Baltimore Accused Of Stacking The Deck For Speed Cameras
from the hide-that-sign dept
We've seen over and over again that redlight cameras and speed cameras almost never have anything to do with increased safety on the roads (and some studies have even suggested they make the roads more dangerous). Instead, in almost every case, they really appear to be about revenue generation for the local municipality. Tim DiPaula points us to what at least appears like a very sketchy situation in Baltimore where the city installed brand new 40 MPH signs... and then, about a block later, there's a sign that is partially obscured by the trees, suddenly dropping the speed limit to 30 MPH. And, of course, there's a speed camera right there. I'm sure that makes the roads much safer.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: baltimore, speed cameras
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Yeah - that's the ticket
2. banks have safes
3. therefore that section of road is safer.
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Re: Yeah - that's the ticket
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Re: Re: Yeah - that's the ticket
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Re: Yeah - that's the ticket
2. banks have safes
3. therefore that section of road is safer."
That'd be genius, except you forgot a couple of things:
4. Banks have alarms
5. Therefore, that section of road is also alarming.
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Re: Re: Yeah - that's the ticket
4. Banks have alarms
5. Therefore, that section of road is also alarming."
Missed something...
6. Banks take taxpayer money and maybe give it back.
7. Therefore, that section of road is also a bailout.
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Re: Re: Re: Yeah - that's the ticket
7. Therefore, that section of road is also a bailout."
It looks like we BOTH forgot the biggest factor in all of this. I have a couple of my Hebrew friends are bankers, and they tell me that there are in fact a great many Jewish folks in the banking industry.
Ergo, that section of road is Jewish....
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That sounds familiar...where have I heard that before?
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Re: Re: Re: Yeah - that's the ticket
6. Banks were forced to take taxpayer money, then were denied the ability to give it back early
7. Therfore, someone's going to force you to drive on it, bitch about what car you were driving, and yell that you shouldn't have been there in the first place.
Err, it seems to break down.
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Gotta Love Baltimore
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2009/12/baltimore_mayor_convicted_for.html
The mayor before that was elected Governor of Maryland based on a platform of improving education when Baltimore city had one of the worst education systems in the country. As a native Marylander, I just have to applaud that city's ability to bring in the controversy.
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Re: Gotta Love Baltimore
With this going on, it's no wonder our general population doesn't recognize these cameras for what they are.. And, for anyone who's commute takes them past the cameras, you know, and are expecting that the car in front of you WILL slam on their brakes about 10' before the camera, and then start speeding again 10' after... I have seen numerous rear-end collisions caused by these things.
-Steve.. Also in Maryland.. Thankfully NOT directly in Baltimore.
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MD School Systems
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/accountability/md-top-states-on-ed-report-car.html
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Re: MD School Systems
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Re: MD School Systems
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Typical
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Revenue
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Re: Revenue
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It is Mary-land
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Cameras can be good
In Germany, speeding cameras are common, and strict. I got a ticket for going about 4mph over the limit, with a fee of about $10 sent by mail.
If we really want to make roads safe, we should only give driver's licenses to people who are really capable of driving.
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Re: Cameras can be good
In my experience in Germany, the speed cameras don't do anything to help safety. All it means, is in the areas where we know there is a camera, we slow down right before we get to the camera and then speed right back up once we pass it. Then there are those people who right as they see the cameras, they lock up their brakes. I have seen a few accidents happen because of that.
All the cameras do, is make people slow down within a couple hundred yards of where the camera is at. Now if they were to set up an temporary camera 1/2 mile past the original one occasionally, then they would realize how many people slow down for just the camera and then go right back to speeding.
I'm all for trying to find ways to make people drive more safely, but from everything I have seen while living in Germany, speed cameras don't provide that.
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Re: Cameras can be good
But for the cameras, F that $h!t!!
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Re: Re: Cameras can be good
In Maryland, that's how they are SUPPOSED to use them, but unfortunately, I've seen them placed in spots where saying it's by a park is questionable, to say the least. They also combine parks and schools in such a way that they can have a series of cameras on a road to try to control the whole road.
But where they are placed to control a school crossing or a park crossing a road, they work fine. As long as they aren't hidden or expected to slow down a whole road's worth of traffic.
I've also seen them drop the speed limit suddenly - some towns have done that, just to get revenue, I think. Shouldn't be allowed.
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Re: Cameras can be good
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Speed cameras are dangerous
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Typo
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Re: Typo
oops. fixed.
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Not plausible but . . .
Governments need money. They have several levers they can pull to get money, but overall tax increase for every voter is the least desirable (from their point of view). I'm still hoping they pass the red hair and/or left handed tax.
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Re: Not plausible but . . .
Lets face do they need money... Yes
Are they Effecient... No
Are they Honest.... NO
Is there stacks upon stacks of red tape to keep dummies employeed.... Hell Yes
If we cut out just 20% of the red tape and dummies would they be in the mess they are today... maybe.. they spend money like its water, without looking at the consequences ... But with out just 20% of the stupidity i bet we would save Billions...
(sorry RANT its been a long day LOL)
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Re: Not plausible but . . .
The government needs to steal money from its citizens because it can't operate in a fiscally responsible manner and provide valuable goods and services that people will voluntarily use. They have to resort to the threat of violence and force to extract money from people for services they may or may not even want or need.
If the government provided the services it's required to and didn't compete with private citizens in industries where private businesses can provide, then it wouldn't need to extort money from the average person at all. It's government bloat, greed, and corruption that makes "government need money" from the average person.
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Re: Re: Not plausible but . . .
Cite your source, in the Federal Code of Regulations, where it is voluntary.
You can't, because it ISN'T. Paying income tax is REQUIRED, by law, and if you don't pay it and refuse to cooperate with the IRS, you'll find out VERY fast which section of that code requires it, because the indictment will cite it, chapter and verse, just before they haul you into court and send your a** to prison for failure to pay.
Face it, no matter how much you may dislike government, there IS a need for one - and it DOES take money to run it.
One can (and we do) argue till the cows come home about how honest and efficient it is or isn't, but if you are going to expect people to show up and work for it, they've gotta get paid, they have to have offices to work in, and those buildings have to be protected.
All that takes money. Otherwise, this would be an anarchy, for about six months, before some warlord stepped in and took over.
Then you'd wish you had the old government back, and wouldn't look at taxes as theft - because you'd know the REAL definition of it!
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Re: Re: Re: Not plausible but . . .
> Regulations, where it is voluntary.
Actually, the income tax laws are found in the United States Code, not the CFR.
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Re: Re: Re: Not plausible but . . .
I suppose that earning a living via wages is voluntary in that you are not forced to work.
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Re: Re: Not plausible but . . .
> federal income tax)
The federal prisons are lousy with people who kept saying that exact same thing, right up until the moment the cell door slammed shut.
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Photo Angle
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Mouse
Banks have rats ergo that section of the road is disneyland?
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Get A Ticket
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Re: Get A Ticket
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This news comes out - and I think maybe 0.0001% of people are actually surprised.
The idiots in office lie and say they are for 'safety' - they don't believe it, the cops don't believe it, the public doesn't believe it - and they still go on and lie about it anyway.
lol
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sign placement and reflectivity
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But.. that's WHY I like this town and am buying a house here :)
And won't even go near Baltimore - luckily, I don't support any site for my company there. Hopefully it will stay that way.
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Get a saw.
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Signs
It won't affect safety. After all the goal was to get people to slow down on a "dangerous" stretch of road.
There we will be less accidents as people will have enough warning to slow down normally.
It will prevent "profit" from being a motive for the cameras as they will not give out very many tickets.
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Short Yellow Lights
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two tangents
2. In "Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone" Rajiv Chandrasekaran reveals that some Bush appointee rewrote Iraq's traffic laws using Maryland's as a model.
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The answer.
Ronald J. Riley,
I am speaking only on my own behalf.
Affiliations:
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (810) 597-0194 / (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 8 pm EST.
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Here's how one city uses low tech
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Nailed it.
Just like checkpoints. I drove through one of those last week. I had heard of them but never personally encountered one. They didn't hold me up long but it felt like the 4th amendment was pretty much obliterated. And obviously, they do not make us safer, they only serve to generate revenue.
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The "speed trap" town is a classic. You are driving along a highway with a 50MPH speed limit, you pass a large sign that say "now entering Pearl City" or whatever, and a few feet later there is sign that slows the limit to 40mph. Most people would slow down to maybe 45. Not long after that, there is an obscured 30MPH speed limit sign, and a well placed bush / signboard / other physical obstacle for a police car to hide behind. After that, it's just normal fishing, picking the out of state cars and targeting them for significant fines.
The kicker? The fines can only be contested in a small town traffic court that only convenes once a month, on a tuesday night or something like that. Some places use to require on the spot payment of fines.
The saga of New Rome, Ohio (population 60, with 14 police officers!) http://www.newromesucks.com/main.html
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Actually
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CAMERA SCAM
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