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New York is using cameras with microphones to ticket loud cars

roadandtrack.com

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Re: New York is using cameras with microphones to ticket loud cars

#211
post #20

YES. I have lived on some incredibly busy streets in New York. Cities aren't loud. Cars are loud.

It's remarkable how much more pleasant a city is on streets that are closed down to cars. If your city hosts Ciclovías, go and check them out if only to sit at a restaurant outside and eat lunch in near total serenity.

Re: New York is using cameras with microphones to ticket loud cars

#212
post #4

One egregiously loud motorcycle rolling through manhattan can be a nuisance to literally millions of people. This is unreasonable and a ticketing system like this makes a ton of sense. Police enforcement could probably solve the issue just as effectively. Cops ignore loud honking and loud cars when its right in front of them. If they would just stop ignoring such things the frequency would surely go down as well.

I don't know what it's like where you live, but in California it increasingly looks like our law enforcement organizations are either dreadfully understaffed or failing miserably at enforcing basic traffic laws. I just drove to San Diego and back from the Bay Area and counted zero cops on the way down and two on the way back, and I returned on Super Bowl eve. In the south Bay Area, I regularly see folks intentionally…

This is happening in my major metro, as well. A kind of flippant attitude toward even the most basic of compliance seems to be taking root. Cars are running Stop signs and red lights without even slowing, the number of cars with no license plate displayed at all is on the rise and all of this seems to be happening at a time when enforcement is virtually non-existent. Even more alarming is that property crime (theft, particularly) is through the roof.

While I place a lot of the blame at the feet of the police for failing to enforce law, I also understand that at least in my city, even repeat offenders are being released back into the wild with no skin in the game - a "personal recognizance" bond.

I'm a left of center kind of guy, but this idea that we can totally kid-glove criminals (especially repeat ones) with peace and love and respect and whatever new-agey shenanigans that's helped us get to where our social order is falling apart doesn't fly with me.

Re: New York is using cameras with microphones to ticket loud cars

#213

Good grief. The number of comments that unequivocally praise the police placing autonomous systems to fine people for annoyances. Last year, all this stuff was racist and explicitly targeting minorites, and ACAB. Now, hail the new surveillance state! Go get those people who personally annoy me! This certainly will have no unintended side effects!

If the side effects end up being worse, than the law can be changed back, right? I would argue it is a major annoyance for many, and for what, so a few people can get off on being loud.

Re: New York is using cameras with microphones to ticket loud cars

#214
post #4

One egregiously loud motorcycle rolling through manhattan can be a nuisance to literally millions of people. This is unreasonable and a ticketing system like this makes a ton of sense. Police enforcement could probably solve the issue just as effectively. Cops ignore loud honking and loud cars when its right in front of them. If they would just stop ignoring such things the frequency would surely go down as well.

I don't know what it's like where you live, but in California it increasingly looks like our law enforcement organizations are either dreadfully understaffed or failing miserably at enforcing basic traffic laws. I just drove to San Diego and back from the Bay Area and counted zero cops on the way down and two on the way back, and I returned on Super Bowl eve. In the south Bay Area, I regularly see folks intentionally…

Who is allegedly telling the police they "cannot intervene"? And why would they say it?

Re: New York is using cameras with microphones to ticket loud cars

#215
post #62

YES THANK YOU The vast majority of motorcyles in America are illegally modified to be louder than they should [0]. This crime is basically impossuble to police because you need an offer with a reliable sound meter device in the right place at the right time. I am glad NY is going to automate this. I used to live on a street (Guerrero St in SF) that had loud motorcycles ripping down in the middle of the night on a dai…

from your source:

> Approximately 60-80% of the large displacement motorcycles operating on our public roadways at any given time in the United States have been illegally modified

you’re missing an important qualifier in your own text (“large displacement”). your source also repeatedly says that noise disruption in and of itself is domestic terrorism, which seems… a little ABSURD to me? really? are people TERRIFIED by loud motorcycles? no: it’s a disturbance, an annoyance, a nuisance, many things. but TERRORISM it is not. i really wouldn’t put a whole lot of stock in this source of yours.

Re: New York is using cameras with microphones to ticket loud cars

#216
post #57
post #4

One egregiously loud motorcycle rolling through manhattan can be a nuisance to literally millions of people. This is unreasonable and a ticketing system like this makes a ton of sense. Police enforcement could probably solve the issue just as effectively. Cops ignore loud honking and loud cars when its right in front of them. If they would just stop ignoring such things the frequency would surely go down as well.

There's a freeway about a mile from my house. Summer nights with the windows open, I can easily be awakened by a very loud motorcycle. The freeway is raised and I'm in a sort of canyon (no line of sight to freeway, though!!). Maybe the acoustics are just perfect for my bedroom, but I doubt it's just me. There are probably a million people within earshot of this noise. Lest people think I'm a motorcycle hater: I owned…

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ce2_E1ap9d4

This comes to mind for this thread.

Re: New York is using cameras with microphones to ticket loud cars

#217
post #39

Tangent: We should outlaw leaf blowers in cities while at it. It's february and freezing out and for some reason the idiotic management in the apartment across the street has contracted some crew to do daily leaf blowers on nearly completely clean sidewalks disturbing probably hundreds of people WFH. Not to even mention how particularly awful leaf blowers are for the environment.

Have you ever spent a day landscaping?

Sure plenty of times growing up. Not sure the point of this question?

Ignoring the environmental aspect I think limited use in suburban settings is reasonable. I'm particularly focused on egregious use in urban settings when we aren't talking fall leaf collection but constant "cleaning". Obviously it's not the workers fault... it's a matter of mis-priced negative externalities. Napkin math say the noise makes 100 people WFH 10% less effective for an hour at say $50hr wage average it certainly makes more sense to just pay workers to work twice as long with brooms (if the work is even necessary in the first place).

Re: New York is using cameras with microphones to ticket loud cars

#218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What shitty red light cameras are these where the data is all secret? In my city, tickets from red light cameras include a video of the incident, which clearly shows the car and traffic light. Is that really how it works elsewhere, they just send you a ticket saying "we caught you running a red light, please pay fine"? What happens if you show up to court to contest, can't you just point out they have literally no ev…

it is extremely easy to edit a green light to a red light, just partially delay the feed. Data is meaningless.

That implies malicious intent rather than a bug causing a false positive.

Re: New York is using cameras with microphones to ticket loud cars

#219

hopefully this goes away with push to EV

There's big demand for loud cars. You really only need a couple assholes per 100,000 population to buy them and hoon around late at night for it to be a public nuisance. This isn't going away until the government bans gas cars completely or cracks down hard on existing noise regulations.

Re: New York is using cameras with microphones to ticket loud cars

#220
Would need to know more about the details, but I agree with the intent while being slightly fearful of police/prosecutions being automated.

As many have posted, loud motor vehicles are a quality of life issue for me (live on a busy street, near an intersection, and not far from a freeway). I am frustrated that obnoxiously loud vehicles are not policed. And, yes, I went through the “loud car stereo” phase of my own youth, including one ticket for volume.

My biggest fear is that police/prosecutors will become efficient at automating/scaling their prosecutions. Yes, consistency of prosecution is very important for encouraging compliance. Automated systems are less likely to be corrupted than human-centric systems where officers can choose to use their discretion for their friends/family or just people they are more likely to like.

However, we have soooo many laws, the more they are enforced, the more we will see how big of a burden the totality of law will become increasingly visible and painful to the average person.

That said, I’m not a fan of slippery slope arguments. So long as we continue to evaluate each of these automated systems as they roll out, I’m a fan of increasing quality of life through enforcing laws that are already on the books in a mostly fair way.

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