Sure, let's increase the Maryland work zone speed camera fine.

[glhs837]

But here's the funny thing they need this increase to slow people down for the safety of workers in the zones, right? They even give two examples of people being killed and injured in work zones. But note, neither of those examples mention anything about the vehicles speeding at the time. Just like school zone automated enforcement, they don't have examples of speeding drivers in school zones, plowing down children. https://thedailyrecord.com/2023/10/19/md-work-zone-speed-camera-fines-could-jump-from-40-to-250/

What this is is the camel's nose under the tent. So then the school zone camera folks can say well if it's that important for work zone, isn't it that important for our children?

 

[Hijinx]

Speed camera's are money makers.
The ones on Md. 210 are there and they slow traffic down AT THE SPEED CAMERA, then they all speed up again.

 

[Kyle]

If they really want to slow people down, send a few dozen @$$hole drivers out to do 45 in the left lane.

The road rage will quintuple, but they'll be going slower.

 

[vraiblonde]

So then the school zone camera folks can say well if it's that important for work zone, isn't it that important for our children?

Well? Isn't it?

I have personally seen any number of people driving like aholes in school zones and not paying any attention to the stopped school bus letting children out. Certainly everyone has. That they didn't cite any "examples" doesn't mean there aren't any.

If it were up to me when cops - or anyone really - sees someone speeding in a school zone or work zone, blowing past the bus letting out children, or any other unsafe behavior, we should be able to stop that car, pull the driver out by his hair, shoot him in the face and say, "How about now, mother****er??"

I'm not sure why all this heartburn about speed cameras and enforcing safety laws in school and work zones. Don't speed. Problem solved.

 

[Kyle]

Don't speed. Problem solved.

Some times the music makes ya wann move!

 

[glhs837]

Well? Isn't it?

I have personally seen any number of people driving like aholes in school zones and not paying any attention to the stopped school bus letting children out. Certainly everyone has. That they didn't cite any "examples" doesn't mean there aren't any.

If it were up to me when cops - or anyone really - sees someone speeding in a school zone or work zone, blowing past the bus letting out children, or any other unsafe behavior, we should be able to stop that car, pull the driver out by his hair, shoot him in the face and say, "How about now, mother****er??"

I'm not sure why all this heartburn about speed cameras and enforcing safety laws in school and work zones. Don't speed. Problem solved.

Sure it does. The fact that they felt the need to cite something tells you they have none. Like speeders in school zones, they simply don't have any cases of injuries or deaths caused by speeding.

Look, I agree that people should drive safely. And enforcement should focus on making the roads safer. The point is that automated enforcement doesn't do that. It only makes money. The proof of that is that mean it stops making money, it stops being a thing. We usually never place officers in school zones. Nor in construction zones, barring places like MA where the State police union got it written into law to rake in sweet overtime.

There's a simple reason for that, its a waste of time. If we were not seeing injured or killed kids in school zones before, why did we need cameras? This report explains why. Its a cash cow. It's never been about safety, it's always been about money. And that's not what enforcement should be about. It erodes public trust.

How area Police Departments and area Governments use and spend speed camera ticket revenue - The Southern Maryland Chronicle

Maryland Law requires the reporting of a description of how net revenue was used By: John Townsend, Mid-Atlantic AAA WASHINGTON, D. C. (Thursday, December 12, 2019) –– 40 MM multi-launchers, which fire sponge-tipped rounds effective at a 120-foot range, a robot, aviation tactical mapping...

southernmarylandchronicle.com

 

[OccamsRazor]

Still say we should have red light cameras at every single intersection....

 

[glhs837]

Still say we should have red light cameras at every single intersection....

But why? At $75 bucks a pop and no reporting, they don't really deter much. Red light runners fall into to basic categories.

1. The last second runner. This person was chasing the yellow and missed it. Here all the SHA intersections, which are the vast majority of signalized ones, run a full one second overlap "All Red", so these folks run the light through the intersection when the cross traffic still had red. This is the person who a camera might deter. But this is also the person who will realize that at the last second and slam on the brakes, causing a rear end collision that otherwise might not have happened. The studies that have been done to daye show that you get a lot of these collisions for every t-bone you prevent. Enough so that economically, it's a wash, including medical costs.

2. The person who is so out of the loop they sail through long after its red. On the phone, daydreaming, whatever. Since they are not even aware they ae running a light, they are also unaware they are running a camera light. These are the killers who create t-bone crashes.

This is what, when places with cameras express program success, they couch it in terms of how many fewer people run red lights, not in a reduced number of crashes.

Let me be clear, not a fan or people running reds, they piss me off also. But I'm also not a fan of placebo law enforcement that only make money, not increased safety.

 

[Sneakers]

You missed one: The honest driver that starts to brake when (s)he sees the yellow, looks in his/her mirror and floors it to avoid the guy behind that just assumed you'd be going thru the yellow and is now inches off your bumper.

 

[glhs837]

You missed one: The honest driver that starts to brake when (s)he sees the yellow, looks in his/her mirror and floors it to avoid the guy behind that just assumed you'd be going thru the yellow and is now inches off your bumper.

Yeah, he's the one who now gets in a rear end collision.

 

[vraiblonde]

Sure it does.

OMG

Enjoy your discussion

 

[glhs837]

OMG

Enjoy your discussion

Since its impossible to prove a negative, I'm open to examples of children in school zones orwork zones injured by speeders. I've looked. Cant find them. School buses out on the roads? Yep, all day long, and that's about the only place I'm okay with camera enforcement. But in school zones? Nope, cant find them.

 

[herb749]

There's plenty of road construction being done. Just add a few more of those vehicles with cameras if they want more money.

 

[glhs837]

There's plenty of road construction being done. Just add a few more of those vehicles with cameras if they want more money.

The fine increase and removing the required human attendant is a better bet. See, its not every work zone, they are carefully chosen, not just any work zone will do. Like school zones, they are chosen for financial reasons, not safety. Hell, in the early days some municipalities and counties chose to put the cameras on nearby roads still within the required 1/2 mile radius of the school, but not even directly connected. Think camera on Great Mills road "protecting" Lexington Park Elementary. Or Route 235 "protecting" Green Holly.

 

[vraiblonde]

Since its impossible to prove a negative, I'm open to examples of children in school zones orwork zones injured by speeders. I've looked. Cant find them. School buses out on the roads? Yep, all day long, and that's about the only place I'm okay with camera enforcement. But in school zones? Nope, cant find them.

So you are trying to say that you did an internet search and couldn't pull up *any* statistics about school zone injuries due to reckless drivers? Your google machine must be brokeded because my search pulled up a bunch of results.

Regardless, I don't see how it hurts you to not be able to speed in a school zone. Seconds count when getting to your destination? Are you that important? So important that hurting a little kid is...meh...just collateral?

Tell me how it hurts you to not be able to speed in a school or work zone. Be specific.

 

[vraiblonde]

The fine increase and removing the required human attendant is a better bet. See, its not every work zone, they are carefully chosen, not just any work zone will do. Like school zones, they are chosen for financial reasons, not safety. Hell, in the early days some municipalities and counties chose to put the cameras on nearby roads still within the required 1/2 mile radius of the school, but not even directly connected. Think camera on Great Mills road "protecting" Lexington Park Elementary. Or Route 235 "protecting" Green Holly.

Okay, so how does that hurt you?

 

[DaSDGuy]

Dont speed.
Dont run red lights/stop signs (this means you bus drivers too. I see those every single day!).
Dont follow too close so you can stop if the driver in front of you stops. If you get hit from behind get a good lawyer and get paid, including a new car.
Obey the driving laws and red light/speeding cameras are not your problem.

 

[SamSpade]

I'm not sure why all this heartburn about speed cameras and enforcing safety laws in school and work zones. Don't speed. Problem solved.

Wife got a ticket from a speed camera up in DC area a few months back. It was on Piney Branch Road, and a section of it for no particular reason - not school or residences - is 25 mph. It's a four lane road with double yellow strip down it. At least, the part where the speed cam took showed this.

I used to go to church in Adelphi for a similar stretch of road along Adelphi Road near the U of M campus. It is actually SIX lanes - and the speed limit is, for a short distance, also 25 mph.

There is no reason whatsoever for these obscenely low speeds except - to generate tickets and collect fines. I live on a residential side street in St Mary's, and I rarely ever see people drive below 30.

 

[glhs837]

You know you shouldn't conflate speeding with being reckless. And how many times to say I don't mind enforcement. I just think enforcement who's only purpose is profit is a bad idea. Because once you add the profit motive to enforcement, you add the inducement to slant the enforcement in favor of more citations and more profit. We're these systems required to be revenue neutral they wouldn't bother me at all. But they are never revenue neutral. Refer back to that article. I linked a few posts back.

 

[herb749]

You know you shouldn't conflate speeding with being reckless. And how many times to say I don't mind enforcement. I just think enforcement who's only purpose is profit is a bad idea. Because once you add the profit motive to enforcement, you add the inducement to slant the enforcement in favor of more citations and more profit. We're these systems required to be revenue neutral they wouldn't bother me at all. But they are never revenue neutral. Refer back to that article. I linked a few posts back.

So you are saying the fines are paying for increases in salaries. So pay attention to when you hear budget increase. You know where the revenue will come from.