Radar warning

[CJ Chitwood]

don't invade my privacy, it's against the constitution...

next...

I find it funny you mention privacy in a public forum....

Is it not illegal in some states to warn others of police activity like this? Mind you, I've not researched it, but I've heard of drivers getting pulled over for "signalling ahead" e.g. with flashing their high beams. This app could potentially keep track of what phone numbers use it... et cetera.

Not sayin' it would... just positing a thought out there...

[kirizzle]

well, they have no right invading the privacy of my vehicle. Why should people be considered guilty before proven guilty. No probable cause of a crime... no reason to "search" the vehicle.


I think this app is useful. I drive the freeways almost everyday, it's really annoying how these cameras create more dangerous situations than they solve. As soon as people see those yellow signs or camera vans they slam on the brake and go 5 miles under the speed limit.

I voluntarily posted on this forum, therefore, giving up my privacy. People do not give consent to speeding cameras taking their pictures.

[d0nkey]

i agree. photo radar should be a crime. in washington state its illegal to use photo radar.

[averad]

Illegal in Washington State?

i agree. photo radar should be a crime. in washington state its illegal to use photo radar.

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/25/2526.asp

The Washington State Department (WSDOT) will unleash its freeway speed cameras in the southwest portion of the state on Monday, September 15. WSDOT officials held a kickoff event in Chehalis on Friday to announce the date that ticketing will begin. The cameras will first appear in white Ford SUVs parked on the side of the road in a work zone on Interstate 5 south of Chehalis.

"Along with our Washington State Patrol partners, we place a high priority on highway safety," WSDOT State Traffic Engineer Ted Trepanier said. "The automated traffic safety cameras are just part of the highway safety program."

This program is designed to generate millions in revenue from $137 citations generated by the fully automated vans. Washington officials neglected to mention that ATS, an Arizona-based vendor, is the primary partner in charge of all aspects of the ticketing process in exchange for a significant portion of the revenue.

Washington officials also declined to disclose the speed at which cameras will trigger a violation notice. Instead, this will change over time to generate the precise number of citations desired, depending on the locations where the cameras operate. The WSDOT program may face significant political opposition if it continues to operate after voters adopt Initiative 985 (view details) in November. The measure will force cities operating local photo radar programs to turn over all revenue to a congestion relief fund -- preventing municipalities from using the program as a source of revenue. Five cities have already dropped photo ticketing plans as a result.

[CJ Chitwood]

Some would still argue that just because you're in your car, you're still in public and therefore anything in/on the car that is visible is public knowledge.

I agree with you on this point, that I don't want a camera taking my picture, but if you're doing e.g. 20 over the limit and a calibrated device using radar technology tracks you doing 20 over then that is proof.

Then some would argue that the device may not be properly calibrated.

Okay, prove the device is calibrated and I'll pay the $160 or whatever it is fine for speeding 20 over. Trust me, they can prove it's calibrated one way or another. There's a reason they're so expensive and you don't find them at Wal-Mart or the Dollar General.




Still... point is, just because your bullet is inside your gun, it doesn't mean that the cops have a right to take a photo of it because what's inside your gun is private just like what's inside your car is private. Granted, this is a GROSSLY out-of-context view of your statement, but cars are still weapons. People die by them.

Cars don't kill. The people driving them do. Guns don't kill. The people pulling the triggers do. I firmly believe these statements. I also firmly believe that speed in and of itself does not kill but rather it's the diminished control we have of our vehicles at that speed (combined with a possible overexaggerated self-view of what we are capable of as drivers versus what we actually are or are not capable of, particularly in regards to reaction time) that does, and I believe that police spend WAY too many resources on ticketing speeders. If they spent half as much money and manpower tracking down serial killers and drug runners....


But, ultimately, money is what drives our world and the quickest way to make it as a police department is to fine people for doing crime, then find the easiest crime to prove guilt of.

Speeding. Reckless (sic) driving. DWI. Possession of marijuana.

I'm curious now just how much income these crimes bring. But I digress.


The fact is, the laws are there for a reason (and I'm not making the argument many may think I am). The reason may not be just, but the assumption is that "we the people" have decided through voting in certain congressmen that these things are important to us and we want things done a certain way "for the good of all humanity". We apparently need rules in order to keep life civilized, and these rules are made -- supposedly -- by majority vote (of course, if only a minority are doing the voting, then it's not really a majority vote, is it?)... Still, the law is the law for a reason, and if you break the law, you should be punished accordingly in an effort to correct whatever reasoning causes you to break the law.

If you don't like the law, petition the government for a redress of the grievance. E.g., get your neighbors together and start writing your congressmen. Contrary to apparent current popular belief, "change" does not come until a section of the population raises holy hell about something and does so loud enough for the world to hear. At least, that's been what I've seen over the past couple of decades.


I don't believe the speed limits we have are appropriate in all cases all the time. And, the people behind them would probably agree, but the fact is, when they decide these things, they have to take into account a wide variety of things even outside of the act of driving. Weather is probably most obvious, but what about the neighborhood? How likely is it that an 8 year old will run out in front of your car, chasing the basketball that their parents never taught them to not shoot at the goal when a car was coming? It happened to me two weeks ago. I saw it happening before it happened because I know my neighbors are stupid in these regards and don't bother to teach common sense (once you launch the ball, you don't know where it's going to go, and you have no control over it, so when a car is coming, don't throw the ball. DUH!!!) But you never know who teaches what to their kids.

Or, there may be a blind driveway and the only way for the driver coming out of it to see is by jutting the nose of the car into the first lane of traffic.

Or there may be a chance that sinkholes will damage the road unnoticably and a pothole may form and be worse than it looks, causing a blowout at certain speeds....


There are any number of reasons why the S.L. may be so unbearably slow, and I for one believe they should be higher in some situations and I believe that the people driving the car need to be trained more like airline pilots because -- I'm sorry -- just being able to "pass" the measely driving "test" they give you doesn't mean you can handle a car in an emergency and avoid killing someone. If people were more trained, .... actually, no. People are stupid, plain and simple. We let our emotions get in the way. I don't believe there's a person alive who, after driving for ten years, has never raced a yellow light because they were late to work, or has never yelled at someone in the other lane for some stupid act of carelessness, or has never been distracted by a radio or cellphone. We wonder why the speed limits are so low, yet we go right back to not watching the road, right back to fidgeting with a cellphone to text our buddy instead of calling them like we should do or pulling into a parking spot to spend 30 seconds that might save several lives...


Complex issue.

[CJ Chitwood]

And if you just glaze over that, thinking, "yeah, whatever", like a common immature teenager-in-a-24-year-old's-body I happen to know, then you're part of the problem!

[kirizzle]

I have no problem with the red light running cameras because running a red light creates a very dangerous situation. So the technology itself is very efficient. However, i believe our state is using this technology to wrongfully generate revenue, as well as the third party company RedFlex that owns and operates the cameras (they also calibrate them). These cameras have been backed up by the use of safety excuse, however, in October of this year, the new photo enforcement program was enacted in AZ. This program is led by DPS and not the state, and no point are assigned to the violator's license. So if you have money, you can speed all you want, as long as it's not criminal speeding. Our governor announced during a press conference that this program is projected to make 90 million dollars the first year of operation, and i wouldn't be surprised if it did. In my opinion there are situations where you must punch the gas pedal to avoid an accident, people should not be punished for that. These speeding cameras are mostly installed at freeway transition ramps where traffic from one freeway merges with the other. In this situation, you either have to make a dead stop or speed up a little to merge without causing an accident. I believe making a dead stop in the middle of a freeway creates a much higher chance for an accident to occur.

Grrrrr, im just mad seeing people slam on their brakes every 3 miles to a speed often below the SL.

[androider]

CJ Chitwood, in response to your "And if you just glaze over that, thinking, "yeah, whatever", like a common immature teenager-in-a-24-year-old's-body I happen to know, then you're part of the problem!" I say this:

And if you wrote all that, then you're a common old guy who has nothing else to do but sit home all day typing up essays!


Heh..no but seriously, I live in NY and we do have traffic light cameras, which I find to be wonderful and helpful, but we don't have speed cameras. And I think that's good.

However, that trackster application, especially from how it is demonstrated on the webpage, is totally stupid. It's just so inefficient. Firstly, who the hell would want to tell others that there is a cop somewhere. Let the other guy get ticketed, who gives a crap. But ok, some people do this. However, the cop can move a mile or two down the road and then the whole system is broken.

A year ago, I bought a 50$ radar detector which has saved me from getting ANY tickets. I drive on the highway every week. I go OVER the speed limit every week. Almost every day that I drive on the highway I see at least 3 cops and I never get caught. It works MUCH MUCH better than this trapster thing. Good idea for those states that have speed traps though.

[CJ Chitwood]

... In my opinion there are situations where you must punch the gas pedal to avoid an accident, people should not be punished for that. These speeding cameras are mostly installed at freeway transition ramps where traffic from one freeway merges with the other. In this situation, you either have to make a dead stop or speed up a little to merge without causing an accident. I believe making a dead stop in the middle of a freeway creates a much higher chance for an accident to occur.

Grrrrr, im just mad seeing people slam on their brakes every 3 miles to a speed often below the SL.

I think I know what you're talking about. When I'm going to work in the morning, I have to get onto an expressway from a service road. The expressway is 45 MPH and people typically do 50 to 55 where I get on, and I'm on the service road all of about 100 feet because the side street and the expressway onramp are only that far apart from each other. So, I usually floor it from about 50 feet away and I'm usually doing 45 MPH before I'm even able to merge. The mergeable portion of the ramp is about another 150 to 200 feet or so (I'm guessing here). Now, since I'm already going the same speed as the traffic by this point, it's far easier for me to find, and fit into, an opening between cars. Alternatively, I have to slow down to let one that's right beside me get past me, but unless the guy behind them is tailgating, I can just merge right on over. And if he IS tailgating, I've got a clear enough view to make a speed-up-or-slow-down decision before I'm even mergeable. All happens in the space of about three seconds, but the brain works quickly.

I hate like hell for people to come to a dead stop because they're afraid of traffic. I know it's dangerous... it's far more dangerous to accelerate into an expressway or interstate from a dead stop than it is to be forced into the emergency lane by traffic that won't let you over when you're going the same speed. But I find, when you're going the same speed as other drivers, psychologically they recognize you won't slow them down and you appear to know how to drive, so they are more likely to give you that extra leeway. Makes it so much easier and yet so many people come to a stop....

[CJ Chitwood]

CJ Chitwood, in response to your "And if you just glaze over that, thinking, "yeah, whatever", like a common immature teenager-in-a-24-year-old's-body I happen to know, then you're part of the problem!" I say this:

And if you wrote all that, then you're a common old guy who has nothing else to do but sit home all day typing up essays!

You make a fair point and I don't argue that. I actually have plenty to do, it's just that I type 70 wpm so my essays don't take much time and certainly not all day

I just get off on tangents a lot I guess... but when a thought leads me in a certain direction, I usually try to follow it. If I think it's important to the rest of my post, I include it, and then it gets -- basically -- blown off by some kid lo0lloollolololo like yah man w/e who can't even type straight... IDK, it's just annoying I guess. I figure if you're going to participate, read, but if you're just going to blow everything off, why bother even coming to a forum, you know?

I guess I just don't understand the mindset of today's youth.

I'm 29, by the way. Yes, I do feel old sometimes, but then I look at my parents' generation.. They're in their 50's now, and their parents' generation is in its 70's and 80's.

Heh..no but seriously, I live in NY and we do have traffic light cameras, which I find to be wonderful and helpful, but we don't have speed cameras. And I think that's good.

However, that trackster application, especially from how it is demonstrated on the webpage, is totally stupid. It's just so inefficient. Firstly, who the hell would want to tell others that there is a cop somewhere. Let the other guy get ticketed, who gives a crap. But ok, some people do this. However, the cop can move a mile or two down the road and then the whole system is broken.

Exactly. But also, you have to have the app running already to make the entry quick and easy. If, like a lot of kids I've seen post before do, you happen to be texting your buddy instead of watching the road, well, now you have to exit that, open the other app, wait for it to get your GPS fix, THEN enter your hit.... wait, the cop was 2 miles back by now because we're doing 90 and we only slowed down to 60 where the cop was... Yeah...

A year ago, I bought a 50$ radar detector which has saved me from getting ANY tickets. I drive on the highway every week. I go OVER the speed limit every week. Almost every day that I drive on the highway I see at least 3 cops and I never get caught. It works MUCH MUCH better than this trapster thing. Good idea for those states that have speed traps though.

I speed too. But, I don't have any kind of radar detector. Usually, by the time it detects the radar, the radar's being used on YOU. At least, here, anyway... If you're lucky, the radio signal will bounce off another perp's car and hit yours enough to set off the detector, but that's still not enough of a warning in my taste. I just do a hair faster than the people around me. And, I travel the same streets often enough to know where the cops hang out, and where it's clear to do 15 over I do it if there's no traffic around me. I usually do less than 10 over, but I do frequently get to 15. My last ticket was... 2 or 3 years ago... That was mainly a jacka** cop though. Not blaming him though... he's just doing his job and I'm sure he'd heard the excuse before, regardless of how true it was. I was on a stretch of J Turner Butler westbound just before the I 95 intersection. Probably a quarter or half mile away. I knew from previous trips on this road that the speed limit dropped from 55 to 35 somewhere around in here, but I couldn't remember where. I was doing 60. I took my foot off the gas and started looking for SL signs. Didn't see any... I kept decelling, I was down to about 50 or 45 -- somewhere in there -- and that's when up at the top of the next overpass I'm seeing the cop walk out in front of me in the road to pull me over. I was already in the 35 zone by this point. He didn't buy it. My own fault though. I should have been paying better attention to street signs instead of the road around me.


On the speed trap note, AAA has posted billboards outside of Starke and Lawtey in Florida. Seems the local governments were getting a little too greedy and AAA didn't like it. Also, I had a coworker tell me once of a time a Florida Trooper sped past him, changed lanes in front of him, put on his lights, and just did the speed limit without pulling him over. Turned his lights off just before where the city cops were hiding and did a u-turn just past them. Coworker got no ticket whatsoever.