50 new speed cameras in PG county - and mixed feelings

[Slide Panda]

Article 1st
http://www.gazette.net/stories/10152009/prinnew145409_32526.shtml

Not that I spend much time in PG, so the direct impact to me is minimal at best. But that's a heap of cameras.. which chafes my 'I don't like Big Brother' side. But it seems the areas planned for the cameras will be school zones, which does make some sense to me. I've seen plenty of instances where people go flying through active school zones at well above posted, and this area's had it's issued with school kids getting hit - So the 'punish the stupid jackasses' side of me sort of agrees...

Terribly conflicted... Either way, PG is getting a lot more speed cameras in the next couple years

[zooom]

wait till the revenue figures come out -> Council members have already said they want power to expand where they can place cameras in the future, and several have seen the devices as a potential source of revenue.

you'll see them popping up everywhere as long as the funds get to things the municipalities need and people won't scream so much about their taxes being raised to pay for the things that speed camera revenue covers the bill for....

[ducati culture]

Montgomery county is off the chain as well. I don't  like driving through there unless I am on the bike. 

[ducatiz]

all traffic enforcement these days is revenue generation.

if they really wanted you to stop speeding/running lights, it would be 3 days in jail, first offense.

FYI TomTom sells map add-ons with red-light camera locations indicated....

[tocino]

Yeah - the whole school zone thing is a red herring - it was just politically easier to claim it's "for the children" rather than "we (and the company running the cameras) will make a boat load of money".

[Slide Panda]

all traffic enforcement these days is revenue generation.

if they really wanted you to stop speeding/running lights, it would be 3 days in jail, first offense.

FYI TomTom sells map add-ons with red-light camera locations indicated....

iPhones have a free app with cameras and likely trap locations as well. Not sure how good it really is.. but it's free.

[ducatiz]

iPhones have a free app with cameras and likely trap locations as well. Not sure how good it really is.. but it's free.

i prefer the TomTom variety because it's already mounted in my car -- just leave it on and it DING DING DINGS when you are approaching one (even if you don't have a route programmed). 

[rgramjet]

http://www.trapster.com/ 

My sister uses it and its worked well.

[Slide Panda]

http://www.trapster.com/ 

My sister uses it and its worked well.

They have an iPhone app too. A little clunky, but free.

[Nekkid Tim]

I just traded my S4Rs for a 1967 Honda CL90; now I don't have to worry about the speed cameras  ANY MORE!!!    [moto]

[rgramjet]

Yeah - the whole school zone thing is a red herring - it was just politically easier to claim it's "for the children" rather than "we (and the company running the cameras) will make a boat load of money".

Thats the same herring Montgomery County used to prohibit boat, jet-ski, utility trailers and large commercial vehicles from being parked overnight on residential streets. 

Saving "the children" one law at a time.....

[ducatiz]

Thats the same herring Montgomery County used to prohibit boat, jet-ski, utility trailers and large commercial vehicles from being parked overnight on residential streets. 

Saving "the children" one law at a time.....

build a dummy Suburban out of plywood and park the jet ski inside it.

[rgramjet]

Like a 2D silouette of a Suburban/Jetski made from 1/2" Birch plywood??  You might be on to something!!

[tocino]

build a dummy Suburban out of plywood and park the jet ski inside it.

I saw build a large wooden child and hide a bunch of speed cameras and jet skis in it and roll it up to the State Capitol, and then when they allow it in...

[RB]

i use trapster on the iPhone, the software was just updated and much better now. It works much like the TomTom for alerts, you can also log your route (just a switch to turn on) so family and friends(or you can save it, like when you find some awesome roads and can't remember where or how you got there) if you grant them access. I took a trip to SC last year, and it saved my bro and i a few times.

Speed Camera.....simply a revenue maker. Why?
Because if i am speeding, and get a photo with a bill in the mail, how did this keep the children safe? I don't get a ticket in the mail for a week or two?
Here is an idea, take ALL of our LEOs on the HWYs (i am talking radar traps and such) and place them in neighborhoods and school zones at all times. Wouldn't that keep the children safe? Doesn't most crime happen in residential areas? What is a speed camera going to do when a house is robbed, or a child is abducted? The presence of a camera does nothing for the School Free Drug Zones....oops i got it backwards. This goes for the workzone speed cameras also.

Oh, and Red light cameras, yeah they are stopping lots of folks from running red lights.

Generating revenue is not saving lives. Putting officers on patrol in needed areas do save lives, and does stop/slow crime.


and for God's Sake please get the police off the HWYs during rush hour, people want to get to work or home, and we don't need an officer sitting in a patrol car on the side of the road so every idiot can do a brake check, slow-down and look-see traffic is f'ed enough.

BTW, while i was tying this trapster just alerted me that a radar trap is operational 5 miles from my desk! I bet tomtom can't do that.

Sorry for the rant