but when they're going above the speed of traffic. I used to commute from Atlanta to the suburbs on I-85, where the speed limit was 55 but the speed of traffic was 75+, and I never got a ticket. My friend who did was going 80+ in a BMW M3.
viraptor 13y ago
Unless they use their judgment in a very non-random way that doesn't improve anything. There are many places with photo radars, which are basically money collection places. The road is straight, the traffic is low, no buildings around, the speed limit is lower than anyone will expect and the local police will always wait there.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

mikeash 13y ago

I've received a single speeding ticket in my life. It was from an automated camera set up on a section of freeway where the speed limit is 45 and the average speed of traffic is about 60. There's a speed camera set up there. The trick is that the camera can't be certain of which car it's tracking unless there's only one car in view. Given the density of traffic there, it's a total crapshoot as to whether you'll be alone in the camera's field of view as you go past. Given the speed of traffic there, it's difficult, and dangerous, to drive slow enough not to get a ticket if you are. And this is hardly unique, of course. Cops operate under similar constraints (although they can tell cars apart better than a camera system) and their placement is unpredictable. There are certainly non-random components, but there are substantial random components too.

rayiner 13y ago
I've received two speeding tickets in my life. One was a speed trap where a road went from a 50 mph limit to a 30 mph limit, and there was always a cop waiting there. It wasn't, however, random: everyone duly slowed down to 35 except me who drove through at 55. In retrospect, the speed trap itself is justified. It was positioned where the road transitioned from unincorporated county to an incorporated city, and the city didn't want cars zooming through its Main Street at 55. The other time I received a ticket, I was also driving way faster than traffic. In my experience, that's mostly when people get tickets--not randomly for exceeding the speed limit when everyone else is also speeding, but when they're going above the speed of traffic. I used to commute from Atlanta to the suburbs on I-85, where the speed limit was 55 but the speed of traffic was 75+, and I never got a ticket. My friend who did was going 80+ in a BMW M3.

viraptor 13y ago

Unless they use their judgment in a very non-random way that doesn't improve anything. There are many places with photo radars, which are basically money collection places. The road is straight, the traffic is low, no buildings around, the speed limit is lower than anyone will expect and the local police will always wait there.