~> Speed Traps : (
#1
04-09-2009 | 05:53 AM
~> Speed Traps : (
Speed Trap: What a Police Officer Uses to
Catch You in your Super Fast Monte Carlo
Catch You in your Super Fast Monte Carlo
Know How They Catch You Speeding 
? ? ?
? ? ?I swear `Officer, I wasn't speeding 
Officer: You just can't go slow in a Super Super `Space Monte
4-Sure
Officer: You just can't go slow in a Super Super `Space Monte
4-Sure
by Kevin Ransom | AOL Autos
Posted: 08 April 09
With HP wireless printers, you could have printed this from any room in the house. Live wirelessly. Print wirelessly.
Of course no one likes getting a speeding ticket, and who hasn't cried out, "You gotta be kidding me!" upon learning that a heavy foot just lightened your wallet by $150 or $200? But the sad truth is, the best way to avoid that kind of a bite is to just slow down, because police officers -- whether they be city cops, state troopers or county sheriff's deputies -- definitely have technology on their side.
At this point in the history of highway driving, everyone knows that the most popular police speed traps employ good old-fashioned radar. In this scenario, of course, a police officer will stealthily park his or her police car out of the view of oncoming motorists, perhaps under an overpass, in a ditch in the middle of the freeway or behind a billboard.
Then, the police officer will flip on a radar unit that transmits radio waves at particular frequencies. The waves bounce off the target, in this case, a car that the police officer thinks is speeding, and those waves are then picked up by a receiver. The shift in frequencies tells the police officer how fast the car is going.
In recent years, however, more and more police departments have been using laser guns, either in addition to or instead of radar. "We began using the laser guns about 10 years ago," says one former police officer from a midwestern state, who asked that we not use his real name. We'll call him Jack.
"They're actually more efficient than radar. The laser guns can pinpoint a specific car much more accurately," says Jack. The other advantage to using a laser gun is that the laser light can't be detected by those pricey radar detectors often used by drivers who would really rather speed with impunity -- or is that immunity?
One of the more sly methods that police officers use to detect hot-footing motorists is aerial detection. Typically, this is done by painting white lines at either end of a stretch of highway
-- usually a quarter-mile or half-mile long. A police officer in a helicopter or plane will time how long it takes the driver to travel the distance between the lines. "That allows the spotter to calculate the driver's speed," says Jack. "He can then just call ahead to an officer in a patrol car on the ground that's another two or three miles down the highway, and tell him, 'green Taurus, left lane.'"
One of the more sly methods that police officers use to detect hot-footing motorists is aerial detection. Typically, this is done by painting white lines at either end of a stretch of highway
-- usually a quarter-mile or half-mile long. A police officer in a helicopter or plane will time how long it takes the driver to travel the distance between the lines. "That allows the spotter to calculate the driver's speed," says Jack. "He can then just call ahead to an officer in a patrol car on the ground that's another two or three miles down the highway, and tell him, 'green Taurus, left lane.'"
In another aerial speed-detection technique, the police officer simply does a visual estimate of the speed of the cars below, and compares it to the "ground speed" of the helicopter based on using visual targets along the highway.
There is yet another method to catch speeders, and it doesn't require a police officer to be physically present at the speed trap location. Speed cameras are attached to lampposts or telephone poles and are programmed to snap photos of speeding vehicles. While speed cameras have been employed on a comparatively limited basis in the United States, they've been used more extensively in Europe, Canada and other parts of the world for more than 30 years, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
This method can deliver a delayed shock to the system of a speeder, since the driver isn't pulled over on the spot. He won't know that he's gotten a speeding ticket until he receives the eye-popping infraction notice in the mail. If you have a problem controlling your tongue in the presence of a police officer who has just written you a $200 speeding ticket, this ticketing system might be your favorite.
This method can deliver a delayed shock to the system of a speeder, since the driver isn't pulled over on the spot. He won't know that he's gotten a speeding ticket until he receives the eye-popping infraction notice in the mail. If you have a problem controlling your tongue in the presence of a police officer who has just written you a $200 speeding ticket, this ticketing system might be your favorite.
Sometimes, the best enforcement of speed limits is a not-so-subtle reminder in the form of the electronic speed boards you see alongside a highway that flash big, bright, white-hot numbers in your face to let you know how fast you're going. These boards also employ radar.
"The radar unit sees the target, transmits the radio waves, they bounce back, and tell the drivers how fast they're going," says Jack. "We used to think of those speed boards as being more of an 'awareness program,' because they reminded people how fast they were going. A lot of drivers really don't know how fast they're going, so these speed boards essentially are a means of urging voluntary compliance."
And, according to Jack, that's the main point of enforcing speed limits via speed traps. While traffic fines do augment revenues for the city, state or country, that's not why speed traps are set up, says Jack. "That's a myth that we had quotas on how many traffic tickets we had to write in a single month. We just want people to obey the speed limit, because it's for their own safety," says Jack. "The main reason for setting up a speed trap, whether it's radar, laser or aerial monitoring, is simply to encourage voluntary compliance of the law," says Jack.
"And we never cared if someone called in a radio station and says, 'Oh, there's a speed trap set up on such-and-such a road,' because it achieved the same result as a motorist seeing a cop writing someone a ticket. It got people to slow down."
(Ed. Note: Based on reader reaction to the statement about quotas we consulted a second police officer, a highway patrolman in the southwest, and he offered the same answer, "We didn't have quotas, either." said Carl, whose name was changed for reasons of anonymity. "In my experience, speeding-citation revenues were not a great portion of municipal revenue. Speed enforcement is for the benefit of the public -- to reduce the number of accidents, especially fatal accidents. Unfortunately, drivers think they know best what they should be able to do, and choose convenience over caution." It is possible quotas are enforced in some states or districts and not in others, like Jack's or Carl's.)
MCF Member's
Post your Speed Trap Stories...
How many times have you got a ticket ?
How many times have you got a ticket ?
Share your Experience `ok
Post `it below
Post `it below
Last edited by Space; 04-09-2009 at 06:00 AM. Reason: ~> 2 wish the reader a safe/happy `day : )
#3
04-09-2009 | 11:05 AM
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 291
From: Swampville, FLA
Thats not all.
I just paid a $245 ticket from a cop with no radar, no laser. He looked at my car, "estimated my speed to the best of his ability", and wrote me for 60 in a 35. did i mention that it was dark, and i was the only car on the road, making speed judgment extremely difficult?
A lawyer told me that will stand in court as long as the officer makes the speed high enough. 50 in a 35? Thrown out. Step it up to 60, and the judge is on his side.
im a nice guy, but that cop needs to get a nice wet bucket of dysentery.
I just paid a $245 ticket from a cop with no radar, no laser. He looked at my car, "estimated my speed to the best of his ability", and wrote me for 60 in a 35. did i mention that it was dark, and i was the only car on the road, making speed judgment extremely difficult?
A lawyer told me that will stand in court as long as the officer makes the speed high enough. 50 in a 35? Thrown out. Step it up to 60, and the judge is on his side.
im a nice guy, but that cop needs to get a nice wet bucket of dysentery.
#5
04-09-2009 | 11:48 AM
Too late. Besides. Everyone knows that vinyl graphics makes it impossible for a car to drive under the speed limit. Or at least the cops think so.
In Ontario we had speed cameras (or "photo radar") for a short time. But someone successfully fought the government and got them banned. Because the police just sent the ticket to the registered owner of the offending vehicle. That added demerit points to the owner's driving record. The lawyers argued that a person could theoretically lose their licence or do jail time without ever getting behind the wheel. The lawyers argued that it's up to the police to prove who exactly is driving the car. And only that person should be ticketed. Not the registered owner. The speed cameras that were in use at the time could not determine beyond a shadow of a doubt who is in the driver's seat. So the government was forced to remove or disable all the cameras.
In Ontario we had speed cameras (or "photo radar") for a short time. But someone successfully fought the government and got them banned. Because the police just sent the ticket to the registered owner of the offending vehicle. That added demerit points to the owner's driving record. The lawyers argued that a person could theoretically lose their licence or do jail time without ever getting behind the wheel. The lawyers argued that it's up to the police to prove who exactly is driving the car. And only that person should be ticketed. Not the registered owner. The speed cameras that were in use at the time could not determine beyond a shadow of a doubt who is in the driver's seat. So the government was forced to remove or disable all the cameras.
#6
04-09-2009 | 12:01 PM
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 99
From:
e
x
a
c
t
l
y
!!!!
but remember kidz,
not to sound lame.... aside from the big ticket and lighter wallet,
its also not very safe to play NASCAR on the normal roads.
(unless you live in less crowded areas)
ive found myself backing down in many a middle-of-a-race cause i didnt wanna kill anyone.
V
x
a
c
t
l
y
!!!!
but remember kidz,
not to sound lame.... aside from the big ticket and lighter wallet,
its also not very safe to play NASCAR on the normal roads.
(unless you live in less crowded areas)
ive found myself backing down in many a middle-of-a-race cause i didnt wanna kill anyone.
V
#7
04-09-2009 | 12:29 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by JJsRYD
I'l staying out of this thread cause i am not about to jinx myself :p:p
Originally Posted by JJsRYD
I'l staying out of this thread cause i am not about to jinx myself :p:p
J.J., but U R already on this Thread, I just read your post Wish U Good Luck
X-actly!!!!
but remember kidz,
not to sound lame.... aside from the big ticket and lighter wallet,
its also not very safe to play NASCAR on the normal roads.
(unless you live in less crowded areas)
ive found myself backing down in many a middle-of-a-race cause i didnt wanna kill anyone.
not to sound lame.... aside from the big ticket and lighter wallet,
its also not very safe to play NASCAR on the normal roads.
(unless you live in less crowded areas)
ive found myself backing down in many a middle-of-a-race cause i didnt wanna kill anyone.
V
- A person afflicted with a similar curse, who, while not directly subject to a series of misfortunes, seems to attract them to anyone in his general area.
- An object that brings bad luck. * All objects except the
- Chevrolet Monte Carlo
Zomeday's I think was born `Jinx'ed
`Amen
#8
04-09-2009 | 01:14 PM
Monte Of The Month -- July 2009
I'M NOT OLD, I'M JUST WELL MARINATED.
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 6,996
From: Henderson, NV
#9
04-09-2009 | 10:08 PM
Monte Of The Month -- August 2007
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 5,231
That's one of the reasons I painted my "Intimidator" emblems black, to disguise the fact it was supercharger. It took me about 2 weeks to do that!
Here's my defense against speed traps (unless the 12's are pounding):
And LadyT's built in, with laser jammer:
Here's my defense against speed traps (unless the 12's are pounding):
And LadyT's built in, with laser jammer:
