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The goal of speeding tickets is revenue generation not lowering speeds. It's essentially random taxation on people who drive quickly. Because of that they nee

by wmil 12y ago

The goal of speeding tickets is revenue generation not lowering speeds. It's essentially random taxation on people who drive quickly. Because of that they need mobile, disguisable, hand held units. Video from a handheld unit wouldn't be great for determining speed. Now, they could easily create combination LIDAR-Video boxes and mount them above traffic for clear speed calculations. But then people would learn where they are and drive slowly at that location so it wouldn't generate any revenue. In fact it might actually cause accidents because drivers might slam on the breaks when they get close.

huhtenberg 12y ago
> The goal of speeding tickets is revenue generation not lowering speeds. This depends on the country. In the US and Canada it certainly can be and is a cash grab, but in Switzerland, for example, it's not. Fines are in place, but they are also almost always accompanied by deterrent measures as well. Going 120 km/h through a tunnel where the limit is 80 km/h can earn you a week in prison sleepovers (that is you have to go to the prison for the night) with all earnings for that week withheld as a fine. Also, there's a lot of stationary speedguns, which you can spot at a distance. I also saw semi-portable automated speedgun that was placed in a specific spot where people tended to go over posted 60 km/h limit. It stayed in place for a week and then was removed, presumably after the average speed dropped to the limit.
jonlucc 12y ago
In Kansas City, Missouri, they installed a bunch of red light cameras and a bunch of false cameras (just boxes mounted on stoplights to look like cameras). The real ones and fake ones were published quickly (with whether they were real) and it had 2 major consequences. First, the traffic courts were quickly overwhelmed with challenges, and it became normal to wait 5-7 months before getting a court date for running a light. Second, several of the intersections with cameras saw a quick increase in accidents, as people were so terrified of a ticket that they would not worry about being rear-ended when stopping very abruptly.

by wmil 12y ago

huhtenberg 12y ago

> The goal of speeding tickets is revenue generation not lowering speeds. This depends on the country. In the US and Canada it certainly can be and is a cash grab, but in Switzerland, for example, it's not. Fines are in place, but they are also almost always accompanied by deterrent measures as well. Going 120 km/h through a tunnel where the limit is 80 km/h can earn you a week in prison sleepovers (that is you have to go to the prison for the night) with all earnings for that week withheld as a fine. Also, there's a lot of stationary speedguns, which you can spot at a distance. I also saw semi-portable automated speedgun that was placed in a specific spot where people tended to go over posted 60 km/h limit. It stayed in place for a week and then was removed, presumably after the average speed dropped to the limit.

jonlucc 12y ago

In Kansas City, Missouri, they installed a bunch of red light cameras and a bunch of false cameras (just boxes mounted on stoplights to look like cameras). The real ones and fake ones were published quickly (with whether they were real) and it had 2 major consequences. First, the traffic courts were quickly overwhelmed with challenges, and it became normal to wait 5-7 months before getting a court date for running a light. Second, several of the intersections with cameras saw a quick increase in accidents, as people were so terrified of a ticket that they would not worry about being rear-ended when stopping very abruptly.