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#&%@ speed trap

post #1 of 32
10/29/11 at 3:51pm
Thread Starter 

Okay, so I accept that it's my fault for not reacting to the signage quickly enough, but frak it these things are just blatant money makers for the city. I was driving down the street which is mostly an 80 kph limit, except for one short section that turns to 60 before the road ends that I forgot about (because hell, there's nothing there except the end of the road). What really ticks me off is that I was under limit for most of it going 76, and hell my foot was even off the gas and I was just coasting in towards the end. But of course, there's an unmarked cruiser parked right at the 60 sign and it flags me down. I thought there was something wrong with my car at first.

 

Bah, just so utterly pointless, and the location has really nothing to do with safety. It's just a money grab. I'm sure other cities are much the same; though mine has actually had people trying to band together and file suit because of how blatant it has become. There was a report released a couple years ago about how their red light cameras weren't making as much money as they'd hoped, so then they upped the number of speed traps to make up the difference. 

 

Bah. Time to sell off one of the cans I guess...

 

edit: $254 for 16 km over (roughly 10 mph over)

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post #2 of 32
10/29/11 at 6:14pm

A money grab, you're right. I was just reading and commenting on my local news website for a story about more red light cameras being installed.

 

I haven't been stopped in about 15 years for speeding. I gotten damn good at it.

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post #3 of 32
10/29/11 at 6:19pm

Ouch.

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post #4 of 32
10/29/11 at 7:11pm

Money makers and heart breakers...... I just got back from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and in-between both north bound and south bound lanes there are thick pine trees, but you still have your turn arounds for the "MAN", who usually sit back waiting on us drivers flying, up in "God's Country" but their new trick is to sit,hide about 50 to 100 yards past their usual hiding place way off the road... So drivers glance at the turn arounds and think "hey no trooper" only to get nabbed a few hundred yards down the road. I was lucky because my brother who lives in the Soo in the U.P. warned me of their new trick.....anything to really pocket some money for the state... Another trick is when they use the yellow state work pick-ups only these babies are loaded with every Cop lights installed in the grill of the truck , surprise, surprise......oh well, the red light/speed cameras are being installed around Dayton area...... Glad my hobby is audio equipment and not those super cars........KEEP SAFE

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post #5 of 32
10/29/11 at 7:40pm

I've gotten quite good at spotting cruisers, marked and unmarked. Since lasers require a LOS, you have to be able to see the cruiser for them to tag you. As soon as I see Crown Vic's or fully tinted black/white Suburbans (the only cars used in my town), I slow down, then make the call to pump it after passing it and seeing an old guy driving his Vic to church... The cops got pretty bad hiding spots in my area. Most of the time, you see the cop standing on the side of the road holding the laser... but they got one really good spot in my area though. They park their UC Suburban in a used car lot, looks just like everything else in there. Only way you could ever tell its a UC is the fact that there is no price tag on the dash. Goin to get harder soon though as I read in the paper they were investing in some Chargers and more "mainstream" cars to use as UC's.


Edited by seaskimmer - 10/29/11 at 7:43pm
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post #6 of 32
10/29/11 at 7:44pm

Just don't speed. You get where you're going what, 20% faster at most?

 

OP talked about tricks used to catch drivers who aren't intentionally speeding. Everyone else is discussing ways to speed without getting caught rolleyes.gif

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post #7 of 32
10/29/11 at 8:37pm
I've been in so much trouble with tickets and driving courses to reduce points that I've finally took my foot off the gas. It's not worth the cost for a wild ride in the front.
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post #8 of 32
10/29/11 at 10:26pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Head Injury View Post

Just don't speed. You get where you're going what, 20% faster at most?

 

OP talked about tricks used to catch drivers who aren't intentionally speeding. Everyone else is discussing ways to speed without getting caught rolleyes.gif



Sometimes I do intentionally speed, like down the long industrial road (marked at 50 because there's some houses way at the end, but nothing other than processing plants before it) late at night because there's absolutely nothing around. Then I'll do maybe 80. I'm not a speed junkie; 80's about the most fuel efficient speed for my car (yes, I've measured). Just set it on cruise and go. So if I got caught there, ok I'd be annoyed because it'd be an asinine place for a speed trap, but I'd accept it because I knew what I was doing.

 

Today's incident really bugs me because I honestly thought I was under the limit the whole time, and being the penny pinching gas-miser that I am, I often take my foot off the gas and coast into stops much like I was doing today. $%^&, I was already coasting and slowing down before I got flagged.

 

A couple years ago I got flagged on a road where they had just finished construction and expanding, but they left the signs up for a week purely as a money grab speed trap. So it's like 8pm on a Sunday, I'm going down a road that's normally an 80, but because they left a couple barricades up it's a construction zone and thus 50 (no actual signs saying 50 though). So that was a roughly $400 ticket. Even given the slow traffic at that time of day, I estimate the city made probably $50k an hour at that small section. Guess they ran out of the money for the road budget and needed to make up for it.

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post #9 of 32
10/29/11 at 10:38pm

End of the month/beginning of the month worst times to speed..

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post #10 of 32
10/29/11 at 10:58pm
Thread Starter 

Quotas?

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post #11 of 32
10/30/11 at 1:05am
I started taking it easier after my last speeding ticket in '99. I got nabbed in some podunk county in eastern Oregon.

Which reminds me, I sent over a bunch of formal discovery and set it for trial. The DA called me up, whining, and wanted to know if I really wanted formal discovery.

'Yes.'

He said he'd drop the fine to $20. I mailed him a check for $20 a couple hours later. biggrin.gif

My advice is to schedule it for a hearing/trial and start demanding documents from them. They expect you to pay the bill without a fight. Throw some paper back and it quickly becomes more expensive to deal with than the money they'll get. Change the cost:benefit ratio and they become surprisingly cooperative.

Though these days I drive the limit unless I have a stalking horse. There's always some chucklehead who wants to speed. Fine, I'll gladly let him pass. Then I'll pace him about 1/2 mile back. I cannot remember how many times they've flushed out the cops for me.
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post #12 of 32
11/3/11 at 8:39pm
Thread Starter 

Another construction speedtrap today, though thankfully I didn't get hit. Rush hour traffic on the way home, the guy ahead of me gets pulled over as we're driving through a construction zone. He wasn't going any faster than me... 53kph. Seriously? Isn't that basically at the limit of error detection on those handheld units anyways?

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post #13 of 32
11/4/11 at 4:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Erik View Post

I started taking it easier after my last speeding ticket in '99. I got nabbed in some podunk county in eastern Oregon.
Which reminds me, I sent over a bunch of formal discovery and set it for trial. The DA called me up, whining, and wanted to know if I really wanted formal discovery.
'Yes.'
He said he'd drop the fine to $20. I mailed him a check for $20 a couple hours later. biggrin.gif
My advice is to schedule it for a hearing/trial and start demanding documents from them. They expect you to pay the bill without a fight. Throw some paper back and it quickly becomes more expensive to deal with than the money they'll get. Change the cost:benefit ratio and they become surprisingly cooperative.
Though these days I drive the limit unless I have a stalking horse. There's always some chucklehead who wants to speed. Fine, I'll gladly let him pass. Then I'll pace him about 1/2 mile back. I cannot remember how many times they've flushed out the cops for me.


Ummmm that doesn't work in Canada. I know, I tried it and all I got was a wack of legal documents involving road legislation and I lost two days of pay because I had to go to court twice and in the end I still payed my 150 dollar fine. On the plus side I think I pissed off the cop when I asked him if he was really that far behind in his ticket quota. biggrin.gif.

 

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post #14 of 32
11/4/11 at 5:11pm

This is the sign that makes you slow down in Michigan. Talk about your speed traps. I lost count of these driving from Ohio to Sault St. Marie, Michigan!


photo
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post #15 of 32
11/4/11 at 5:15pm

What a ripoff. A worker's life is only worth $2500, tops.

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