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

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

#121

Post by AnthonyMouse »

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.

> very car should have a chip. Once you are in a speed limit - your car can't go faster.

This is actually dangerous because people need the ability to use discretion.

Suppose you're transporting a part to repair a machine which is causing a fatality every five seconds as long as it's offline. Getting there 20 seconds faster saves four lives. Do you still want a chip that prevents you from exceeding the speed limit?

> Oh wait, this wont generate revenue - so it wont work. Never mind.

This is a major reason why the US doesn't have many speed cameras either. Also why most of the speed limits are set 10-15 MPH below the ordinary speed of travel. If violations are prolific and enforcement is sporadic, they can generate fine revenue whenever they want.

If enforcement is automatic then people figure that out and do what's necessary to avoid the fine, but then you're left with an expensive boondoggle that isn't generating revenue.

It also deprives the police of the excuse they currently have to pull over cars at whim when everybody is speeding at all times, and they wouldn't be happy to lose that at all.

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

#122

Post by smabie »

spoonjim wrote: post #113
Sebguer wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

America, as well, even in broad daylight: https://www.fox13news.com/news/suspected-bayshore-street-rac...

I'd have no hesitation as a juror sending these scumbags to life without parole.

But you don't even know any of the facts of the case? How would you have no hesitation when you have no idea what happened and haven't even listened to the defenses argument?

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

#123

Post by dazc »

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.

Yet surpising how infrequently you see the 20mph being adhered to. These people, already travelling very short distances, must be saving at least 30 seconds a year?

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

#124

Post by andylynch »

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.

It’s common for trucks here to be governed to 70mph with a sign on the back saying so. Pretty sure it’s an insurance thing. Recently I’ve seen the odd ones mentioning 40mph in town too.

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

#125

Post by dazc »

spoonjim wrote: post #74
rconti wrote: post #3

I'm curious about the context of the $13,000 price tag. Is this a slight upcharge? Or an order of magnitude? I'm what the Brits might call a "keen motorist", but as someone who considers speed enforcement a necessary evil, there's a world of difference between paying a bit more for much better tech, versus way more. If this costs 4x what a normal radar gun costs, one must ask "what is the problem we're solving", and…

The point of distributing this technology is to make every motorist feel that nowhere is "safe" for them to speed. It doesn't matter if there are no cops around, their beams can get you and fine you, and hopefully that keeps people at safe driving speeds.

Yet it's well known many UK motoways have speed cameras at regular distances as well as average speed cameras in many places, and there are still huge numbers of people caught by them?

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

#126

Post by viraptor »

acdha wrote: post #10
plasticchris wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is simple: speeding tickets are a revenue stream.

People who break the law like to say this but I've never lived anywhere where, if that were true, the city wasn't inexplicably leaving tons of money on the table. Usually it's a token effort at addressing safety issues caused by poor road design and an excuse officers like to use to stop someone when they want to search their car. EDIT: as a thought experiment, imagine that we went full cyberpunk hell-future and they…

I don't think it's very common, but you can find places where you can plainly see that's the reason: mainly non-local tourist traffic, poor signage, no other warnings about a dangerous area or speed checks, hidden speed cameras but no police present.

This translates to: we don't care you're not going to drive here again, or that you didn't notice the sign. We don't even care if you slow down or not.

Not being sour here. I got caught at a well signed area in my local neighbourhood area - now I'm driving there slower.

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

#127

Post by brewdad »

scott_w wrote: post #102
XorNot wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree speed camera are necessary but "time of travel" speed cameras are absolutely violating the intent of the law, which is to have people drive safely. Part of driving safely is that you may need to speed up to avoid a situation, or change lanes safely or what have you - a time of travel camera (in the way they get implemented which is identical to single-point speed cameras AFAIK) is essentially just a random ti…

There are exactly 0 situations that require you to break the speed limit to become “safe.” The UK Highway Code and driving lessons are very explicit in how you respond to emergencies and “speed up” is not on the list.

There can be but only after you have already been inattentive or negligent leading up to the situation.

My teen is less than a year into his license. The other night he was driving us in an unfamiliar area and missed a sign indicating that the 3 lanes were merging into 2. He found himself at the merge point completely blocking a car trying to merge. Yes, the merging vehicle is obligated to yield but speeding up for a few seconds with open road in front of him was the safer move than braking hard or maintaining speed and hoping the merging vehicle yielded appropriately before it ran out of pavement.

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

#128

Post by petre »

roywiggins wrote: post #70
ransom1538 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

EU has been making some noises about doing exactly this. https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/288592-eu-wants-speed-go...

Best keep my old car then. Some of the measures are useful though, some like alcohol interlocks are dumb, will trigger too many false positives or are easily circumvented. Compliance by 2024 is actually a hidden subsidy to the auto industry. How would they retrofit lane assist on an older vehicle? You'd have to buy a new one.

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

#129

Post by onion2k »

Noumenon72 wrote: post #100
gorgoiler wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The number of people who justify driving as fast as possible to "save time" and then waste lots of time on other pointless activities is quite incredible. It's almost as if they're not really concerned about time at all...

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

#130

Post by nitrogen »

bigmattystyles wrote: post #119
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…

Except if you do get hurt, and even if it is just you, the rest of us are, via social contract, obligated to spend common resources to come rescue you and pay for your medical bills. I know you could make this argument against any activity like rock climbing, but then lobby your government. Even if I grant the response I’m expecting, I dont want to be saved or helped if I injure myself, one, bullshit. Two, even if th…

In the US, you are responsible for your own medical bills and ambulance costs if you are in an accident that wasn't someone else's fault.
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