Fans Going thru Cedar Rapids

[HawkeyeDug]

"Don't just think in terms if your car is stolen. If your son or daughter takes off in your car, you will pay the fine under the law. If you wife gets nailed in your car, you pay the fine. That is great you know who is driving your car, but it only takes one time speeding in these zones for you to get ticketed. This is unjust. At least a qualified police officer can determine who is driving the car. A camera can not."

Seems pretty simple if your kids/wife was driving make them pay it. Like I said, you know who is driving your car. Bottom line, just like with insurance you need to take responsibility for who is behind the wheel of your vehicle.

"At least the police officer can pull over a person out of control. I would rather have the police officer stop the offender than have them speeding down the road and presenting a greater danger. A camera can not do this."

The cops are still out there. To the best of my knowledge they did not lay them all off.

"There have been multiple repeat offenders. The city is getting a consistent stream of revenue each week from repeat and new offenders. This is not making the streets any safer."

If camera tickets don't stop them why would tickets from a human? If they are going to be stupid enough to keep earning tickets I don't have a problem with at least taking their money to pay for whatever the money is going towards.

"A camera can not adjust for normal driving conditions. A camera can only do what is it programmed to do. I know some police officers in the city. They allow some flexibility in increased speed to allow for passing and to allow the rate of traffic to flow better. A camera can not think for itself and can not subjectively distinguish between a genuine threat on the road from what a qualified police officer can do. "

But the camera can still determine if the law is being broken or not. If you need to increase your speed enough to pass someone on a 3 lane road that you are surpassing the limit enough to get a ticket, you were probably speeding to begin with. A car with 3 mph of the speed limit should never be at an unsafe speed.

"The Speed Cameras are just a crooked and "shameless way" to raise money on the citizens of the city."

Again, these tickets are VERY easy to avoid.

 

[HawkeyeDug]

double post deleted

 

[HawkeyeDug]

Usually not a problem, but what if it was an emergency and I was trying to get to a hospital for myself or another?

Provide evidence and dispute it. Just like you would tell the cop. Difference is with the camera it doesn't take extra time explaining away to the cop, thereby negating any speeding you were doing in the first place.

 

[HaydenHawk56]

I will say it again, a camera can only rigidly document if a law was allegedly broken. It can only do what it is programmed to do. It can't determine the flow of traffic and rate of traffic in present time conditions like a qualified police officer can do patrolling the roads. For example, a person going 5-7 mph over the speed limit may be no danger to the road as a police officer would see it in the present situation based off of road conditions. A camera will not understand this concept. Even basic driver education covers the concept of moving with the normal flow of traffic. These cameras have no AI to deal with this.

I guess it is where you put your trust, in a camera, or a police officer patrolling the roads in the given situation. I put more trust in a qualified police officer more than a camera. And, certainly, a qualified police officer can pull over violators as need be where a camera can not do this.

The speed trap cameras are not the answer. And, if I was a police officer, I would not want some inferior machine doing the job that I am qualified to do. As a matter of fact, instead of going after alleged traffic violations, I would be more concerned about cleaning the SE side of town.

 

[HawkeyeDug]

I don't get what you are arguing. Of course a camera can't think logically like a person can. However the cameras have been programed, by the human, to ticket above a certain speed. You go over, you get a ticket. It is black and white. It doesn't matter if it is a desolate, open stretch of road, over the limit is over the limit and you are breaking the law. There is no gray area with the cameras, and there should be no gray area with the speed limit. There is no reason to complain about a speeding ticket. I have never been angry at a cop for giving me a speeding ticket because I was breaking the law knowingly, and at my own will.

 

[HaydenHawk56]

It is the principle here. I guess we will have to agree to disagree. Speeding in general is one of those laws that can be open to interpretation by law enforcement officials in the town. We know the speed limit is 55 (the law), but sometimes we might go 60 or 62 and police officers in the area may recognize that there is no need to ticket the motorists based off of the driving conditions and how they are operating their automobiles. However, a camera will not know this distinction.

At least when you get a ticket from an officer, you are getting from a human being that has some reasoning skills.

I simply disagree that there should be a black or a white on if you should get a speeding ticket or not based off of a speed camera. Leave it to qualified police officers to make that judgment call. This, of course, will always vary from officer to officer and town to town.

However, this is just one problem I have with the red light cameras and I have noted above the other problems they can and do cause.

At least when you get a ticket from a police officer you are getting a ticket from someone who has basic reasoning skills and justification for issuing in the first place (law being broken and your total risk to the road in consideration).
I have a relative that use to be pretty high up in the highway patrol system so I know what I am talking about on officer discretion.

 

[tm3308]

I don't get what you are arguing. Of course a camera can't think logically like a person can. However the cameras have been programed, by the human, to ticket above a certain speed. You go over, you get a ticket. It is black and white. It doesn't matter if it is a desolate, open stretch of road, over the limit is over the limit and you are breaking the law. There is no gray area with the cameras, and there should be no gray area with the speed limit. There is no reason to complain about a speeding ticket. I have never been angry at a cop for giving me a speeding ticket because I was breaking the law knowingly, and at my own will.

I think I would rather have law enforcement be handled by logical means. If a person is ignoring the flow of traffic and trying to go 90mph when the majority of motorists are going around 70-75, ticket them. If the person is going 75-80, let them be.

I've gotten a speeding ticket where I wasn't knowingly speeding (I missed the 25mph sign off the 1st Avenue exit in Coralville, assumed it was 35). That kind of thing happens.

When the flow of traffic is moving at a faster pace than the speed limit, it should be fine, as long as there is no one driving out of control. Cameras can't distinguish anything but the rigid interpretation of the law. It's no different than a vending machine not accepting a dollar bill because it has a crease in it. A human being knows it's a dollar bill.

 

[herkyattack]

I agree that it wont stop people from speeding. If you get pulled over by an officer and even get a warning, the vast majority of people will slow down so they dont get in trouble again. With the cameras, a person could end up getting 3 or 4 violations without knowing it. They aren't getting a ticket right away, so what is making them slow down?

 

[hoffman22103]

Hey folks, this stuff works great. We have the stupid speed cameras out here in the DC area and I bought this stuff after my Fiance got 3 tickets. We followed the instructions and I got ballsy and tested it about three months ago on the camera and I haven't received a ticket in the mail. I'm pretty confident it works. It's only like $18 and saves paying that $75. I don't know what the limit is out there for the cameras, but its 12 MPH over here.

For some reason it won't let me put the link in. Google Phantomplate Photo blocker. It should have a guy kicking a speed trap camera on the can.

 

[Hawke]

Hey folks, this stuff works great. We have the stupid speed cameras out here in the DC area and I bought this stuff after my Fiance got 3 tickets. We followed the instructions and I got ballsy and tested it about three months ago on the camera and I haven't received a ticket in the mail. I'm pretty confident it works. It's only like $18 and saves paying that $75. I don't know what the limit is out there for the cameras, but its 12 MPH over here.

For some reason it won't let me put the link in. Google Phantomplate Photo blocker. It should have a guy kicking a speed trap camera on the can.

The Google search turns up a lot of reviews from consumers calling it a fraud. Mythbusters busted it as well.

 

[hoffman22103]

The Google search turns up a lot of reviews from consumers calling it a fraud. Mythbusters busted it as well.

I still believe in it. I did the testing myself as well as I have recommended to friends and we have not received any tickets since we used the product. I bet most of those people did not follow the instructions properly. You have to take your plates off clean them very well and then apply the product. I don't care what others say, this stuff really works. I don't work for the company, I just know a product that works and thought I'd share it. Here's some more evidence:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_e2BC_kXis&NR=1]YouTube - Photo Radar red light camera license plate spray[/ame]

 

[SPGroth]

Also, if these speed cameras are unbiased why aren't they ticketing people 0-5 over? If they are going to knock those offenders down to no ticket why aren't they reducing the level of offense for all drivers? Maybe nit-picky, but it is a valid question.

A newspaper article recently asked that question. The comment was that not everyone's spedometer is calibrated the same or accurately, so they are not counting those that are 1-5 mph over the speed limit.

 

[hoffman22103]

The proper way to clean your plates before you apply the spray:
Remove what is on your plate now with acetone,then clean your plate well with water and IVORY soap there is no residue with ivory soap (makes sure that ALL soap is off the plate, dry it with a lint free cloth) Then spray about 5-6 med. coats on letting each coat dry about 15 min. the last coat leave for 2h to dry. Place them back on your car and keep your plates clean.

 

[SPGroth]

So if you are found to be speeding at both of the North bound cameras, do you get two tickets?

Yes. If you are traveling north on I-380 and both cameras catch you speeding, you will get 2 tickets. The posted the results of the camera. There was one car, being driven by a Cedar Rapids Roughrider Hockey player, that received 17 tickets. At $75 per ticket, that gets a little pricey!

 

[Hawke]

The proper way to clean your plates before you apply the spray:
Remove what is on your plate now with acetone,then clean your plate well with water and IVORY soap there is no residue with ivory soap (makes sure that ALL soap is off the plate, dry it with a lint free cloth) Then spray about 5-6 med. coats on letting each coat dry about 15 min. the last coat leave for 2h to dry. Place them back on your car and keep your plates clean.

I'm not saying I believe that it does or does not work as I have no personal experience with it. If it somehow renders your license plates unreadable to the camera I could see how it would work. My method for avoiding tickets is to not go more than 5 mph over the limit. I'm no longer too concerned with shaving a few minutes off my drive time.

 

[W4hawks]

This might be a dumb question but how accurate are the radars cops put up that tell you how fast you are going? I swear everyone I drive by is 2 miles lower then what my car says.