Topic: Is it true? Europeans.....

[74cb750]

I have a few questions about European countries:
1-is it true England has 1/300 camera per person for surviellance?
2-you can receive speeding, stoplight and or seatbelt violation tickets via mail/post?
3-are there really areas that have weight scales on highways that measure weight at highway speeds?
4-is it possible to jam cameras that catch you speeding?
5-why are Europeans less paranoid than Americans?

peace,3
michel

[azuredesign]

I have a few questions about European countries:
1-is it true England has 1/300 camera per person for surviellance?
2-you can receive speeding, stoplight and or seatbelt violation tickets via mail/post?
3-are there really areas that have weight scales on highways that measure weight at highway speeds?
4-is it possible to jam cameras that catch you speeding?
5-why are Europeans less paranoid than Americans?

peace,3
michel

I have received a speeding ticket in the mail from a roadside camera trap in Toulouse. Funny thing is that the penalty for doing so does not include added insurance costs. There are points added to your license to drive. When you get too many points, you lose your license for a period of time. The cameras only work in one direction, there are signs posted to alert you to the upcoming camera, you just make sure you are going less than the limit before you go through the camera area. I guess you could disguise your rear license plate, but I think if caught that would be penalized fairly severely. Sorry I can't help with the rest of those questions, although the French drivers I know are careful about speeding. Traffic moves much slower in the areas I know now than it did 10 years ago.

[tramp]

thier just used to it now

[Roach]

2-you can receive speeding, stoplight and or seatbelt violation tickets via mail/post?

yes you can in Scotland at least. I know that one GF is from Glasgow

[Don R]

I got a rolling right turn on red ticket in the mail in Illinois, near Chicago. I saw the video, I spent a lot of time at the light but the tire never did completely stop. They also have them in Iowa. They are a big money maker, expect them in your town soon.

[Sam Green Racing]

I got a speeding ticket after being caught by a camera.
I asked them to send me proof that it was my car and the speed I was doing.
They sent me a photo of my car traveling at 5mph over the speed limit.
I couldn't argue with that and decided to pay up.
I sent them a ...................................





















photo of my money

Sam.

[azuredesign]

I got a speeding ticket after being caught by a camera.
I asked them to send me proof that it was my car and the speed I was doing.
They sent me a photo of my car traveling at 5mph over the speed limit.
I couldn't argue with that and decided to pay up.
I sent them a ...................................





















photo of my money

Sam.

Way to go, brother Sam!

[Retro Rocket]

We have speed and red light camera's in Australia, it really surprises me that some of you have never heard of them because our camera's come from the US.....We have had them for years and they do sweet #$%* all to help the road toll, they are just another Government revenue raiser. I heard they are being systematically taken down in some parts of the UK for this very reason.

Mick

[Stev-o]

We have red light but no speed cameras in the area of Texas I live in. Glad no speed cameras!!

[Retro Rocket]

We have red light but no speed cameras in the area of Texas I live in. Glad no speed cameras!!

If i were still young and silly {i still qualify for one of those options.. } I would go around trashing the bloody speed camera's, they are nothing but a rort, they aren't even in high accident spots....Thieving bastards....

Mick

[Gordon]

If it gets to the point here where we have permanent speed cameras, I'll design and install a device on my license plate that will flip it down 90 degrees at the push of a button (near my thumb on the switch pod). 

In Denver, they would occasionally have a van parked in the median or on the side with a radar gun and a camera, but they only took a picture of the front of your vehicle.  The Denver police have a few pictures of some guy on an old 70's Honda giving the one-finger salute.

[Stev-o]

If it gets to the point here where we have permanent speed cameras, I'll design and install a device on my license plate that will flip it down 90 degrees at the push of a button (near my thumb on the switch pod). 

Put me down for one!

[rhos1355]

I have a few questions about European countries:
1-is it true England has 1/300 camera per person for surveillance?
2-you can receive speeding, stoplight and or seatbelt violation tickets via mail/post?
3-are there really areas that have weight scales on highways that measure weight at highway speeds?
4-is it possible to jam cameras that catch you speeding?
5-why are Europeans less paranoid than Americans?

peace,3
michel

Yup correct in almost all counts. The surveillance camera thingy, I have no qualms about. Well, mostly not, but we have had a string of governments that imposed cuts in the police budgets whilst increasing the paperwork and onus of proof. And surveillance cameras are one of the products of these policies.
Yes, there are weighbridges on the side of several highways, but that is because we have thousands of foreign trucks using our road system and many seem to flout the rules about road safety.
The best way to jam a speed camera? Stay well under the speed limit. Do we feel less paranoid about "big brother watching" us?? In the vast majority I say yes, because the vast majority is law abiding. It's only the outrageous actions of a small minority that comes to the headlines.
Europe is not an Utopia of peace and order, but it's no Somalia either.

[Duke McDukiedook]

The state of Missouri is probably going to ditch their red-light/speeding cameras pretty soon here if the legislature can get their fat heads separated from their derrieres and get serious about privacy issues.

[wardenerd]

there were cameras here at one time but they were vandalized twice and so much hell was rased that the cameras were removed.  Two other things that lead to their demise was that they did not make the return they expected and 75% of the tickets were for right on red after stop violations.  I hate those cameras and think private companies should not be allowed to confine prisoners or issue traffic taxes without due process.  Misdemeanors are supposed to be personally witnessed by the issuing officer.

That said you must wait at least two seconds after the light changes here or you are subject to being broadsided

[Bodi]

Ontario has red light cameras, they seem to be working to reduce the number of idiots stretching or just running lights. There are big grey camera boxes at many intersections and signs warning about the cameras. There are fewer cameras than boxes and the authorities move the cameras around discretely so you don't know if the box is empty and you could run the light with impunity... or if there's actually a camera in there.
We had speed cameras, but they were very very badly done. I've seen them in many other places, always fixed devices either with or without warning signs. Our idiot politios - or maybe cops - mounted them in minivans and parked beside the road in random places. naturally this caused a rash of crashes... every speeder seeing a minivan at the roadside would slam on the brakes. naturally our brilliant police officers would park on curves where they would be less visible and also where a driver slamming on the brakes would also be less visible to following traffic. After considerable carnage - and the realization that the cops were using them where speeding was most common because the road was safest for high speed (drivers are not entirely stupid, speed crashes usually happen where a driver is speeding in a dangerous bit of road - a long straight stretch of superhighway may be relatively safe at 200kph while the same highway through a complicated intersection or blind curve should be driven close to the legal limit) and just used where it was easy fishing for the most $$$ - the cameras were shut down. And probably sold to some other place.

[mark]

I got a speeding ticket after being caught by a camera.
I asked them to send me proof that it was my car and the speed I was doing.
They sent me a photo of my car traveling at 5mph over the speed limit.
I couldn't argue with that and decided to pay up.
I sent them a ...................................



photo of my money

Sam.

someone tried that here.

he paid up when The Man sent back a pic of handcuffs.

 

[Duke McDukiedook]

I got a speeding ticket after being caught by a camera.
I asked them to send me proof that it was my car and the speed I was doing.
They sent me a photo of my car traveling at 5mph over the speed limit.
I couldn't argue with that and decided to pay up.
I sent them a ...................................



photo of my money

Sam.

someone tried that here.

he paid up when The Man sent back a pic of handcuffs.

 

Touche, that could probably be one-upped again but the costs do nothing but go exponentially up from there.

[333]

A couple years ago, I saw an ad in an auto magazine for a plastic cover for your license plate. While the human eye could still read the plate, it made it impossible for a camera to read it.  I have no idea whether it really worked.  And someone told me about an aerosol spray that did the same thing.  Again, no clue as to whether it was real.


It would be cool if it was.

[rhos1355]

A couple years ago, I saw an ad in an auto magazine for a plastic cover for your license plate. While the human eye could still read the plate, it made it impossible for a camera to read it.  I have no idea whether it really worked.  And someone told me about an aerosol spray that did the same thing.  Again, no clue as to whether it was real.


It would be cool if it was.

Yup heard about this as well. It's a scam. I've seen a tv program explaining hoew it works. Usually these gadgets are nothing but aerosol cans filled with some innocous liquid, and the vendors operate out of cars parked in carparks and industrial estates etc. One of them has a digital camera, a special digital camera, because he's painted a dot on the lens with a marker pen. The unsuspecting punter comes along and is invited to try the spray on his/her car reg plates. He /she is asked to stand near the car whilst the guy takes a snap of the car to prove authenticity of the photo. The scammer places the 'dot' over the reg plate when he's snapping the photo and hey presto, on the screen shot of the reg plate the reg number is obliterated. Punter is convinced and buys a can for himself and a couple for his mates and bro's. Only a couple of quid a can but the scammers can rake them in with this neat little trick.
The downside is that the buyer is convince he's 'immune' to speed cameras and imagine the suprise when he/she starts to receive penalty points through the post.

[CBGhia]

A couple years ago, I saw an ad in an auto magazine for a plastic cover for your license plate. While the human eye could still read the plate, it made it impossible for a camera to read it.  I have no idea whether it really worked.  And someone told me about an aerosol spray that did the same thing.  Again, no clue as to whether it was real.


It would be cool if it was.

They tested it on myth busters.  FAIL.

[Syscrush]

5-why are Europeans less paranoid than Americans?

That one's easy but the answer would hurt a lot of American feelings.

[Retro Rocket]

Speed camera's suck but i have absolutely no problems with red light camera's and i have no idea why anyone would oppose them. I have witnessed pedestrians, cars and bikes all get hit by red light runners and they {the runners} are a pet hate of mine....Probably responsible for more bike deaths than anything else....

Mick

[wardenerd]

here bikers are culled by left turn  aholes

[Roach]

5-why are Europeans less paranoid than Americans?

That one's easy but the answer would hurt a lot of American feelings.

ahaha so true