Have you been caught by.......
 

.................................A RED LIGHT CAMERA!

We had several good threads about traffic tickets, and letting folks off with warnings, LEO's with warnings, etc, etc....

But how about the impartial Red Light Camera? :shrug01:

I know that in Brevard County, LEO's I talk with hate writing tickets with our economy in the crapper. A moving violation has a $169.00 fine, and higher for speeders. That is really tough to handle for a lot of folks these days. Even the "fix it tickets" went from $10.00 to $99.00! Many more warnings are being written nowadays than were a few years ago.

Most people think that tickets are big money makers for agencies, but that isn't really accurate. Out of a $169.00 fine, an agency will probably receive about $10.00, more or less.

Enter the impartial Red Light Camera.

No one in my agency or any of our municipal employees is exempt. Discretion is out the window. The only good aspect of this for a violator is that he or she won't receive any points against their driver record.

Out of the $150.00 fine, about 1/2 goes to the municipality or county. These are controversial $$$ makers and are catching on all around the state.

The cameras will, and are, being contested in courts and time will tell if they will be around awhile or not.

I thought of this tread because I received a couple of photos in the mail of my vette going past two unmanned .25 cent toll booths a few weeks ago in the Orlando area, and I didn't have any change. I had to mail back $3.75 for each one. :nonod:

I haven't been nailed by the Red Light Camera Monster yet! :)

How about you or someone you know?

Kenneth city installed a few just recently and i got nailed for making a right turn on a red light w/o making a complete stop. Luckily for me, it was during the initial start up time and it was only a warning notice i received in the mail.

Needless to say, i make sure i come to complete stops now when i go see my folks!:thumbsup:

Maybe Florida is going to go the route of Camden, NJ and lay off some of the police force? Certainly having automated cameras doing the job of a bunch of warm bodies is being looked at from a bottom line perspective. If it is all about money, then it becomes ALL ABOUT money....

Time will tell.
At the moment, I'm not a fan of them, but I'm waiting for the crash stats before making a final determination.

"If" they really do reduce crashes, then I can live with them.
Turn the traffic LEO's loose on some pro-active criminal actuvity suppression:thumbsup:

If not, or worse yet, "other" crashes take thier place, then they go away.

I am not at all happy with the fact that we give 1/2 of the $$ or more to a private agency:thumbsdown: yet still have to have a sworn LEO review them:shrug01:

ATS technicians and police review footage, but police decide whether a ticket is warranted.

Again, if they don't do what they say they do, then they're nothing more than a revenue generator for the agencies.:NoNo:

If you really want to know what your local government is really thinking when they install camera systems, take a look at this:
(*hint-it has nothing to do with your safety;) *)

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/201...ssue-citations

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/mar...ac/news-metro/

Where does the money go:
http://www.hardeeclerk.com/index.cfm?LS=38

I used to have the breakdown for ticket fines around somewhere.
When I get back from dinner, I'll try to find them.

Hydrolic license plate
 

Wouldn't it be funny to have a license plate the retracts down when going through a light?...Example, your approaching a light that just turned yellow, you start going faster to beat it, when you hit a little button the lays the license plate flat so you can't read it?...:hehehe:

Believe me, the thought of that or a drop down cover, have crossed my mind. Especially in areas where they talk about "speed cameras.".

Damn, I'm getting cranky in my old age:lmao::rofl1:

I'm pretty sure that "007" had revolving license plates on one of his rides. :dancer01:

My vehicles are registered to my wife and myself. Maybe a friend is driving it. How can they write me a ticket? Gordon, say whatever you want to about safety, but this is bullshlt. Same for the speeding cameras.

My blood just boils when I read this crap. How long before 'big brother' is in our house?

Probably just a baseless rumor, but I heard a while back that phones and even your cable TV are actually bidirectional with audio. Heck, I remember seeing devices sold that you could hook up to your home phone that would allow you to silently call in and be able to monitor the inside of your house remotely. With computers being in just about everything, do you REALLY know all of the circuitry in them and the coding being processed? Do you really think NSA would TELL us about this little "perk" of the current day "connected" society?

This is one of the reasons I don't use a cell phone. I have one for emergencies, but it is NEVER turned on unless I have to make an immediate call out. I just don't care to broadcast my whereabouts to anyone.

But for the most part, if you don't believe that "Big Brother" is already here, you are being pretty naive.

Now I am getting really pissed. Just thinking about what you just said. Cookies, you know what they are. The other stuff I can't remember right now that enables these companies to track your every movement on the computer. How about the computer in your car that will record your every movement and speed.

Are you ready? I think we need to form an army and revolt. :mad: