[Bulti]

When it comes to enforcing the speed limits, in Belgium (and the I guess the rest of the EU too), they (the politicians?) came up with something new.



They have a bunch of cameras reading your licence plate and after a stretch of highway (or secondary road) they read the plates again. Your average speed is then calculated and speeding tickets generously handed out.



No more braking just before and accelerating just after a speed camera... Me no like.



On the other hand, they can use the same cameras to track down wanted persons, uninsured cars, cars that didn't pass the technical check-up, stolen vehicles... This I dó like, because uninsured cars (it's the car that's insured, not the driver), are a real plague here.



Is this already common practice in the States (or anywhere else outside of Europe?)

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[jws]

Man you guys don't play, lol. That sounds like "Big Brother"! I can see your point about there is some good points and bad points about it. No, this is not common place in the US. I know some cities use cameras at stop lights and set them up on the side of roads like having a speed trap, but you guys are serious!

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[Rap]

Is there a marketplace for counterfeit tags? Perhaps this is an online business opportunity!

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[Langley968]

[quote name='Bulti' timestamp='1382357501' post='151022']

They have a bunch of cameras reading your licence plate and after a stretch of highway (or secondary road) they read the plates again. Your average speed is then calculated and speeding tickets generously handed out.

[/quote]



I think if they would try that in Alberta (Canada), the "gun lovers" would use the cameras as target practice. Alberta is the Canadian "red neck" province!

Maybe in Texas also...

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[Bulti]

Lol, when they started to put 'normal' speed traps everywhere, it became a hobby of some people to put a tyre over the top of the box, fill it with gasoline and then have a nice bonfire.



The more modern 'trajectory-controle' cameras have another 360 degree camera on top of the pole to prevent frustrated motorists giving the damned things a 'facelift'. Luckily they are not widespread (yet).



Old people also tend to report such vandalism to the police, younger driver usually give a 'thumbs up' ;-)



A little anecdote: some guy from my town got really drunk, and cut one normal speed camera down, and burried the whole thing somewhere. Sadly for him he talked too much in a local bar and he got arrested. When they asked were the pole and speed camera was, he couldn't remember were he burried it!



That little joke costed the guy about 40.000€, I've been told...

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[Bulti]

Rap, I wonder what the fine is for driving with counterfeit tags... No doubt it must be 'death by hanging' or something like that.

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[94SilverCab]

Pennsylvania police (except State Troopers) are not allowed to use RADAR, so they often use VASCAR (Visual Average Speed Computer And Recorder). It measures time over a measured distance (two marks on a curb for instance) and calculate your speed. It is nearly impossible to beat Algebra (rate equals distance divided by time: r = d/t ).



Jay

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[ds968]

[quote name='94SilverCab' timestamp='1382455993' post='151105'] It is nearly impossible to beat Algebra (rate equals distance divided by time: r = d/t ).Jay[/quote]



Hmm, I bet our " Ibpesq " might find some way to beat that in traffic court...or at least create sufficient doubt as to the validity of algebra with the human element factored in , LOL . Bill ?

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[flash]

fake tags in california means jail time.

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[lbpesq]

Actually, a radar ticket on a road other than a freeway is fairly easy to beat in California - very few roads have had legally adequate traffic surveys performed, as required by statute.



As I recall, we had a group of 968's on California 25 heading south to Paso in 2012 that may have exceeded 85 a bit on a truly great driver's road.



As for the high mounted red light cameras, I remember an episode of Top Gear that found an effective way to deal with the problem. The guys mounted a small rocket launcher outside the passenger door of a car. The launcher was tilted at an upward angle. As the car approached the intersection, the rocket was fired and took out the camera. Big Fun!

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[Langley968]

From what I recall of that TG episode, the car the rocket launcher was strapped to was a 944...

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[Bulti]

I believe that, also tested in TG years ago, they drove a car so fast past the camera that by the time it flashed a second time, the car was out of reach. It required a + 300 kph speed if I recall correctly.

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[lbpesq]

Mythbusters tried it with a Lamborghini Murcielago. Didn't work. The camera still caught the license plate.

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[Bulti]

But did they get two pictures? You need two to be able to calculate the speed. On the other hand, TG isn't exactly based on science...

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[flash]

actually, you would only need one pic. the calculation could easily be done with a laser, or radar, or even a wire in the ground.

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[Bulti]

You're right, but, apparently, with manned camera's, they take 1 picture when taking a frontal pic, or 2 from the rear. (Got this from some website, don't know if it's true.)



In any case, I've had my share of fines, an most of the times, I definitly saw 2 flashes. I also witnessed some opposing traffic being flashed at 2 times for the same car... Why would that be?

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[flash]

secondary proof?

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[Bulti]

Could be, one of my neigbours is a policeman, I'll ask him.

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[lbpesq]

Proof beyond a reasonable doubt requires that the state must prove not only that the car was speeding, but also that you were driving it. Thus, these cameras are not only taking a picture of your car with license plate, they are also taking a picture of you behind the wheel. Given that, it would not surprise me to learn that these cameras are programmed to take multiple pictures to increase the odds that a clear picture of the driver will be obtained.

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[Bulti]

In Belgium they do not require a photo from the driver, the owner of the car gets a bill and thats it. In Germany however it's the same case as in California apparently. No clear picture of the driver means no fine. Great for bikers due to the lack of a licence plate upfront.

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