Is it self defense if the traffic camera shot first?

jeez the police just have absolutely no sense of humor
 
Haven't we all wanted to take down a red light cam at some point? Although if it was me I would have used some home made explosives though, and man have I thought about it. luckily I just boycotted that city for 1.5 yrs.
 
I hate those damn cameras. I understand why they're there, but I think they're more dangerous than they're worth.

Ever drive through an intersection when someone speeds through the other direction at night? BAM! Bright lights right in your eyes, almost enough to blind you.

Or how about approaching the lights, light turns yellow, guy in front of you slams on his brakes, even though you both would have made it through just fine, and now you're praying that your brakes will hold up enough to not rearend this idiot. He only did it because he's scared of the ticket.

In Albuquerque, they're pretty much indefensible too. "Either pay the fine, or turn in who ever was driving the car at the time, and have them pay the fine."

Luckily, the Albuquerque Police got caught running red lights by the camera and were ordered to pay their own fines, so now there is a fight to pull the cameras down here in Albuquerque. Would be nice to see the police do something right in this city for once.
 
SkyHog said:
Or how about approaching the lights, light turns yellow, guy in front of you slams on his brakes, even though you both would have made it through just fine, and now you're praying that your brakes will hold up enough to not rearend this idiot. He only did it because he's scared of the ticket.
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That problem could be fixed by not tailgating the guy in front of you... :goofy: um, yes, I'm one of those that stops when the light turns yellow, whether there is a camera there or not. and frequently get honked at and flipped off in my rearview mirror.
 
I was all for red light cameras until I was hit with one a year ago. There was a silver Jetta like mine in the first two pictures while mine was not seen. Then, the picture where they say I went out into the intersection is a third picture sized 1x1.25". They offered no exploded view of the same picture. They went as far as saying the cameras were not capable. Yeah, right.

Somehow, I don't think that would stand up if someone really forced it but it will probably never happen.
 
KennyFlys said:
I was all for red light cameras until I was hit with one a year ago. There was a silver Jetta like mine in the first two pictures while mine was not seen. Then, the picture where they say I went out into the intersection is a third picture sized 1x1.25". They offered no exploded view of the same picture. They went as far as saying the cameras were not capable. Yeah, right.

Somehow, I don't think that would stand up if someone really forced it but it will probably never happen.
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Red light cameras were tried in my area but someone successfully challenged the law put into place to make them feasible which allows the "crime" to be charged to the vehicle's owner without identifying and charging the actual driver.

Personally I think that a better approach would be to mark the pavement (supplemented with a sign alongside the road) indicating the point where you can expect to make it through on the yellow at the speed limit. As it is there's virtually no guidance on this and everyone has different expectations WRT the duration of the yellow signal. Certainly if you are 20 ft from the cross street when the yellow comes on it's safer to continue (baring someone running the red from either side) and when you're 200 ft back on a 30 MPH city street it's clear that stopping is the best choice. But somewhere in between those two points the decision gets more difficult and with the different yellow "on times" found on similar intersections there's really no way to tell where to switch from go to stop.
 
I got one earlier this year. $70 fine. While it hurts to get caught and have to pay a fine here in Atlanta there are far too many people that blatently ignore traffic signals and intentionally run red lights. There are some intersections that have the pedestrian walk signals that will display the number of seconds until the light changes. I think it would be a safety feature if all intersections would display how many seconds until the light turns yellow. If you're approaching an intersection and see that there's only 2-3 seconds before the light turns you can start slowing down. Or floor it as they would do in Atlanta.
 
When they installed the red light cameras in Chicago, I thought it was stupid because I never saw people running red lights - stretching yellows, sure. I guess I was just not in the right neighborhoods.

Just a few days ago on the two lane intersection out in the very rural burbs I held my left turn to make sure the oncoming car was really gonna stop on the red. Nope. I learned that evidently if you reach 1000 feet prior to the intersection on the yellow you have achieved intersection-cross-commit no matter what color the light is. :mad:
 
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I would not have a problem if those cameras, indeed any traffic enforcement issue, were done for SAFETY reasons. Nope. It's a cheap revenue stream. You want to enforce stop lights, put a cop at the intersection and have him work it.
The Mass Turnpike Authority announced enforcement of speed limits. Their new budget includes 1.5 MILLION from speeding tickets!
It is not about safety. It IS about money.
 
lancefisher said:
Personally I think that a better approach would be to mark the pavement (supplemented with a sign alongside the road) indicating the point where you can expect to make it through on the yellow at the speed limit. As it is there's virtually no guidance on this and everyone has different expectations WRT the duration of the yellow signal. Certainly if you are 20 ft from the cross street when the yellow comes on it's safer to continue (baring someone running the red from either side) and when you're 200 ft back on a 30 MPH city street it's clear that stopping is the best choice. But somewhere in between those two points the decision gets more difficult and with the different yellow "on times" found on similar intersections there's really no way to tell where to switch from go to stop.
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That's the best idea I've heard in a long time! I always hate that...jamming on the brakes, worrying about the guy behind me stopping in time, and still ending up past the heavy white line; or deciding to go for and finding out that I was actually a lot farther from the intersection than I thought. That's a brilliant idea! Of course, who ever does the speed limit anymore?
 
silver-eagle said:
I would not have a problem if those cameras, indeed any traffic enforcement issue, were done for SAFETY reasons. Nope. It's a cheap revenue stream. You want to enforce stop lights, put a cop at the intersection and have him work it.
The Mass Turnpike Authority announced enforcement of speed limits. Their new budget includes 1.5 MILLION from speeding tickets!
It is not about safety. It IS about money.
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I'm really surprised the toll authorities (or EZ Pass) don't note the time you get on and off a road. If the time difference is less than what the speed limit would allow, they could automatically add in a speeding violation to your toll. Just add it to the EZ pass- save the paperwork!

Guess I'm off to the patent office- I may as well get my cut:yes:
 
lancefisher said:
Personally I think that a better approach would be to mark the pavement (supplemented with a sign alongside the road) indicating the point where you can expect to make it through on the yellow at the speed limit.
Click to expand...

When I learned to drive (admittedly a lonnngggg time ago) we were
taught that if you get stopped without ending up in the crosswalk
to stop .. otherwise to continue through and clear the intersection.

I think one of the best things out there is the countdown indicator,
which they've been installing here. Absolutely no reason with those
to run the light. You know exactly when it's going to change.

RT
 
lancefisher said:
Personally I think that a better approach would be to mark the pavement (supplemented with a sign alongside the road) indicating the point where you can expect to make it through on the yellow at the speed limit. As it is there's virtually no guidance on this and everyone has different expectations WRT the duration of the yellow signal. Certainly if you are 20 ft from the cross street when the yellow comes on it's safer to continue (baring someone running the red from either side) and when you're 200 ft back on a 30 MPH city street it's clear that stopping is the best choice. But somewhere in between those two points the decision gets more difficult and with the different yellow "on times" found on similar intersections there's really no way to tell where to switch from go to stop.
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That's how it is here in Albuquerque, actually. No sign, but the stripes turn solid in the "danger zone." The idea is that when travelling the speed limit, if the light turns yellow while you're in that zone, you can safely make it through before the light turns red. That's how it was explained in my driver's ed class years ago, and I've tested it pretty thoroughly :D
 
colomtnflyer said:
How can you tell a COLORADO driver at an intersection?
.
They will be the 4th, 5th, and 6th, vehicles through the red light!
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No kiddin'. When I drove out many years ago I was amazed that nobody in Colorado gives you a break when you're, say, pulling out of a gas station driveway. Even in Chicaguh you can usually expect some of that courtesy.
 
colomtnflyer said:
How can you tell a COLORADO driver at an intersection?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
They will be the 4th, 5th, and 6th, vehicles through the red light!
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I'll give you another Colorado driver trick. Anywhere else in the country when you are getting onto a freeway you've got your foot in the gas and you're looking over your shoulder for the hole you're going to merge into. Don't do that in Denver!!! The Denver driver ahead of you will stop at the end of the on-ramp and look for that hole, like he can go 0-60 instantly. I nearly rear-ended so many idiots in the 4 years I lived there.

:eek: :eek: :eek:
 
Cap'n Jack said:
I'm really surprised the toll authorities (or EZ Pass) don't note the time you get on and off a road. If the time difference is less than what the speed limit would allow, they could automatically add in a speeding violation to your toll. Just add it to the EZ pass- save the paperwork!

Guess I'm off to the patent office- I may as well get my cut:yes:
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They do that on the Kansas Turnpike, from what I hear. They use the toll system where you get a paper ticket when you enter and give it back, along with a bunch of money, at the other end. From what I hear, if you're in too much of a hurry to give it back to them, they take even more money with help from the highway patrol.
 
Cap'n Jack said:
I'm really surprised the toll authorities (or EZ Pass) don't note the time you get on and off a road. If the time difference is less than what the speed limit would allow, they could automatically add in a speeding violation to your toll. Just add it to the EZ pass- save the paperwork!

Guess I'm off to the patent office- I may as well get my cut:yes:
Click to expand...

They do get the time. We have to match it with our logbooks (well, if the company is paying attention anyway :rolleyes:). Don't go giving 'em ideas!!! :no: :mad:

There's a system like EZPass that's called PrePass, it's for trucks to skip some weigh stations. (You'll see lots of signs on the highway that say things like "PrePass: Follow in-cab signals.") There's three lights on the transponder: Green means you can skip the weigh station, Yellow means you have to pull into the weigh station, and Red means that your average speed since the last PrePass station is over the speed limit, so pull into the weigh station and collect your ticket.

As for the EZPass/iPass/SunPass/K-Tag/etc. average-speed tickets... It's coming, I'm sure. :(
 
flyingcheesehead said:
They do get the time. We have to match it with our logbooks (well, if the company is paying attention anyway :rolleyes:). Don't go giving 'em ideas!!! :no: :mad:

There's a system like EZPass that's called PrePass, it's for trucks to skip some weigh stations. (You'll see lots of signs on the highway that say things like "PrePass: Follow in-cab signals.") There's three lights on the transponder: Green means you can skip the weigh station, Yellow means you have to pull into the weigh station, and Red means that your average speed since the last PrePass station is over the speed limit, so pull into the weigh station and collect your ticket.
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I've always wondered what those signs mean. That's one of the great mysteries of my childhood, solved!
 
I hate traffic cameras. There's lots of evidence that they do nothing at all.

In England, they've got a ton of them in some areas. It doesn't seem to have worked there - there's as many accidents as before. Now they've got road atlases that specifically mark all camera locations so that people can slow down.

The speed limit is already silly. I was driving on I-5 at midnight yesterday, which has a 70 mph limit. There weren't more than 5-6 cars in my line of sight at any time and the road is completely straight. I reckon I could have gone 140 quite safely. Since you can go to jail for more than 20 miles over, though, I usually stay right there if I'm unsure if there are cops around. Luckily, there weren't any there yesterday :)

Any law that criminalizes safe and reasonable behavior is useless. Traffic cameras just enforce those same useless laws.

-Felix
 
Teller1900 said:
I've always wondered what those signs mean. That's one of the great mysteries of my childhood, solved!
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On one of my long drives from Minnesota to Oklahoma it was driving me crazy.. I finally called Kent and asked him how it works.
 
sba55 said:
I hate traffic cameras. There's lots of evidence that they do nothing at all.

In England, they've got a ton of them in some areas. It doesn't seem to have worked there - there's as many accidents as before. Now they've got road atlases that specifically mark all camera locations so that people can slow down.
Click to expand...

Heck, in places I've driven in England they post signs warning you that speed cameras are ahead. Official signs, not stuff put up by upset drivers. And, yet, they still catch people. :p
 
sba55 said:
I hate traffic cameras. There's lots of evidence that they do nothing at all.

In England, they've got a ton of them in some areas. It doesn't seem to have worked there - there's as many accidents as before. Now they've got road atlases that specifically mark all camera locations so that people can slow down.

...

Any law that criminalizes safe and reasonable behavior is useless. Traffic cameras just enforce those same useless laws.
Click to expand...

Ghery said:
Heck, in places I've driven in England they post signs warning you that speed cameras are ahead. Official signs, not stuff put up by upset drivers. And, yet, they still catch people. :p
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You can find free custom POI files to download that have all of the current camera locations. You load that into your GPS and you can see them coming. My Garmin Nuvi has an option to warn of of POI points so I'd get an audible alert.
 
Ghery said:
Heck, in places I've driven in England they post signs warning you that speed cameras are ahead. Official signs, not stuff put up by upset drivers. And, yet, they still catch people. :p
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That's pretty funny. Goes to show that people drive at what they feel is a reasonable speed for the road and for conditions. I also hear that there are counties (their equivalent of that) that have chosen not to get any cameras, specifically because there wasn't evidence that it had helped in other places.

-Felix
 
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