Area drivers looking to outwit police speed traps and traffic cameras are using an iPhone application and other global positioning system devices that pinpoint the location of the cameras.
That has irked D.C. police chief Cathy Lanier, who promised her officers would pick up their game to counteract the devices, which can also help drivers dodge sobriety checkpoints.
"I think that's the whole point of this program," she told The Examiner. "It's designed to circumvent law enforcement -- law enforcement that is designed specifically to save lives." If only it were designed to save lives, I might go along with you. Show me the studies that correlate reductions in deaths, injuries, and property damage to the placement of your revenue generators camera placement. Show me how placing a camera there is superior to redesigning the intersection or straightaway. Show me how people avoiding the problem areas doesn't help reduce whatever "problem" it is you are basing your argument on. Until then, I am not convinced that you are sincere in your argument, or that you even know what it is you are actually trying to accomplish. You would think that random placement of mobile cameras would be just as effective and more defensible. Or if a neighborhood committe would call for the placement of a camera. And if proceeds were to be used for reconstruction of problem areas as applicable.
The new technology streams to iPhones and global positioning system devices, sounding off an alarm as drivers approach speed or red-light cameras.
Lanier said the technology is a "cowardly tactic" and "people who overly rely on those and break the law anyway are going to get caught" in one way or another. Cowardly? Like basing your argument on B.S.?
The greater D.C. area has 290 red-light and speed cameras -- comprising nearly 10 percent of all traffic cameras in the U.S., according to estimates by a camera-tracking database called the POI Factory.
Lanier said the cameras have decreased traffic deaths. Red-light and speed cameras have been a hot topic in Montgomery County since Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley signed a bill in May allowing local governments to place speed cameras in school and highway construction zones. Makes sense. As long as they are turned on only when there are kids in the area or hazards related to construction are actually present.
Montgomery County police did not respond to calls and e-mails for this story.
Ralph Ganoe of Silver Spring said he uses detection software from a Washington-based company, PhantomAlert, to avoid speed traps and crowded intersections.
"Well, my pocket has money in it," Ganoe quipped, when asked about the software's impact on his driving record. "Everybody's got a heavy foot. ... Now I don't have to worry about where [the cameras] are at."
PhantomAlert mimics radar detectors -- which are outlawed in D.C. and Virginia -- by alerting drivers of nearby enforcement "points of interest" via global positioning system devices. PhantomAlert keeps up to date on traffic enforcement through its users, who contribute information online.
Founder and CEO of PhantomAlert Joe Scott claimed nine out of 10 police departments across the country support his software. "If police come against us, it's going to make them look like they are only [after] revenue" from the camera-generated citations, he said.
Photo radar tickets generated nearly $1 billion in revenues for D.C. during fiscal years 2005 to 2008. Which I'm sure was donated to charity. Right?
In the current fiscal year, Montgomery County expects to make $29 million from its red light and speed cameras. Lanier said efforts to outlaw the software would be too difficult. She said, "with the Internet and all the new technology, it's almost impossible to stop the flow of information." Smart cookie.
Easiest way to demonstrate whether the police are using cameras to 'save lives' or to generate revenue is to propose a state law that mandates that the fines generated go to the state's general revenue fund.
And don't forget: all these cameras are monitored and maintained, not by the police, but by private companies that do very well.
#1
I think they give themselves away. Assuming everyone has iphones and this software, those people would slow down for speed traps right? That is the point: to maintain a safe highway system right?
I mean, unless those with iphones+ are blowing through all the other intersections they will be driving safer (and maybe a cascade effect with the car or 2 behind them), which causes less accidents, which keeps insurance rates checked and people unhurt.
Now my solution would be to convert to an equine system. I'm sure that George Washington would agree that the act of riding invigorates the body and mind which would lead to better governance, or at least generate enough horseshit to cover the stench of DC politics.
#2
I seem to remember reading something recently about breathalizers and DUIs. Something about the right to face your accuser and the breathalizer itself could not convict a person only support the testimony and field test of the police officer. Now if that is right, then could that same principle be applied to traffic cameras?
#4
swksvolFF, in Chicago at least it's very clever. The violation is not a 'legal' violation but an 'administrative' one -- thus, no right to face your accuser. Indeed, no rights at all, as you'll find out if you get a notice. It's pay and shut up. The courts have allowed that in Illinois, but then, we have the best government money can buy.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/17/2009 17:31 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Well, Steve, you don't HAVE to pay the tickets.
I just saw a car parked across from the elevator bank at O'Hare with a big yellow boot on it... That is where the real money is anyway.
He should be arriving back right about now, patting himself on the back for finding such a great parking spot on his way out of town last Tuesday.
#6
#3 Saw some stats somewhere that claimed %47 of accidents were due to poor traffic engineering....
When one considers the average low salary of traffic engineers in some suburbs.... one wonders why the figure isn't larger.
Posted by: 3dc 2009-07-17 16:58
I find that % way too high (just IMHO). The vast majority of accidents (I'm guessing here) is caused by inattentive/unsafe drivers. There's a good % of "weather conditions" (another "unsafe speed" thing) accidents. There are, for sure, some poorly designed roads and streets, but State and AASHTO standards dictate most standard road design. IMHO, the drivers are usually the issue, whether speeding or not. I consider myself a pretty good driver, but on long-highway trips, I break out my Escort Radar Detector - it picks up the laser/radar signals from he guns and cameras so I slow down in time. Awesome investment to beat the revenue-generators
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/17/2009 18:53 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Sounds good to me, a blow at Officials trying to fleece the citizens, and a exposure of a semi-corrupt Police Chief, looking to "Create", Lawbreakers.
My father was a civil engineer who worked (Partly) on traffic flow, I'll bet most folks don't know there's a three second "Dwell" between the changing of a light to red, and the other street's changing to green, that's his idea, designed to cut down on collisions, when someone could NOT stop, (Short lights) and allow the lanes to clear.
This Police Chief is trying to exploit that installed "Safety Dwell" and create criminals on those who simply cannot stop abruptly safely.
In fact several different cities were sued over short lights (Meaning the time between red to yellow to green times, and putting policemen with electronic "triggers" to change lights deliberately for "Catching" people who simply could not stop in time.
After several lawsuits, all states cities and communities were Forced by federal law to make ALL TRAFFIC SIGNALS the same length, and include the same "Safety Dwell", mentioned earlier.
But the Real killer of "Short Lights" was the law that all fines went to the state, the community could NOT keep them.(Not profit)
I'd investigaate wher the fines go.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/17/2009 20:25 Comments ||
Top||
#8
I agree that most of the accidents are from inattentive and, basically stupid, drivers.
I ride the bus to Seattle each day and have a chance to watch what other people are doing while driving. Applying makeup (both women and men...), eating breakfast, having a heated conversation on the phone. Driving with dogs on their laps.
Hondurans are trying to get word out by Twitter that they are receiving threatening text messages on their cell phones tonight, telling them to stay inside and not leave their homes tomorrow night.
Now more than ever I will be the first one out the door, Honduran Pedro Martinez told Canada Free Press tonight. Pedro Martinez is the pseudonym we gave to the young Honduran professional that Canada Free Press (CFP) walked through Twitter hookup last week.
Tomorrow might be a bad day, Pedro tipped off CFP on twitter. People are infiltrating Honduras thru (sic) Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua with the intention to create chaos.
Looks like deposed Honduran leader Manuel Zelaya, who has called for a popular insurrection in his own country so that he can be returned to power after soldiers removed him at gunpoint on June 28, is on the way back. With the verbal cunning of good Marxists the world over and the backing of tyrant Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, this is Zelayas message today from the safety of Guatemala: The Honduran people have the right to insurrection.
I want to tell you to not leave the streets, that is the only space that they have not taken from us, he told a news conference alongside Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom, (Yahoo News.com. July 15, 2009).
Meanwhile, no one in Honduras is running from Zelayas threats. We are not issuing threats, acting foreign minister Carlos Lopez said in response to Zelayas call for an insurrection, reminding the exiled Honduran leader that Roberto Michelettis government was in control and the country was at peace. We removed the curfew and the government has complete control of the territory.
Problem is Pedro and tens of thousands like him, who backed Zelayas ouster on June 28, believe the streets and democracy belong to them.
Zelayas ultimatum to the interim government ordering it to relinquish power within the week and the demands for his immediate restitution has only raised the peoples dander. People like Pedro expect only the worst from Zelaya.
This is a sturdy resistance that predates the July 28 bums rush, and one that sees Zelaya as a dictator who is giving their country and all it stands for over to socialist rule under Chavez.
Long before the so-called coup detat, we watched as Chavezs shiny new tractors were given like carnival candy to Honduran farmers, Pedro told CFP in an earlier telephone call. The tactics are the same ones used by Communists everywhere.
While his own people, whose children go hungry were out of work, Zelaya was swaggering under his 10-gallon cowboy hats and 100% tooled leather cowboy boots. We were told that big-spending Zelaya had been whooping it up in Costa Rica, where he blew his way through $80,000 in his first few days in exile.
I was there at Tegucigalpa airport on July 6 when our interim government refused to let his plane touch down from Costa Rica. Zelaya and supporters, whose bullets killed my two countrymen, lied when they said the bullets came from the Interim Government side. Our side used rubber bullets. Zalaya supporters used real bullets on real people.
Pedro, who speaks perfect English, says Zalaya thugs and militants have been threatening Honduran journalists. We know what supermarket your wife uses. We know which school your little boy attends. Thats what they have been telling journalists, Pedro says.
Tonight theres a flurry of text messages going between Hondurans who want to keep their country a democracy even if it means a bloodbath.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/17/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
They (the Hondurans) should have killed that scumbag when they had the chance. They should definitely find a way to cap his a$$ now.
STRATEGIC think tank Stratfor says Jemaah Islamiah appeared to have moved away from use of large car bombs which in the Marriott and Australian Embassy attacks in 2003 and 2004 killed far more Indonesians than foreigners
In a preliminary analysis, Stratfor, a private sector intelligence group based in the US, said photos of damage at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel were consistent with the detonation of a small improvised explosive device inside the first floor bar or restaurant area.
That raised the possibility the devices were delivered by a suicide bomber who entered the hotel around breakfast time, a tactic consistent with the October 2005 resort bombing in Bali.
Damage to the Ritz-Carlton ground floor windows indicated glass had probably been covered in blast film which appeared to have functioned as designed in preventing windows from shattering into small pieces and becoming shrapnel, Stratfor said.
It said Jemaah Islamiah was the likely suspect, despite a common perception that the group was greatly diminished by the crackdown of Indonesian authorities.
"Despite their setbacks and lack of activity in recent years, this type of attack takes very few resources to carry out," it said.
"Initial details indicate that the attack comprised a pair of small, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and a pair of willing suicide bombers.
"JI has some very experienced bombmakers like the fugitive Noordin Mohammad Top, who are more than capable of making simple suicide devices."
Startfor said JI were "heavily criticised" by the Indonesian public after the 2005 Bali bombings in which several Indonesians were killed, so the target shift to international hotels in Jakarta in these recent attacks was "quite logical".
"While these may have been relatively low-budget attacks using small devices, they were well-executed.
"The bombers did not get cold feet and the devices functioned, and both elements demonstrate a high level of professionalism."
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
