Meh. Yes the village was lax in setting up and maintaining the cameras. Problems easily corrected to continue the use of the cameras. Is anyone surprised by incompetence on the part of government officials?
As for calibration itself, anything beyond an initial calibration is likely a functional check (feel good measure) to reassure lawyers. As for invalidating any tickets, the as found condition of any unit returned for a calibration check would determine that need.
And the act of a police officer or policing agency doing that should be FAR more of a crime than speeding.
Wow. Just wow. I’m absolutely amazed that there is a human being on this planet so content with being abused by his government. We’re just going to have to agree to disagree on this one, it seems. I just can’t follow the logic - “You were breaking the law and so deserve the ticket. The village was breaking the law, but that’s ok - they’re the government.” Yikes!
In any case, this is getting way too close to ‘politics’, so I’ll be bowing out. You may enjoy the last word, if you wish, but I won’t be back in this thread.
PPtk
we had entrapment laws, and i know at least here in maine they did away with them. now they can park where ever, lights on or off and wait for the unlucky individual to speed by
I see this a lot, especially in NW/Central Maine townships that get a lot of tourist through-traffic. Watch your speedo on Rt.26/Rt.2/Bethel area! The one time I got caught, I luckily got off on a warning doing 25 over in a 40 on a straight, emtpy road. I think the fact that I was driving a Prius at the time factored into it. “Son, I didn’t think those hybrids could even go that fast…” I don’t drive like that normally, but that time the cop rolled out of an alcove and sniped me.
In my opinion, Its more about the money and that’s the bottom line. If every person that passed through the cameras where obeying the law at all times. How much revenue would the camera company and town, judge, lawyers, county and state receive if there where no tickets. Do you honestly think they could live without bringing in revenue.
I once had a DMV driving school teacher tell me that almost every person on the road breaks a law going from point A to point B. Its just that they don’t get caught. Who here has every gotten a ticket. I have several times for a lot of various things. How many people here follow the correct following distance how many give there turn signal allowing the appropriate amount of time before a turn or merger. I see people cut in front of someone in line on a daily basis. This is against several laws, could be considered reckless driving, following to close once in line, could also be considered road rage if they wanted to stick you with that.
My brother one night was driving through a stretch of highway that a lot of teenagers hang out at. A light turned red a good distance in front of him. He let off the gas and slowly crept up to the red light. A cop pulled him over and wrote him a ticket for impeding the flow of traffic. He couldn’t understand what he did wrong so he thought he would talk to the DA and they would surely drop it. She said he could pay the fine and court cost or she could add something else on violation (don’t remember what it was).
Then later he saw on the news where our county was issuing a sting on that particular highway to catch cruisers for that weekend. He had just got caught up in a sting catching cruisers where he had done nothing wrong but they could justify the ticket because he slowly cruised up to the traffic light. The news said they had wrote over 500 and something tickets in that 3 day sting. Generating a $120 court cost and a $100 fine. 500 x 220 = $110,000 in one weekend in the pockets of my county. No other time since then have they done this. Why? They needed the revenue. Cruisers are still there just like they have been since I was old enough to drive.
Sorry for the long story. If you think some laws are wrote for your safety your badly mistaken. They are wrote for money. The seat belt law is a good one but I want get in to that. They know there is no way you can follow all the laws at all times. They are just simply increasing revenue with a convenient and more cost effective way to do it (CAMERAS). If you increase the number of violations wrote you increase your revenue for everyone involved, and that’s the bottom line.
No one could possible follow every law. But you can try your best not to break any or at least limit the time you broke it. I don’t consider myself a speeder but I have caught myself several times speeding. I just didn’t get caught in those few seconds. But I did break the law. If a camera was there I would have been caught. If you set in your vehicle and constantly look at the speed odometer how are you supposed to watch the road. I glance at it but still have caught myself speeding. >)
Just my two cents. 
If it was easy to correct, it was easy to ensure it was working correctly in the first place. But then if they are incompetent, they couldn’t do that either and should be forced to do what they can do competently or put the problem back on the voters to fix it - not to make some people suffer from an unfair system.
As for calibration, there have been multiple reports of people being cited while parked.
Not to mention that when individuals collude together to take money from people through an unfair system it is called organized crime. The contractors have exactly the same incentives as the mob and (some) large corporations without adequate government oversight.
When i approach the nearby light with a camera i watch the walk/do not walk sign, if it flashing i slow down well before the light so i can brake, otherwise if it goes yellow while i am near or in the intersection i will end up with a $300 ticket. Shortened yellow, plus you can’t go near the speed limit to get through it because its a traffic gridlock area. I am not a bank machine, but if a cop were watching i’d end up with a ticket for going through the light, or slowing before it went yellow. I’m completely fucked with way.
If i could avoid the necessity of driving i would, but as it is fines come down to luck, the courts argument is that everyone else has no problems with it (when their timing/luck runs out they will get the same argument).
Hows that for fairness and just follow the law.
If you have a solution i want to know it
I think there is a huge difference between speeding cameras and red light cameras.
It is easier to claim red light enforcement is about safety than speeding enforcement is. Everyone speeds, every day. Few make a habit of running reds. I personally think all cameras are bullshit, but I feel this distinction should be made (didn’t see it mentioned above).
Contractors getting a slice of fines is kickback type corruption if you ask me. That is another issue that could exist with either camera network. Shortened yellows are kind of similar in a way… definitely blatant revenue generation at the least.
I’m libertarian so I don’t know how you guys live in the UK. It is so networked and monitored in urban areas there is no privacy. If I have to live under big brothers watch to be “safe” from terrorists, I’d prefer to take the risk and roll my dice with the terrorist threat and have some amount of freedom.
Of course, this post is being monitored by DHS or NSA… so we’re screwed here too. Gotta run and get more tin foil for my hat lol!
/rant
Thanks for keeping this thread civil guys. I am truly proud of all the responses even though we all don’t agree is not what’s important but rather that we respectfully agree to disagree is. I salute you guys. We are actually learning to politely debate if you would. And that is a big plus.
Thanks again. Keep the comments coming. Just keep it polite like it has been so far.
Brad
You guys have convinced me, no drivers ever violate traffic laws. All tickets, either from traffic cameras or issued by the police, are invalid and unfair.
Any government entity that installs traffic enforcement cameras is corrupt and only interested in making money not traffic enforcement or public safety.
The traffic enforcement camera suppliers are all corrupt and associated with organized crime.
All traffic enforcement police are corrupt and only issue tickets to generate income. Police departments have quotas for issuing traffic citations.
I think aliens are causing all the accidents and traffic deaths. 
that part is true… ill leave the rest alone
edit: and i violate traffic laws all the time. seriously. i dont think i ever willingly go the speed limit. always 5-10mph more., even if i see a cop i dont slow down to the posted limit all the time. i have been let off for 15-60mph over the limit with a verbal warning before. and i have also been ticketed for 5mph over and no seat belt, on separate occasions. i dont wear my seat belt, ever. i will sometimes throw it on when i think i will get pulled over, but usually not.
but, i have a record about as long as ILF flashlight collection. not something im proud of… spent a new cars worth in fines alone in my time. went to buy a 06 or 07 lancer rally art new when i got my licence back the last time. no insurance company would insure me.
That’s exactly right, I heard it from the horses mouth last Thanksgiving when I got pulled.
I was told by the LE, “they hated to bother me on a holiday and had better things to do on thanksgiving than to right tickets.
But their chief said they had to write tickets to meet their quote”.
They did however give me a warning.
As for me, I have had my license revoked twice. No not one DUI on my record.
Because I had 12 or more points on my license twice.
Actually a third time but that time I had a few LE friends that helped me out.
Hence in the other post where I said DMV driving school teacher, had to take a three day course.
So I do know a thing or two when it comes to tickets, system and getting out of them and how this whole money thing works.
So if you think there is not problems (money related) with our system your are misinformed.
Watch the news you’ll see it just about weekly.
Edit: I had wrote a lot more to this post but I thought it might be best for me, to not share it. :bigsmile:
Do as I do and just get a Radar with GPS. I got the PASSPORT 9500ix and havent had a red-light camera or speeding ticket in years.
You could try not speeding……… 
This coming from someone who pushed a scorpio cosworth he built to 170mph coming back from halifax on the m62. ( for our american friends, this stretch is a winding downhill motorway section that is quite often foggy/raining, something to do with the weather system coming off the pennies, its why Manchester is often so wet).
I agree, everyone speeds at times, I just can’t see calling the authorities just because I got caught. You know your breaking the law, at least have the balls to stand up and accept it if you get caught.
in this instance i can’t speed even if i wanted to, what if your too slow to escape the camera and the car in front of you is not going fast enough for you to accelerate to be out of the intersection at red?
however you can’t stop before an intersection thats still green but 2 seconds from turning yellow (your being tailagated and i’ll bet its not legal to do that anyways) then be through it in a timeframe that would not be enough to get through if it were set for the speed limit, but its a congestion area so you could only go the speed limit in the middle of the night when there is no traffic
instant revenue generator
Yea but at the same time our state and local govt are really doing these cameras as a ploy to make money when you stop and think about it. That’s the main reason why they are doing it. They could care less if you ran a yellow light or the start of a red light if no one gets hurt. Now I know there is a safety concern, but come on now. Anybody in their right mind knows why they are doing this and that is to genereate revenue.
Pretty much same story in my hometown. Private contractor getting 90% of the speedind ticket. Mayor got kicked off his positin, riots in the streets, tear gas, police brutality and some roughly treated speeding cameras:
I do not speed except where I catch myself on occasion. All that big record and points I accumulated was done when I was young. I guess the driving school must have helped. :nerd_face:
Ya right, I finally grew up a little.
I have had one ticket in the past 15 years but that one disappeared.
So I’am still points free for 15 yrs.
And politicians could be telling the truth when their lips move.
While speeding can be unsafe, not all speeding is unsafe for conditions. When a camera is generating a LOT of fines, it’s probably set at a level below reasonable/fair safety standards.
Sheesh, context people . . .
If the future some of you long for is like this, good luck to you!
Is it a coincidence that the machine voice in this sounds British? 