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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

#331
post #111

hopefully this goes away with push to EV

There is a new iteration of an old car (was it the Camaro?) and the engineers had to hack the motor to make it louder because customers were complaining the car was not as loud as it used to be.

https://www.pocket-lint.com/cars/news/ford/131151-ford-admit...

Maybe you're thinking about Mustangs? - I think the engineers came up with a great solution!

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

#332
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…

The lack of enforcement appears to be causing an increase in bad driving[1]. Anyhow I view this as a good thing. The people spoke loudly that they wanted less policing and they got what they asked for. This isn’t sarcasm either, but I am genuinely surprised that government actually listened. Now I personally don’t want depolicing, but I accept that in a democracy I won’t always get my way.

[1] https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/usdot-releases-...

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

#333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, I haven't found that to be true at all. Some are louder than others (I assume they've been modded so?) but they're ~always quite loud and do not fade into the general background noise of the road.

I found it to be true, all bikes are virtually silent when I drive. All the road noise is just monotonous hum in the background even with music off.

Huh. Motorcycles are on a pretty short list of types of vehicles that startle or distract me with noise fairly often, along with emergency vehicles (popping on their sirens) and semi trucks (if they happen to rev to go up a hill or pass while right alongside me, or use a Jake Brake while fairly close).

Cars almost never do unless they've clearly got some severe problems with their mufflers, even though ordinary non emergency cars must represent something like 80% of vehicles I encounter on highways in my city. Even for the loud-bass types, the radius in which I can hear that and the volume is lower than typical "Hog"-alike motorcycles. Motorcycles are also the only non-emergency vehicles that sometimes sound really loud inside my house about 300 meters—and a bunch of trees—from the nearest highway (though that's mostly a couple of jerks who seem to like to race on that stretch of highway every so often, on what sound like racing-style bikes, not Harleys)

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

#334
post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ugh. This is so tiresome Why do some people find it necessary to turn every discussion into some racism witch-hunt?

The Stop and Frisk policy was a racist witch hunt. This isn't a hypothetical about policing in general, or even NYC cops in specific. And yeah, I'm sick of racism too. But blaming the messengers isn't doing any good.

[deleted]

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

#335

Due process requires an accuser to take the stand at a hearing for cross-examination if requested by the defendant. All defendants have this right. Good luck getting the entire development team to explain the code, line by line, in front of a judge, explaining how the audio is always in-sync with the vehicle on screen.

[deleted]

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

#336

I wonder legally how 'loud' is assessed. A microphone is subject to a number of environmental anomalies- wind direction, a box truck next to a vehicle reflecting sound back to the mic etc. A camera is a good visual representation of a vehicle being over a line, visual location speeding evidence accompanying data etc. This pilot project seems dangerously arbitrary. (Not a fan of overly loud vehicles but I am of civil…

One acceptable method would be that getting caught subjects you to having an inspection done to test your vehicle. With enough cameras, it would become too difficult to keep swapping parts for tests.

My thoughts were really about 'getting caught': being summoned because some other vehicle was making a lot of noise, or there was background noise and your vehicle was then tagged, resulting in your having to spend time and money going for government inspections is highly questionable. It also raises a lot of other civil liberties issues about public recording

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

#337

Ah just couple more steps away from Demolition man and receiving on the spot tickets for cursing after you stub a toe. I want to like Democrats and I prefer their take on sexual and societal freedom, but they are always doubling down on taking away our rights to privacy just like the police state (violence) loving right wing people in the USA.

[deleted]

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

#338
post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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,…

Every city cop I know is checked out and counting the days to retirement. They have families and don’t want their lives ruined because an encounter with a person of the wrong race went bad.

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

#339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One acceptable method would be that getting caught subjects you to having an inspection done to test your vehicle. With enough cameras, it would become too difficult to keep swapping parts for tests.

My thoughts were really about 'getting caught': being summoned because some other vehicle was making a lot of noise, or there was background noise and your vehicle was then tagged, resulting in your having to spend time and money going for government inspections is highly questionable. It also raises a lot of other civil liberties issues about public recording

I think this is just an acceptable responsibility that comes with driving on roads. When you have the ability to cause massive amounts of damage, you have to accept that there is a lot of regulation and compliance to deal with to keep this damage under control.

You wouldn't think twice about requiring private pilots to be subject to all kinds of safety and management rules and I think it's fair the same applies to roads.

If you don't want to take on this responsibility, take a train or bicycle.

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

#340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most interesting to me are how many tickets police and politicians rack up with traffic enforcement cameras. "Do you know who I am!?" works on people, but doesn't work on robots. That's a good thing.

In Australia, rich people have their cars registered to companies so they are not responsible for the demerit points. If the only punishment is a fine then it's only a rule for poor people. edit: Just googled and they may have closed that loophole, I have no idea if any of it is actually enforced though. My point about fines only affecting poor people still stands.

Given how prevalent and regressive fines are I really don't understand why there isn't more noise about changing them. A $350 fine could be trivial for one person and life crushing for another. Something like mandatory community service would actually cause rich assholes some pain.

Of course there are probably plenty of ways to game community service so there would need to be strict requirments, or maybe there's a totally different system that would be more fair.

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