Cameras in WA to catch interstate speeders begins May 1

[LDRydr]

This spring, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) will begin a six-month pilot project for the 2008 construction season to see how well new technology can slow work zone traffic to improve safety for workers, drivers and their passengers.

How? Small SUV's with cameras will be parked in selected construction zones. Cameras will take pictures of rear license plates of speeding vehicles, day or night, rain or shine. The cameras are not supposed to take pictures of the driver or passengers. The registered owner will be sent a ticket by mail within two weeks.

Why? Too many fatal crashes construction zones.

Who? Approved by the 2007 WA Legislature as a pilot program.

Where? Likely sites include I-5 near Ground Mound (I-5 & Hwy 12), Chehalis, Leavenworth, Bellingham.

When? Tentative plans to begin near Chehalis by May 1.

Warning? They plan to use 5'x5' signs to tell drivers they are entering a speed safety zone monitored by automated cameras.

How much? The fine will be $137, and the law treats these tickets as parking citations. They will not be part of your permanent driving record.

Not me? If you were not driving the vehicle you do not have to pay the ticket. You must swear under penalty of perjury that you were not operating the vehicle on the form that comes with the ticket.

 

[twowheelnut]

Beverly Hills is trying to get officer operated speed cameras approved by the legislature. I fear given the money behind the effort that they might succeed. If that happens, expect to see more showing up across California, too.

LA Times link.

Further, pending legislation will double the points for speeds 26 MPH over the posted limit. :ugh:

 

[ShinyPartsUp]

One more step to Orwellian Big Brother...........

 

[twowheelnut]

One more step to Orwellian Big Brother...........

Careful... You'll get 2'd.

 

[El Toro Joe]

They have had these in Cleveland for a couple of years now. Before they started, the cam locations had to be posted in the newspaper

 

[Jetmaker737]

Can you feel the government's thumb on your head? Good thing they are so trustworthy and only looking out for our best interests or I might be worried. :wacko:

 

[TheAxeman]

I remember visiting an Uncle in Germany more than 15 years ago and seeing him open a letter containing a picture of his license plate along with an automatically generated speeding ticket. The technology has been there for a while I'm really surprised it hasn't been implemented sooner. You would think it would be a no brainer for municipalities.....low cost, little to no manpower to maintain them, never ending revenue, and probably extremely effective.

 

[ShinyPartsUp]

Can you feel the government's thumb on your head? Good thing they are so trustworthy and only looking out for our best interests or I might be worried. :wacko:

careful... you'll get 2'd

 

[twowheelnut]

Can you feel the government's thumb on your head? Good thing they are so trustworthy and only looking out for our best interests or I might be worried. :wacko:

careful... you'll get 2'd

Now yer gettin' the hang of it! :lol:

 

[ponyfool]

The fact that these are treated like parking tickets means no points on driving records. But it also means that it doesn't matter who the driver is, only the owner!

 

[Bluebullet]

These are all over Europe. The Brits like to torch the camera boxes....I think because they don't have guns to shoot them. story here

 

[Checkswrecks]

There's a set by the school a half mile from my house and they have sets in Ford vans too. The ones on the poles are not always easy to spot. We've learned to watch for stripes across the road and the signs that say something like PHOTO ENFORCED.

Also, while the police have gone to laser for enforcement, the cameras use plain old radar and most radar detectors give lots of warning.

 

[user 213]

Ah, it's ok, soon enough they will just start issuing a coupon book to buyers of Sport bikes. A ticket every week for the first month, then every month after that for as long as you own it. Because they *know* you're speeding on your R-1, Busa, etc. And if you argue, then they will download the records from your bike's ecu and cite you for every time you actually did speed.

 

[Bluebullet]

Beverly Hills is trying to get officer operated speed cameras approved by the legislature.

How would you like to have the job of "speed box cop"? What a way to have about 1000 slurpies a day chucked at ya.

 

[teerex51]

I remember visiting an Uncle in Germany more than 15 years ago and seeing him open a letter containing a picture of his license plate along with an automatically generated speeding ticket. The technology has been there for a while<...>

Europe is a giant speed trap by now. :butcher: The trend is to "remotize" law enforcement and put fewer boots on the ground.

Fixed radar/camera emplacements are everywhere in most EC countries. Penalties of course differ.

In Italy if you admit to being at the wheel of the offending vehicle you will be fined and a number of points will be taken off your licence.

If you claim you were not driving the vehicle at that time you must either declare who was or pay 200% of the fine. (If you're running out of points, the latter may be the right call, altough expensive).

There's now a system called Speed Tutor that monitors your speed over a given distance. It's a complex set of radars, cameras and hardware placed typically on trestles that'll capture your plate here, repeat the process a couple of miles down the road, calculate your average speed and hit you with a violation if you were a bad boy.

Both the fixed radars and the tutor-monitored stretches must be clearly signposted but you won't believe how many bozos still get caught. (Of course, spotting a roadside sign ain't easy if you're exchanging eye contact with your passenger and talking on the cell at the same time).

I wouldn't be surprised if this speed enforcement trend were to spread to the USA at some stage :huh:

Stef

 

[amansker]

There are four in Escondido, CA where I live. All configured for running red lights and not speeding. Recently heard some major city was removing theirs because they do not generate enough income. Someone argued this means the cameras were installed to generate revenue and not to make the roads safer. He has a good point.

I think a red light violation is $384 here. They do not send tickets to motorcyclists because the photos cannot capture their faces.

 

[LDRydr]

I wouldn't be surprised if this speed enforcement trend were to spread to the USA at some stage :huh:

Let's hope not. The artifically deflated speed limits in some areas (Oregon) are bad enough. During my summer bike travels it always amazes me that construction zone speeds in places like Montana and Wyoming are higher than some of normal highway speeds in Oregon. Which state is it that doesn't "get it"?

 

[stellarsteve]

Currently I am working on a project in Dubai, UAE. Here they have the speed camaras but they don't take your picture unless you are over 140kph (87mph) on the main city interstate or 160kph (100mph) on the road from Dubai to Abu Dhabi. Even then, like most things here most of them don't work anyway. Even with the high speed limits there are still a lot of cars flying by you when you are just under the picture limit. Zoom!

 

[Wild72]

They have the average speed cameras (SPECS) in the UK, but I heard that they are easily defeated by driving in a different lane at each set of cameras. Some legal loophole means you only get the ticket if you are snapped in the same lane, however the government is now suggesting "for safety reasons" (yeah, right!!!), that drivers should avoid changing lanes.