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Show HN: Automated license plate reader coverage in the USA

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Re: Show HN: Automated license plate reader coverage in the USA

#91

Post by jldugger »

yannyu wrote: post #12

I've thought about this a lot as I see more and more reckless driving in the areas I live in. Surveillance is generally a net negative, but it's also bad when you see people speeding around schools, rolling through stop signs, and running red lights. We seem to have a worst of all situations where traffic is getting increasingly difficult to enforce, driving is getting more dangerous year by year, and we're terrified…

On my way home, I noticed at a stoplight across the street from Apple Park that the driver in the lane next to me had his phone mounted up high in landscape mode and was watching the Simpsons. Just absolutely unhinged behavior lately.

Re: Show HN: Automated license plate reader coverage in the USA

#92

Post by the_sleaze_ »

dylan604 wrote: post #65
quamserena wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of the public pushback is that people almost always drive the “feels like” speed and not the posted speedlimit. We build 6 lane roads and then wonder why people go 50mph when it’s 35 posted, it’s because it’s 6 lanes and 35 feels slow. Cities profit from this in the form of speed cameras, which is why they’ve been outlawed in a lot of places.

Just because a road "feels" like it can handle more speed does not mean that it is. The wider streets are built to handle the volume of cars, not necessarily meant to become a speed way. There are several 6 lane roads in my area while being wide and well built still have many intersections only controlled by stop signs for the smaller streets with multiple intersections controlled by stop lights at the larger cross s…

Now you're relying on Jimmy "Buck" Rawgers born and raised in Billton county working at the DOT setting the speed limits and the traffic light cadence.

How many roads are 35 when they should be 50 simply because some local yokel asshole made a stink at city counsel 10 years ago and now it's impossible to change?

Re: Show HN: Automated license plate reader coverage in the USA

#93

Post by the_sleaze_ »

toss1 wrote: post #84
dylan604 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love when cities time their lights so that aggressive drivers just get hit with waiting at a red light while driving the speed limit means hitting greens for long stretches.

Yes, and about twice I've seen this done really right, wherein they post signs of the synchronization speed (e.g., "Lights Timed for 35mph"). I just get in sync with one light and adjust speed and it feels almost magic to go a few miles hitting every green light (it kind of is the macic of math). It'd be cool if more roads were implemented that way.

I have the same in my area, but instead the lights are synchronized to slow traffic as much as possible. They literally coordinate to make you stop at as many lights as possible and grid lock at rush hour so the highway doesn't get flooded.

I walk my kids to school, but when I do drive the 1.1 miles there are no less than 12 stoplights/stop signs.

Re: Show HN: Automated license plate reader coverage in the USA

#94

Post by genewitch »

sodality2 wrote: post #80
genewitch wrote: post #74

How come any area that has enough homes in the data set and ALPR have Veterinarians as the most surveilled, then Hospitals, then Libraries, usually over everything else, including food and church? The strange implication is that they're watching the vet office traffic to find people who are getting treated by vets instead of doctors? also my parish reports 0.0% across the board, and all the parishes near me. you have…

Vets/hospitals are far less common (and the former probably suffers from less tags as hospitals are more important) so the distance one must travel increases, so higher likelihood of crossing one. Especially compared to how common everything else is. If you check deflock.me, would you say that 0.0% aligns with what you expect?

i suppose that makes sense.

There's 6 cameras in the metro area per deflock.me, 3 at each Lowe's, and that's it. It's very easy to not get in range of those, at least on "my side" of the metro. How do we know that is all the ALPR in an area? Or rather, what's the confidence? I'd assume Home Depot would also have them, for example.

note: maybe i need to restart firefox, but deflock.me is the slowest "map" based site i've seen since keyhole in the late 90s

Re: Show HN: Automated license plate reader coverage in the USA

#95

Post by genewitch »

renewiltord wrote: post #77
genewitch wrote: post #74

How come any area that has enough homes in the data set and ALPR have Veterinarians as the most surveilled, then Hospitals, then Libraries, usually over everything else, including food and church? The strange implication is that they're watching the vet office traffic to find people who are getting treated by vets instead of doctors? also my parish reports 0.0% across the board, and all the parishes near me. you have…

Perhaps there's some large chain of vets run by a PE firm where the PE firm did a blanket deal.

I didn't mean to allude to this, but i heard that a lot of vet clinics are being bought by PE firms. The same way that a certain internet company is buying all the legal offices (and web medicine sites)

Re: Show HN: Automated license plate reader coverage in the USA

#96

Post by sodality2 »

genewitch wrote: post #94
sodality2 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vets/hospitals are far less common (and the former probably suffers from less tags as hospitals are more important) so the distance one must travel increases, so higher likelihood of crossing one. Especially compared to how common everything else is. If you check deflock.me, would you say that 0.0% aligns with what you expect?

i suppose that makes sense. There's 6 cameras in the metro area per deflock.me, 3 at each Lowe's, and that's it. It's very easy to not get in range of those, at least on "my side" of the metro. How do we know that is all the ALPR in an area? Or rather, what's the confidence? I'd assume Home Depot would also have them, for example. note: maybe i need to restart firefox, but deflock.me is the slowest "map" based site i…

The best thing you can do is keep an eye out and tag them manually. The second best is a FOIA to your county government - there's some good examples on deflock.me and templates on muckrack. But private ones are not going to be FOIA-able.

The quality of ALPR tagging does probably lag behind true counts - for example, Williamsburg, VA has 28 tagged on OSM, but 32 are listed in the transparency log (https://transparency.flocksafety.com/williamsburg-va-pd). Unfortunately not much can be done except spotting them out and about (or wardriving with a BLE beacon scanner: https://www.ryanohoro.com/post/spotting-flock-safety-s-falco...)

Re: Show HN: Automated license plate reader coverage in the USA

#97

Post by pastel8739 »

dylan604 wrote: post #65
quamserena wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of the public pushback is that people almost always drive the “feels like” speed and not the posted speedlimit. We build 6 lane roads and then wonder why people go 50mph when it’s 35 posted, it’s because it’s 6 lanes and 35 feels slow. Cities profit from this in the form of speed cameras, which is why they’ve been outlawed in a lot of places.

Just because a road "feels" like it can handle more speed does not mean that it is. The wider streets are built to handle the volume of cars, not necessarily meant to become a speed way. There are several 6 lane roads in my area while being wide and well built still have many intersections only controlled by stop signs for the smaller streets with multiple intersections controlled by stop lights at the larger cross s…

Basing your speed on what the road looks like may not be “okay” or “legal”, but it’s what people do. It’s just not useful to claim that individual people are the problem when this is something that is overwhelmingly true across the entire population—-a broader solution than individual responsibility is the only thing that will actually work.

Re: Show HN: Automated license plate reader coverage in the USA

#98

Post by fragmede »

autoexec wrote: post #39
yannyu wrote: post #12

I've thought about this a lot as I see more and more reckless driving in the areas I live in. Surveillance is generally a net negative, but it's also bad when you see people speeding around schools, rolling through stop signs, and running red lights. We seem to have a worst of all situations where traffic is getting increasingly difficult to enforce, driving is getting more dangerous year by year, and we're terrified…

> Surveillance is generally a net negative, but it's also bad when you see people speeding around schools, rolling through stop signs, and running red lights. The fact that these cameras are already pervasive and the problem of bad drivers hasn't been solved anywhere doesn't give me a lot of hope that these cameras are the solution to that particular problem. It seems like police can do a lot to increase enforcement…

The answer is to take the human out of the equation, and have the computer drive. Comma.ai works well enough. Tesla is mostly there. Waymo works.

Re: Show HN: Automated license plate reader coverage in the USA

#99

Post by dole »

genewitch wrote: post #75
chaps wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but it's also bad when you see people speeding around schools, rolling through stop signs, and running red lights. This is not what Flock seeks to curb.

so what do they seek to curb? freedom of movement?

“Crime.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2025/09/03/ai-st...

Re: Show HN: Automated license plate reader coverage in the USA

#100

Post by 01HNNWZ0MV43FF »

fragmede wrote: post #98
autoexec wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Surveillance is generally a net negative, but it's also bad when you see people speeding around schools, rolling through stop signs, and running red lights. The fact that these cameras are already pervasive and the problem of bad drivers hasn't been solved anywhere doesn't give me a lot of hope that these cameras are the solution to that particular problem. It seems like police can do a lot to increase enforcement…

The answer is to take the human out of the equation, and have the computer drive. Comma.ai works well enough. Tesla is mostly there. Waymo works.

Which is also bad for privacy
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