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

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

#171

Post by jackson1442 » Sun, Dec 13, 2020, 8:07 AM UTC

viraptor wrote: post #118

01100011 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's stupid for one reason. As an engineer I often considered 10% tolerance to be sufficient. I think enforcing speed limits to anything greater than 10% is just silly. I often drift +/- more than 10% of my intended speed. It's just human nature. I pay more attention to potential dangers and obstacles, and less on whether I am within a % of the speed limit, and I really hope other drivers do as well.

Speed limiters and cruise control are pretty common in modern cars. You can set your mental intended speed lower and won't drift as much. This is from experience of switching to a car with speed notification beeper (very low tech) - it took maybe 2 weeks to stop drifting over almost completely without paying extra attention. We ended up treating it as a game with gf - shortest time for a 300km drive with no beeps.

I have a modern car. 2015 Kia Optima, and it has basic cruise control. I don't know what conditions you're driving in, but I think it's fucking scary to drive with it on unless there's a completely open highway in front of me. Not controlling my own following distance feels like I'm about to hit the car in front of me at any given moment, especially on a road where the speed limit is 75mph and you have people going anything from 60-90mph.

Never heard of a speed limiter. As you can probably tell from the "freedom units," I'm from the US if that matters.

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

#172

Post by josefx » Sun, Dec 13, 2020, 8:07 AM UTC

smabie wrote: post #122

spoonjim wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

As far as I can find the lawyers are trying to get the only objective piece of evidence - the cars own logs - thrown out. Claim the witnesses are unreliable at judging speed and are clinging to an early statement that it might have been "low speed collision".

If we give them the benefit of the doubt why would they try to get rid of evidence that they were driving within legal limits? Especially when they have to deal with several "unreliable" witnesses claiming that they were driving too fast?

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

#173

Post by peteretep » Sun, Dec 13, 2020, 8:09 AM UTC

fergie wrote: post #163

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…

"as I understand it, persons living in Scotland can drive back home drunk in rural areas as the only person they are ever likely to hurt its themselves." As a person who grew up in the Scottish countryside I can assure you that is absolutely not the case, and drunk driving is _extremely_ frowned upon. In fact Scotland has generally had tougher drink driving regulations than England. ( https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scot…

> This kind of comment could be interpreted as casual racism (casting Scots as child-like alcoholics living in a semi-regulated playground)

Really?

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

#174

Post by est31 » Sun, Dec 13, 2020, 8:10 AM UTC

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.

IDK to me that sounds like downplaying the issue. Drunk driving is not ok, not even in remote parts of Scotland.

As for driving 35 in a 30 zone... I can agree that it's not much of an issue if it's next to a school and you drive in the middle of the night: there won't be any children entering or leaving the school at that time. But generally, these racers drive way faster, and don't give a fuck about any of these rules, red lights, etc. They see the roads as a racetrack. On the computer or console, they can play GTA V or whatever, I don't care. Just if they do it in the real world they deserve harsh punishments, as the risk of killing people is so extremely high.

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

#175

Post by jl6 » Sun, Dec 13, 2020, 8:11 AM UTC

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…

Sorry, you’re totally wrong.

The spirit of the law is not just to save third party lives.

When you cause an accident, you drain society’s emergency response resources (and increase the premiums of those in your insurance pool).

35mph vs 30mph is a terrible example - this is the scenario where pedestrians and cyclists are most likely to be around. 75mph vs 70mph would have been a better example.

Driving at night is more dangerous than at day because of the reduced visibility.

Driving when fewer other road users are around is safer than when it’s busy, but you don’t have perfect knowledge and there may be road users you haven’t seen, especially at night.

There’s no objective moral cliff edge between 70mph and 70mph+ε, but there is one between complying with the law and breaking it. Society collectively draws the line somewhere and you don’t get to unilaterally decide everybody else is wrong. I’ve heard people saying “I was only going a little over 30!” called speedo pedos, because it’s exactly like saying “she was only a little underage!”.

Check out the sibling comments for examples of people who thought they knew better but didn’t.

The thing about Scotland is completely wrong, I have no idea why you would think that.

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

#176

Post by quicklyfrozen » Sun, Dec 13, 2020, 8:12 AM UTC

tobylane wrote: post #87

jp0d wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hahaha.. Thank you. James May is a legend. Even though he is friends with two petrol heads, he owns a Tesla and a Toyota Mirai. He has an open mind towards futuristic technologies. I like watching anything by James May. Seems like a good bloke. For some reason he doesn't like the French! :D

I think all three of them have owned electric cars for a while. They’re all futuristic in some way.

Geoff doesn't count :-)

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

#177

Post by arethuza » Sun, Dec 13, 2020, 8:12 AM UTC

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…

"persons living in Scotland can drive back home drunk in rural areas as the only person they are ever likely to hurt its themselves"

That might have been true 40 or 50 years ago - but drinking and driving is how regarded very harshly in Scotland both legally and socially.

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

#178

Post by Fnoord » Sun, Dec 13, 2020, 8:12 AM UTC

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.

Surely there are animals frolicking around in these remote parts of Scotland. Think of deer. Traffic rules generally make sense, you should follow them. I live near a school. Its 30 km/hour around the school. People drive 50-60. Its dangerous, even for me. This selfish behavior has to stop.

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

#179

Post by Fnoord » Sun, Dec 13, 2020, 8:17 AM UTC

est31 wrote: post #174

generalizations wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

IDK to me that sounds like downplaying the issue. Drunk driving is not ok, not even in remote parts of Scotland. As for driving 35 in a 30 zone... I can agree that it's not much of an issue if it's next to a school and you drive in the middle of the night: there won't be any children entering or leaving the school at that time. But generally, these racers drive way faster, and don't give a fuck about any of these rul…

The thing is expectations and boundaries. As a participant of traffic you need to be able to feel secure, regardless of day or night. So in your example (and I live near a school and 30 km/hour street near it), if there is hardly any traffic at night you don't expect anyone either. Which might make someone driving 50 km/hour even more dangerous than when everyone is driving too hard constantly during day.

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

#180

Post by forest_dweller » Sun, Dec 13, 2020, 8:19 AM UTC

dazc wrote: post #162

forest_dweller wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually used to live near there and have driven down that road numerous times. * @7pm in the morning in the winter the whole area can be fogged up and it was dark. I've driven down and cycled down there when it wouldn't have been safe doing 15mph. * Animals can be hard to see, even in good conditions. Especially the donkeys, they are grey, on a black road and the sky is normally grey in England. Many of the animal…

I agree visibility can be poor but is easilly mitigated by driving at a suitable speed. The only problem, of course, is other drivers behind getting frustrated and overtaking recklessly. The other day one person was so determined to pass me that he almost hit a car coming in the other direction. For all that he arrived in Fordingbridge (2 miles further on) literally 3 seconds before I did.

> I agree visibility can be poor but is easilly mitigated by driving at a suitable speed.

Not at all. I've been driving at what seems like a sensible speed for the conditions and suddenly there is a deer right in front of my car. You cannot see some of the animals until you are right on top of them.

The fact is that there is too much traffic, there is insufficient infrastructure (and you probably can't add a lot because you will spoil the place) and there are animals freely roaming around. It is recipe of animal deaths in that area.

I dunno what the answer is. Paying the police to put up another gatso van isn't going to solve it though.