Maryland "Safe Speed" Cameras: grrrr....

[icarus]

There are times when I truly miss Seattle. Such as every time I pass one of Maryland's Safe Speed cameras.

In Seattle, those things would be vandalized. There would be "moon the camera" campaigns instigated by The Stranger.

The City Council would hear from every liberal ("these cameras are strictly for revenue and unfairly target the poor who are more likely to be driving between multiple jobs, and for whom the fines are staggeringly steep") and libertarian ("these cameras are Big Brother and represent the intrusiveness of big government out of control and the use of our taxes to make more money to make bigger government") in town.

There'd be articles from civil liberties lawyers about how the data collected from these cameras could be abused.

Politicians would get hit from both the right and the left. And by hit, I mean, hit as hard as linebackers.

Any government employee who supported these cameras would be targeted for immediate removal from office. There would be an anti-tax backlash. An immensely popular citizen referendum on the subject.

And yet, people in Maryland meekly put up with this bullshit. Who does the government work for here?

I miss Seattle.


ETA: To put this in perspective, in twenty-three years of driving, prior to moving here, I've only gotten one speeding ticket. One.

Guess how many times this one speed trap has nailed me in the last six months? Three. I come around the curve, and the speed limit has suddenly dropped from 40mph to 30mph. I have to drive by it all the time.

Comments

[dancing_moon]

Wait, you're against speed cameras? I gotta admit, even though they affect drivers with lower incomes more, I have a hard time seeing the evil in them. Especially since they do lower speeds on roads, from all that I've heard

Course, I'm thinking from a perspective where the communal buses, trains etc are good enough that you don't need a car to work even multiple jobs, so I guess that makes my POV different

[icarus]

Oh, they're horrible. I work only 35 hours a week and was already hit by unusually high heating bills this winter. There's one I have to pass every week that's in a spot where the speed limit drops from 40mph to 30mph for no apparent reason. There are no schools, no foot traffic, and the road patterns are the same as they are in the 40mph part of the road.

It's just a speed trap, and it's just a money maker.

My mother who's on social security was nailed by them ... and she can't even pay her regular bills, let alone these tickets.

When I house sat last summer in a wealthy neighborhood, I noticed there were no cameras save over by the public transit. In the poorer neighborhoods they are everywhere. Guess which neighborhoods can effectively lobby against them? Guess who pays the lion's share of these tickets?

I have absolutely NO OTHER OPTIONS BUT A CAR. I've no choice. I tried it for a year. Because of suburban sprawl it takes an hour and a half to go the fifteen minutes between my house and work. It's slightly shorter on the way back home because of bus schedules, but it was essentially a three-hour commute every day.

On the buses I was harassed and, since I get off work late (after 10pm), I was not safe. On one of the bus stops I was approached and physically touched in an inappropriate manner by a strange man.

At the more public bus stops I was harangued by religious zealots Preaching the WORD OF GOD.

The people on the buses were rowdy, loud, and aggressive. They spit on the floors and on the bus stop seats. (One time I set my purse down on a bus stop bench beside me, only to pick it up and find a big goober on it.)

I rode the bus in Seattle for years with no ill effect. I appreciated the time to read and do my homework.

I will never willingly set foot in another Maryland bus, unless it's a commuter bus with decent human beings (and not animals) aboard.

[cathepsut]

Ok, this might sound naive -- what's the problem if you stick to the speed limit?

I get the problem of cameras placed in difficult spots, where they are deliberately set up to be missed. Not sure how that is dealt with here.

I guess everybody is so used to them here, they are just part of life. Radio stations have free phone numbers where you can call in to give people warning -- the police sets up mobile ones in different spots everday...

[icarus]

The problem is I am at the speed limit.

Then the speed limit suddenly changes, on the other side of a curve. It drops by 10mph.

There are other problems, but let's stick with that one for now.

[cathepsut]

I'm guessing you don't get a tolerance for being over the speed limit?
So how much do you get charged for being over by 10 miles? Just curious. I got caught a few months ago with about that and had to pay about 45 dollars...

[icarus]

It's a flat $40. There's supposed to be a leeway, but not from what I've seen.

I've gone from having one speeding ticket in 23 years to having paid $120 in the last six months.

[springwoof]

They're also unconstitutional. The US Constitution says that you are supposed to be able to face your accuser (IOW, that your accuser *must* be another human being, not a machine. Even when cops use speed guns, it's the police officer accusing you of speeding; he's just using the machine to calculate your speed.). Whenever those cameras are challenged in court, they've been ruled unconstitutional. But, as you noted, guess what neighborhoods they're in, and who's less likely to take Big Brother to court??