Blinded by the Light

The first automated speed camera in Missouri is down the street from me. I had no clue until yesterday. I'm all for this camera simply because it is only to be on for two hours a day. In the morning when kids are going to school and when kids are getting out of school. One hour each. There are usually only two cops on duty at a time (including the chief), so I understand freeing them up for these two hours a day. The city can't afford to waste money on extra officers, they can barely afford the eight they have. Thats half the amount of full time guards that I work with.

So why, at six in the afternoon when it's foggy and dark, am I going 36 in a 35 (where the camera enforces 25 for the school zone), does the camera, blind the E36 M3 out of me. It has that same strobe effect as red light cameras. Really pissed me off.

We'll see if I get anything in the mail, but ther was a pack of 15 cars, so i don't see anything coming of it, but why the hell is it still activated after hours?

Anybody know about the technical aspect of these things before I file a complaint with the state. In the dark and fog, it's more of a hazard than anything.

They always do it "for the children" at first.

Ski mask. Ride a bicycle. Approach from the side. Destroy this message. We are all counting on you.

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

I was thinking crossbow from a distance.

In reply to Datsun1500:

Thats what DOT stated it should be. No, I'm not sure though. What I'm sure of is the school zone not enforceable at that time. Usually the camera should be set up for 10 over (so it should have been 45), although when I got a red light camera ticket and never paid it, the city never did anything about it. That was years ago.

down here, before we booted the red light cameras, the county (which does the vehicle registration) didn't participate in their "no renewal if you owe money to the traffic company" plan. so really all they could ever do was bug the crap out of you with letters threatening to not renew your vehicle registration, and add fines. supposedly they could put it on your credit report but i don't see how that could make much of a difference.

there have been a few cases of the things going loopy and sending everyone that drives by tickets. if the company doesn't screen them very well you might get a ticket for not speeding or running a green light.

In reply to Strizzo:

Then there will be a big group of vehicles getting tickets. Hell, it could have been the opposite direction speeding. Either way, my friend is one of the eight cops. He'd throw it out. Or... Id call my old partner who was the chief there for four years.... Hired two weeks out of the academy. Funny story there...

I hear wood stain is really hard to get off of camera lenses.

LOL.

We don't have speed cameras but we do have quite a few red light cameras. I've heard sometimes the cameras just go off to self test or calibrate or something like that.

Yeah, they are a scam and money-making scheme. Most are leased to the local governments and they pay the companies to manage and maintain them. Pisses all over due process and are incredibly difficult to fight. The red light cameras are the worse since most go in with an adjustment to the yellow light timing forcing more red light tickets, more rear end collisions, etc.

Like so many technologies like this, they could be used for good and were likely used as such early in their use, then corporate greed got a hold of them and an entire industry has sprung up around using them to abuse drivers.

Illinois claimed they had them all the way across 70 in the FAUX construction zones......considering that was a year ago, I think they were bluffing.

We ran 85 the whole way back to Indianapolis from Oklahoma.....

Sperlo, I'll bet you that was just a funny french guy up the pole.......REMI!!!!!!!

In all reality, I just avoid the city using them. That means their businesses, too.

There was a manned unit sitting up on an overpass on I270. They would put out a sign and started churning out tickets. One day the state came buy and noticed they had painted the state maintained road in order to keep the equipment calibrated. End result: they can't shoot radar cameras on state property anymore. This is, like I said, the first unmanned camera signed off on by the state.

They handle them differently in some places.

Blinded by the light Revved up like a Duece, another runner in the night. Blinded by the light.

Sometimes going to a karaoke bar can be educational. This is one of those lyrics I never could understand.

Yes, I know it has nothing to do with the content of the thread, but the title kept putting this song in my head.

yamaha wrote: Illinois claimed they had them all the way across 70 in the FAUX construction zones......considering that was a year ago, I think they were bluffing. We ran 85 the whole way back to Indianapolis from Oklahoma..... Sperlo, I'll bet you that was just a funny french guy up the pole.......REMI!!!!!!!

Yeah, they really don't seem to care about speeding through Missouri.

5.5 hours from Omaha back to Tulsa a few months ago.

z31maniac wrote:

yamaha wrote: Illinois claimed they had them all the way across 70 in the FAUX construction zones......considering that was a year ago, I think they were bluffing. We ran 85 the whole way back to Indianapolis from Oklahoma..... Sperlo, I'll bet you that was just a funny french guy up the pole.......REMI!!!!!!!

Yeah, they really don't seem to care about speeding through Missouri. 5.5 hours from Omaha back to Tulsa a few months ago.

Are you kidding me?! Those troopers are always hauling ass!

Now that you know where it is ...

In reply to z31maniac:

We made Indy to KCKS in really good time considering the 1.5hr stop at a steak n shake

It hoestly felt like it took longer to get from KCKS to Vinita, OK than it did on the return trip Vinita - St. Louis.....We even stopped off in Joplin asking why they had a no-mans land set up(I was glad the clerk I said that to laughed)

Sperlo, if you get a ticket and want to fight it, drop me a line. My girlfriend's a lawyer, and she loves going after this stuff. She's got a red light camera fight going right now, too, which I guarantee she'll take as far as possible.

If it happened every morning, I would start wearing one of those horse masks on the way through.

In reply to alex:

Just got a text from a cop. The camera isn't working properly yet.

Mask is only half the battle, also need to add a fake plate that looks just like the one whoever voted to install the dumb thing has on his/her car. That way the letter gets sent to the correct address.

I thought we all knew that?

carguy123 wrote: Blinded by the light Wrapped up like a douche, another runner in the night. Blinded by the light. Sometimes going to a karaoke bar can be educational. This is one of those lyrics I never could understand. Yes, I know it has nothing to do with the content of the thread, but the title kept putting this song in my head.

FTFY.

You know, if I were driving my old Mack Econodyne dump truck down that road and became temporarily blinded by the flashes, I might accidentally swerve off the road and obliterate that camera, and never even realize that anything happened. I'm just saying......

Brett_Murphy wrote: They handle them differently in some places.

That one looks like it was jacked up by a douche, burning roller in the night.