Cheezy Photo Radar Speeding Tickets

[JThompson]

My wife and I spent a week in Savannah, Ga on vacation last year. A month or so after we got home, I got a letter from the police dept. with a citation for running a red light and pictures to show it. I knew when it happened and I was making a U-turn (legal) as the light was turning red.

I sent them my $76.00 and promised myself to remind folks every time I remembered it. If I lived in Savannah, I would have gone to court with it.

FWIW

dj

Savannah is horrid on parking tickets too!

[dajarrel]

My wife and I spent a week in Savannah, Ga on vacation last year. A month or so after we got home, I got a letter from the police dept. with a citation for running a red light and pictures to show it. I knew when it happened and I was making a U-turn (legal) as the light was turning red.

I sent them my $76.00 and promised myself to remind folks every time I remembered it. If I lived in Savannah, I would have gone to court with it.

FWIW

dj

Savannah is horrid on parking tickets too!

Yeah, we always made sure we had a roll of quarters in the truck

dj

but on the good side, they were having a week long jazz festival. Every night was a different venue.

we had a great time.

dj

[JThompson]

My wife and I spent a week in Savannah, Ga on vacation last year. A month or so after we got home, I got a letter from the police dept. with a citation for running a red light and pictures to show it. I knew when it happened and I was making a U-turn (legal) as the light was turning red.

I sent them my $76.00 and promised myself to remind folks every time I remembered it. If I lived in Savannah, I would have gone to court with it.

FWIW

dj

Savannah is horrid on parking tickets too!

Yeah, we always made sure we had a roll of quarters in the truck

dj

but on the good side, they were having a week long jazz festival. Every night was a different venue.

we had a great time.

dj

There's a little dive over by the old fort... North side? that has the best crab cakes I ever had. It's where all the locals go to eat and have a beer. They don't rape you either... I think it was $2.50 for a beer and like $6 for the cakes.

Edited April 3, 2008 by JThompson

[EricW]

On the highway the state troopers patrol the road pretty aggressively. A week does not go by without me seeing a traffic stop turn into them putting someone in the back of the car and finding some sort of contraband in the car. I wonder how many criminals were stopped in their tracks by an observant cop in a prowler car doing his job. I don't see how technology can replace that. The cameras will generate revenue, but not stop people with no insurance, other issues, etc.

That's the real rub here: the state sees cops are revenue generators not as LEO's.

The situation is the same here. We have a massive State Patrol presence here. I hate it, but I know that they're pulling a huge amount of drugs off the streets because I-90 is a dope superhighway. And you know what the rationalization will be with the cameras: now we can cut staff and generate the same revenue and not pay salaries.

[Cactustactical]

The city of Scottsdale added 6+ cameras along the 101 in both directions last year as a "pilot" which ran for 6 months or so. After the pilot ended, they were able to play with the statistics enough to "prove" that the average speed limit dropped on the 101 by quite a few mph and saved lives.

Not that the millions of dollars in revenue that came in from the pilot had anything to do with the decision. Since the 101 is a state highway, the state is now administering the 101 photo radar and has decided to put the cameras up all over the state as a "speed deterent". They have not announced where the state wide cameras will be, but can you imagine how much money the state will bring in when there are 90 - 100 cameras at the bottom of hills or in the middle of mile long straightaways out in the middle of nowhere?

Of course the fact that the state is facing a multi billion dollar deficit for poor fiscal management has nothing to do with the camera decision, does it?

I really used to like the state of Arizona and its freedoms, but it just isn't the same anymore. I can not imagine how bad it is in a lot of states if Arizona is viewed as a place to come to and be free.

[G-ManBart]

If you get dinged in AZ (read the 101 in Scottsdale) and do not live in state you might "forget" about it when the ticket arrives in the mail. AZ law is that the ticket must be personally served or you do not have to appear. Mail does not constitue proper service in this state. Scottsdale will eventually send out someone to serve you if you live in state (sorry Jimmy) but they will not, the last I heard, go out of state to serve you so the ticket will die an appropriate death.

I'm not so sure about that. I got on in Mesa while at Area-2 last year. They mailed it to me and part of the paperwork mentioned that they would charge me for the cost of having it served in NM, which would be expensive. I wound up taking a local driver's safety course and didn't have to pay the $200 fine, but it cost me nearly as much by the time I paid the school guy and Mesa....probably $175 total.

All they do is generate cash for the politicians since they're never placed where they might do some good...put them in an active school zone?...okay, maybe not a bad idea. Put them at a big intersection where there are never pedestrians and few accidents?.....cash cow

[TaterHead]

I read all the crap that came with the ticket today. Turns out radar is not even involved. No wonder I had no warning from my detector! They put sensors in the road bed. 1984 was a long time ago, but we still are dealling with it.

[kgunz11]

I read all the crap that came with the ticket today. Turns out radar is not even involved. No wonder I had no warning from my detector! They put sensors in the road bed. 1984 was a long time ago, but we still are dealling with it.

THAT is called a speed trap. Not what most people think of when you hear those words, but that is what it is in truest form. The "trap" is the box in which the speed is measured. At all of the major race tracks they use a "trap" to measure the speed of the cars going down the track.

[Punkin Chunker]

Highway 260 in Star Valley, AZ. Headed for Yuma Charity Match. Four lane highway posted at 45 mph. Nailed me, I don't even know when or where, at 57. $187.00 ticket!!!

Star Valley will never get any more purchases from me! No food, no fuel, no nothing.

Shooters, beware, the highway robber still lives.

There are a lot of places in Europe where cameras are used for traffic enforcement. Germany is huge on it.

I found a way to beat 'em all, though.

Slowed down to the speed limit (okay, slightly over). Didn't push the lights.

Seemed to work fine -- went ticket-free for the rest of the time there.

Edit to add: But it took FOREVER to get anywhere (except on the autobahn ).

Edited April 4, 2008 by Punkin Chunker

[Johann the Horrible]

I live in South Africa and have a few problems with the concept of camera traps. Port Elizabeth is a small city but has 15 traps and 58 Traffic officers. This includes the guys driving offices and doing license tests.

You have no opportunity to scrutinize the traps to see if they were put up correctly. In one case a radar trap caught an elderly lady doing 300+Km/h(186 mph), it turned out that the camera was hidden under a tree and a branch was triggering the camera. Hundreds of motorists were caught by the same trap. A lady friend of mine was caught doing 135Km/h(83 mph) in a 60 km/h(37) zone on a small 125cc scooter. The thing could hardly reach 60!! After paying to see the photo it turned out that the trapped vehicle was a BMW and the plate was not clear- they just assumed that it might be her and as she was squealing about it they would look at it again to see if they could finger someone else.

As I work very long hours and is home so seldom I just ignore the threats I get in the post- in SA they have to serve a summons personally. This costs the Traffic police to drive out to my house several times( I live about 55 km outside town) and they routinely give up after a while. The worst most of them know me well since I was their firearms trainer- the guy that does the summonses never pitched to be trained so he does not know me.

As a retired cop I hate camera traps- they are just a source of revenue and does not cause people dot lower their speed. By the time they get the ticket in the post they cannot even remember the occurrence so there is no link between the "offense" and the punishment. If you want people to stop speeding you stop them while speeding- not some weeks later. Because there is so few traffic policemen in my area most super bikes run without number plates and because of that we have a huge problem with hi-speed related crashes. At the end of the day there is no substitute for for real policing.

[-JQ-]

Got OnStar?! -grrrr-

Please elaborate...

Since I also was on that route, IIRC there was a pair of cameras facing one another, very soon after the posted speed change. I would expect one was for the rear, since not all states require front plates (including NM), and the other was on the windshield. Hoping nothing appears in my mailbox.

I was just referring to the data stored in your vehicle and how it is starting to be used against you. For example...insurance companys downloading your black box/onstar for incident data...or the vehicle can email you when you need an oil change (new GM feature), etc ,etc

Also that rental car with GPS can track your speeding.

I miss my 71 maveric...its ok...I wasn't embarrased about owning it then either.

Sorry about the drift...drift off

[bountyhunter]

Do what my uncle did and mail them back a picture of the money.

A guy out here did that and they mailed him a picture of a set of hancuffs.

Seriously.

He paid the fine.

[bgary]

Also that rental car with GPS can track your speeding.

Yup. And, depending on the company, the fine print on your rental agreement *may* say that they can change the rental-rate, retroactively, if their tracking data indicates that you violated your side of the agreement by the way you drove.

B

[Seth]

I got one in the mail from Washington DC metro 2 weeks ago. I considered taking it to the range to shoot a bunch of nice round .45 SWC holes in it... but then I read the fine print:

No points, no effect on your license... just a fine. Basically its a clandestine way for DC to make money. After I saw that I was REALLY pissed.

Seth (paid the fine and grumbled about it for too long)

Edited April 5, 2008 by Sethmark

[STInky]

Kinda on topic, and for sure hate forum material:

The people that bitch the loudest about Photo Radar Speeding tickets?

Cops.

On duty, but just patrolling. Not responding to any type of call or emergency.

They seem to think that they are exempt.

Grrrrrr.

Bill

They ARE exempt, don't you know? Ask any one of them and they'll tell you. In actuality, unless their lights are on they are not suppose to break the posted speed limits, answering a call or not.

What.....Do you have a Policy & Procedure book from your local Police Department ???

How do you know what they are supposed to do and not supposed to do ????

The people that complain about how fast they see police officers driving down the road are the same people who complain when an officer doesn't arrive quickly enough when they have an emergency and call the police.

[kgunz11]

Kinda on topic, and for sure hate forum material:

The people that bitch the loudest about Photo Radar Speeding tickets?

Cops.

On duty, but just patrolling. Not responding to any type of call or emergency.

They seem to think that they are exempt.

Grrrrrr.

Bill

They ARE exempt, don't you know? Ask any one of them and they'll tell you. In actuality, unless their lights are on they are not suppose to break the posted speed limits, answering a call or not.

What.....Do you have a Policy & Procedure book from your local Police Department ???

How do you know what they are supposed to do and not supposed to do ????

The people that complain about how fast they see police officers driving down the road are the same people who complain when an officer doesn't arrive quickly enough when they have an emergency and call the police.

Nope, no policy and procedure book, was just in the sheriff's office last week when he was chewing out one of his guys because of it. I understand when responding to a call which requires discretion such as a robbery or something like that. But speeding for no reason is just that, and there is a reaon there are laws against it, it just isn't safe. I mean no disrespect to police/LE, but a few bad apples can reflect poorly on the good guys.

And you're right, I did complain when it took an Alabama State Trooper 3 1/2 hours to respond to an accident I was in back in February involving an almost head on collision. I was traveling down a rural dirt road when an off duty police officer was coming from the other direction and we met in a curve. I got off the road trying to evade and he locked up his brakes. His vehicle struck my vehicle in the front fender. When he got out fo the car he asked if I was ok and then said "I shouldn't have been going that fast". I have nothing against police officers, many of my friends are, one of my mentors is a Captain for his local department.