More areas consider using fake speed cameras

[dkf]

LAUREL, Md. - In a new twist on speed cameras, the City of Laurel introduced two fake cameras this week.

In a story first reported by NBC 4, the two decoy boxes look just like the real cameras with police logos, except there is no actual camera inside.


He says the cameras themselves have a halo effect. For example, most Marylanders are unaware that speed cameras can only ticket drivers from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday. Drivers will often slow down in front of cameras on the weekend, unaware that cameras cannot issue tickets.


So will Laurel purchase more decoy cameras? McLaughlin said he will wait to see before making that decision. But he did say that police will rotate the decoy cameras with the real cameras every few months so that drivers will not know which are real and which are fake.

http://www.wtop.com/654/3284194/More-areas-consider-using-fake-speed-cameras

[Robb]

1. Our local PD had a non-running cruiser.

They'd push it into position at the bottom of a hill popular with speeders. Took about a week for the regulars to figure out it was always there, and always empty.

Then they put a real cop with a running vehicle there. Cleaned up.

Rinse, lather, repeat.

[MineralMan]

2. What works better, and is in wide use

here in Minnesota, is the sign that displays the speed limit, along with your current speed. I've noticed a real change in traffic speeds on streets and highways that have those signs. Some are solar-powered, which means they can be installed anywhere. If your vehicle is exceeding the posted speed limit, bright LED lights on top of the sign flash to draw your attention to your actual speed, right under the speed limit sign. The cost per sign is $4-5000.

These signs work, and they work well. No deception is involved, just facts.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

3. Radar accuracy is determined by a number of things, including calibration, changes in

temperature, ...

Some are discussed here:
http://www.ibiblio.org/rdu/a-btrust.html

Don't believe all you see.

[MineralMan]

4. Yah, well, when I checked my speed and compared

it with that sign, both my speedometer and the sign agreed. I test my speedometer regularly on a marked section of highway.

The accuracy of those signs is not the question. Nobody's getting a ticket from them. They're traffic-calming devices, and they work to slow down traffic. What more could you ask?

[AnotherMcIntosh]

8. "What more could you ask?" More people who believe that authority should be questioned.

And if you want to encounter calm drivers who drive on roads which may not even need such devices, just take a weekend down to Iowa. Calm and reasonable people.

[MineralMan]

9. You're bothered by reminders? Really?

There's one of those signs on a street I commonly travel. The difference in traffic speed before and after the sign was installed is dramatic.The street is a residential two-lane street with a school on it as well. Before the sign was placed there, the average speed was 45 MPH. Now, it's right at 30 MPH, the actual speed limit.

No cops. No tickets. Just a reminder to drivers of the speed limit and information about their actual speed. I like information.

I can find no objection in my mind to this sort of reminder at all.

Iowans may drive slowly. St. Paulites do not necessarily do so. In some places, they drive like people who have no concern at all for others. The street I mentioned was one of those. Now it is not.

[kentauros]

5. I often speed up when I see those expensive speed limit signs,

and then slow down again after I've passed them. I have no respect for them at all, as all they seem to be is an advertisement for the local area's desire to waste their taxpayers' money.

Also, they seem to be used locally and only by communities that already have a reputation for strongly enforcing their speed limit laws, so why the need for such an expensive sign? The city of Houston doesn't use them at all.

[MineralMan]

6. I see. Whatever.

Oddly enough, they're used to actually slow traffic down, rather than to collect traffic fines. I like them a lot.

But, I see that you don't see the good in slowing traffic. How's your speeding ticket collection going?

[kentauros]

7. I haven't had a ticket since 1998,

and that was due to being on anti-histamines and not fully aware. I deserved it at the time. Oh, and it was a Houston Police officer that ticketed me.

I know these signs aren't used for ticketing. I thought I made a good point that I have only ever seen them used by those local (speed trap) communities that have a local reputation for strongly enforcing their speed limit laws already, but I guess I need to reiterate it again. The signs may slow traffic, but the traffic is slow long before they get to those signs to begin with. They are not needed at all and have only served to waste the locals' money by their police over-zealous departments.

I normally drive close to the speed limit. I simply have no respect for these signs as they are simply not needed where they are used around here. I've also seen them turned off and traffic continues to drive through those areas slowly due to their reputations.