Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

New UK police speed gun can read license plates from half a mile away at night

thedrive.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 525 posts

Re: New UK police speed gun can read license plates from half a mile away at night

#91

Post by gorgoiler »

bArray wrote: post #77

> To the inevitable dismay of U.K. street racers who > primarily partake in their favorite illegal motorsport > after hours, the TruCam II also features night mode > whereas the first TruCam, which has already reportedly > been in use for the past six years, only worked during the > daytime. I think this really comes down to the letter of the law vs the spirit of it. To the spirit of the law, i.e. saving third-party…

It’s strange to see you advocate for 35mph. In many parts of Southern England I saw 20mph become the norm.

It makes a lot of sense in terms of road safety as well as noise, and makes little to no difference to journey times.

Re: New UK police speed gun can read license plates from half a mile away at night

#92

Post by generalizations »

est31 wrote: post #79
bArray wrote: post #77

> To the inevitable dismay of U.K. street racers who > primarily partake in their favorite illegal motorsport > after hours, the TruCam II also features night mode > whereas the first TruCam, which has already reportedly > been in use for the past six years, only worked during the > daytime. I think this really comes down to the letter of the law vs the spirit of it. To the spirit of the law, i.e. saving third-party…

IDK about the UK, but in Germany street racers have killed many innocent bystanders, just for the crime of crossing the street at night. So yes please, enforce rules more strongly. In fact, even ambulances crash into each other every now and then at night, because they usually drive without their horns (technically then they aren't allowed to run red lights, only if it's been sounding for at least 15 seconds, but peo…

> street racers have killed many innocent bystanders,

You're not responding to the point. The parent was talking about solitary drivers, and used remote parts of scotland as an example.

Re: New UK police speed gun can read license plates from half a mile away at night

#93

Post by jazoom »

ehnto wrote: post #52
ISL wrote: post #17

I once saw speed cameras as "un-sporting" until travelling elsewhere in the world where they are commonplace. In those countries, it seems like everyone just drives the speed limit. If the point of speed enforcement is to, you know, ensure that everyone is going the speed limit or slower, they're awesome. Norway's system of timed speed cameras are particularly wonderful -- they simply photograph a car and then photog…

My state in Australia have heavy, heavy fines, even compared to the rest of Aus. It doesn't reduce the amount of poor driving but speeding at least is unambiguous. There is no grey area. If the speed limit is 60kmph then you will get booked for exceeding it by 5kmph, and the only reason you get that 5kmph leeway is to account for camera calibration and some grace for speedometer calibration. They would ping you at 61…

South Australia?

Re: New UK police speed gun can read license plates from half a mile away at night

#94

Post by simplesleeper »

gorgoiler wrote: post #91
bArray wrote: post #77

> To the inevitable dismay of U.K. street racers who > primarily partake in their favorite illegal motorsport > after hours, the TruCam II also features night mode > whereas the first TruCam, which has already reportedly > been in use for the past six years, only worked during the > daytime. I think this really comes down to the letter of the law vs the spirit of it. To the spirit of the law, i.e. saving third-party…

It’s strange to see you advocate for 35mph. In many parts of Southern England I saw 20mph become the norm. It makes a lot of sense in terms of road safety as well as noise, and makes little to no difference to journey times.

30mph changing to 20mph makes a huge difference to journey time... And london drivers hate it to the point most of them ignore it.

Re: New UK police speed gun can read license plates from half a mile away at night

#95

Post by tdeck »

ransom1538 wrote: post #28
ISL wrote: post #17

I once saw speed cameras as "un-sporting" until travelling elsewhere in the world where they are commonplace. In those countries, it seems like everyone just drives the speed limit. If the point of speed enforcement is to, you know, ensure that everyone is going the speed limit or slower, they're awesome. Norway's system of timed speed cameras are particularly wonderful -- they simply photograph a car and then photog…

Take it another level. Every car should have a chip. Once you are in a speed limit - your car can't go faster. Oh wait, this wont generate revenue - so it wont work. Never mind.

This idea goes back a long way. In 1923 42,000 Cincinnati residents petitioned for mandatory speed governors to limit cars to 25 miles per hour [1]. This was an era when pedestrians typically owned the streets, so the advent of high-speed traffic caused a lot of pedestrian deaths.

1: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-Cincinnati-speed-gov...

Re: New UK police speed gun can read license plates from half a mile away at night

#96

Post by scott_w »

bArray wrote: post #77

> To the inevitable dismay of U.K. street racers who > primarily partake in their favorite illegal motorsport > after hours, the TruCam II also features night mode > whereas the first TruCam, which has already reportedly > been in use for the past six years, only worked during the > daytime. I think this really comes down to the letter of the law vs the spirit of it. To the spirit of the law, i.e. saving third-party…

I seriously recommend you follow Surrey Traffic Police, who give some gruelling details of the effects of what people think is “safe” speeding: https://twitter.com/surreyroadcops?s=21

There’s a number of police Twitter accounts that you can follow in this theme to learn more.

Re: New UK police speed gun can read license plates from half a mile away at night

#97

Post by scott_w »

generalizations wrote: post #92
est31 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IDK about the UK, but in Germany street racers have killed many innocent bystanders, just for the crime of crossing the street at night. So yes please, enforce rules more strongly. In fact, even ambulances crash into each other every now and then at night, because they usually drive without their horns (technically then they aren't allowed to run red lights, only if it's been sounding for at least 15 seconds, but peo…

> street racers have killed many innocent bystanders, You're not responding to the point. The parent was talking about solitary drivers, and used remote parts of scotland as an example.

The reality is you never know if you’re really alone. Plenty of people are killed on “empty” country roads because the driver didn’t see them due to inappropriate speed, distractions or a combination.

Re: New UK police speed gun can read license plates from half a mile away at night

#98

Post by cdrini »

bArray wrote: post #77

> To the inevitable dismay of U.K. street racers who > primarily partake in their favorite illegal motorsport > after hours, the TruCam II also features night mode > whereas the first TruCam, which has already reportedly > been in use for the past six years, only worked during the > daytime. I think this really comes down to the letter of the law vs the spirit of it. To the spirit of the law, i.e. saving third-party…

I've heard this argument before a lot, but I imagine it doesn't actually apply. Although the likelihood of harming another is reduced by the fact that it's night and there are fewer people around, the likelihood is increased by (1) reduced visibility for both drivers and pedestrians, (2) likely reduced mental clarity due to the fact that it's late, (3) both pedestrians and drivers behaving more carelessly because they think there is a reduced chance of risk as a result of sparsity (meta, eh?). My guess would be that accidents are equally likely if not more likely at night as a result, so folks should be prudent at night.

Re: New UK police speed gun can read license plates from half a mile away at night

#99

Post by olegmeister »

bArray wrote: post #77

> To the inevitable dismay of U.K. street racers who > primarily partake in their favorite illegal motorsport > after hours, the TruCam II also features night mode > whereas the first TruCam, which has already reportedly > been in use for the past six years, only worked during the > daytime. I think this really comes down to the letter of the law vs the spirit of it. To the spirit of the law, i.e. saving third-party…

It’s habit. If you learn to flaunt the law half the time, you could inadvertently break it at a time of day when it could have dire consequences. Best to be vigilant and cautious at all times for everyone’s benefit. There’s lots of racetracks and race day Sundays to get your lead foot some action.

Re: New UK police speed gun can read license plates from half a mile away at night

#100

Post by Noumenon72 »

gorgoiler wrote: post #91
bArray wrote: post #77

> To the inevitable dismay of U.K. street racers who > primarily partake in their favorite illegal motorsport > after hours, the TruCam II also features night mode > whereas the first TruCam, which has already reportedly > been in use for the past six years, only worked during the > daytime. I think this really comes down to the letter of the law vs the spirit of it. To the spirit of the law, i.e. saving third-party…

It’s strange to see you advocate for 35mph. In many parts of Southern England I saw 20mph become the norm. It makes a lot of sense in terms of road safety as well as noise, and makes little to no difference to journey times.

20/35 is 4/7 the speed, and therefore it makes every trip take 7/4 as long. So you spend an additional 15 minutes on every 20-minute journey. You're rapidly going to waste more human lifetimes sitting in cars than you would ever save from driving slower.
Post reply on HN