From where I am, they are 100% slowing everyone down. In fact, so much that I am getting annoyed by that. Thing is, people will go 60 in 50 zone, then see a camera sign, slow down to fucking 40, roll pass it and then pedal to the metal back to 60.
Easy optional solution how to make people actually slow down on the camera: make fine indexed. If they earn a ton, they get a huge ass fine. Say 5% of a monthly income. Stacks to 50% if they are a serial rule breaker. That way not many will speedup.
They aren’t for safety…they are totally for revenue.
With regards to school zones, specifically, if they cared about safety, they would be putting in mechanisms to slow traffic naturally. Raised crosswalks. Rotaries. Narrower lanes. Crossing guards.
They don’t put any of those in.
A couple towns over from me, they just put a brand new highschool right on the intersection of two major state highways, about 1/4 mile from the interstate. If they cared about the kids, they’ve put the school in a less busy area to begin with.
But instead, they demo’d an old pedestrian bridge that was keeping kids off the road for crossing, and set up a speed cam and issuing tickets in the spring before the school even opened.
And of course the school zone creates a bottleneck for people exiting the highway in rush hour, with ripple effects well down the freeway.
Fucking assholes.
But at least Theil gets paid. Most of the money doesn’t even go back to the city. What a ducking ripoff.
I thought of different ways to word a response and then I saw another user put it perfectly already:
If the goal is to reduce speeding, road design plays more of a factor more than cameras.
A fine means that it’s a revenue grab.
I would just also add that anecdotally they don’t seem to slow many people down in my city. I have gotten at least 5 speed camera tickets since I moved here, and every time I was going the speed of traffic and was unaware a camera even exists there. This city also has a huge problem with horrific driver behavior that goes unaddressed. I’ve seen some of the craziest shit ever here but I’ve yet to see anyone pulled over for a reason that didn’t appear to be related to a “worse” crime, as in they’re searching the person’s car and it looks like they’re about to go to jail. So I have to believe that the primary concern is making money, and if they work overall (providing the data people always tout) it’s a coincidence/accident. Most of that money goes to corporations too so even if you wanted to argue it doesn’t matter if money is the main driving force, you have that additional layer of the whole thing being corrupted from the start by capitalism.
Just because they are corrupt cops above the law dosen’t mean that speed cameras dosen’t work. Hidden cameras that are only there to “catch” speeders are pretty stupid, but cameras with warning about their proximity work very well to slow down drivers before conflict points
Not every mechanism of society needs to be built around fear of punishment. In fact, i would say that none should be in and ideal society. There are numerous ways to not instill fear in people every second of every day. It even would make a healthier society if people didn’t live in perpetual fear of the state.
Social accountability is a euphemism for punishment. Someone is engaging in a behavior that is discouraged and so when they do that something is done to them that they don’t want to happen. In this case a camera simply automates fining people.
People who need a reminder or are new to an area especially benefit from better road design or cheaper alternatives (where I live some residential streets have concrete planters that make the road wind and force you to slow down). For a person new to an area especially, the speed camera functionally serves as an expensive toll for driving the speed the road is designed for, but one you receive in the mail a few weeks later.
Good speed reduction should make speeding look and feel reckless ro everyone, including someone who’s never been there before and didn’t see the speed limit. Good design is intuitive.
I don’t agree that its possible to make everyone feel personally at risk when speeding.
If people want to be around other people then social accountability is required. Whether you want to call it punishment or not, we have to have ways to signal to each other what we find okay and what we don’t. I dont agree with deceptive setups designed to maximize income for a city, so I do agree with most of what you are saying, I just think ultimately punishment needs to be there for some people.
Tell me again how traffic cameras make us safer and we can totally trust them to be applied objectively for public safety and no other purpose?
Maybe in US…
From where I am, they are 100% slowing everyone down. In fact, so much that I am getting annoyed by that. Thing is, people will go 60 in 50 zone, then see a camera sign, slow down to fucking 40, roll pass it and then pedal to the metal back to 60.
Easy optional solution how to make people actually slow down on the camera: make fine indexed. If they earn a ton, they get a huge ass fine. Say 5% of a monthly income. Stacks to 50% if they are a serial rule breaker. That way not many will speedup.
Kinda works already somewhere.
They aren’t for safety…they are totally for revenue.
With regards to school zones, specifically, if they cared about safety, they would be putting in mechanisms to slow traffic naturally. Raised crosswalks. Rotaries. Narrower lanes. Crossing guards.
They don’t put any of those in.
A couple towns over from me, they just put a brand new highschool right on the intersection of two major state highways, about 1/4 mile from the interstate. If they cared about the kids, they’ve put the school in a less busy area to begin with.
But instead, they demo’d an old pedestrian bridge that was keeping kids off the road for crossing, and set up a speed cam and issuing tickets in the spring before the school even opened.
And of course the school zone creates a bottleneck for people exiting the highway in rush hour, with ripple effects well down the freeway.
Fucking assholes.
But at least Theil gets paid. Most of the money doesn’t even go back to the city. What a ducking ripoff.
I’m surprised no one has challenged you on this. (I agree with your point, but people do tend to defend cameras zealously)
Wait, I’m a zealous camera defender, what am I missing?
The one they put up temporarily by my kid’s school noticeably calmed traffic near it (myself included—I’m not perfect).
I thought of different ways to word a response and then I saw another user put it perfectly already:
I would just also add that anecdotally they don’t seem to slow many people down in my city. I have gotten at least 5 speed camera tickets since I moved here, and every time I was going the speed of traffic and was unaware a camera even exists there. This city also has a huge problem with horrific driver behavior that goes unaddressed. I’ve seen some of the craziest shit ever here but I’ve yet to see anyone pulled over for a reason that didn’t appear to be related to a “worse” crime, as in they’re searching the person’s car and it looks like they’re about to go to jail. So I have to believe that the primary concern is making money, and if they work overall (providing the data people always tout) it’s a coincidence/accident. Most of that money goes to corporations too so even if you wanted to argue it doesn’t matter if money is the main driving force, you have that additional layer of the whole thing being corrupted from the start by capitalism.
Tear them all down.
Just because they are corrupt cops above the law dosen’t mean that speed cameras dosen’t work. Hidden cameras that are only there to “catch” speeders are pretty stupid, but cameras with warning about their proximity work very well to slow down drivers before conflict points
If the goal is to reduce speeding, road design plays more of a factor more than cameras.
A fine means that it’s a revenue grab.
That’s correct, but cameras still work and are cheaper/easier to install than rebuilding the streets.
But they’re not a solution to poor road planning. It’s like putting a bandaid on a gaping wound.
deleted by creator
Not every mechanism of society needs to be built around fear of punishment. In fact, i would say that none should be in and ideal society. There are numerous ways to not instill fear in people every second of every day. It even would make a healthier society if people didn’t live in perpetual fear of the state.
A camera says nothing about punishment and everything about social accountability. Some people simply need a reminder or are new to an area as well.
Social accountability is a euphemism for punishment. Someone is engaging in a behavior that is discouraged and so when they do that something is done to them that they don’t want to happen. In this case a camera simply automates fining people.
People who need a reminder or are new to an area especially benefit from better road design or cheaper alternatives (where I live some residential streets have concrete planters that make the road wind and force you to slow down). For a person new to an area especially, the speed camera functionally serves as an expensive toll for driving the speed the road is designed for, but one you receive in the mail a few weeks later.
Good speed reduction should make speeding look and feel reckless ro everyone, including someone who’s never been there before and didn’t see the speed limit. Good design is intuitive.
I don’t agree that its possible to make everyone feel personally at risk when speeding.
If people want to be around other people then social accountability is required. Whether you want to call it punishment or not, we have to have ways to signal to each other what we find okay and what we don’t. I dont agree with deceptive setups designed to maximize income for a city, so I do agree with most of what you are saying, I just think ultimately punishment needs to be there for some people.