Ack! Sorry about that -- somehow hit send before I started editing &
responding.
Julia Thompson wrote:
>
> Russell Chapman wrote:
> >
> > Begin quote:
> > The Federal Highway Administration conducted a scientific experiment
> > over a five-year period, and found that the 85th percentile speed--or
> > the speed under which 85 percent of drivers travel--changed no more than
> > 1 to 2 mph even when the speed limit changed 15 mph. In another study,
> > the same engineers--one of whom was Dr. Samuel Tignor, who just retired
> > as the FHWA's technical director for safety and research
> > development--found that "current speed limits are set too low to be
> > accepted as reasonable by the vast majority of drivers. Only about 1 in
> > 10 speed zones has better than 50 percent compliance. The posted speeds
> > make technical violators out of motorists driving at reasonable and safe
> > speeds."
> > End quote.
> > My questions are:
> > 1. Does your state/province have photo radar?
No, and there's a lot of controversy about the red light camera
legislation proposed -- if you get photographed running a red light,
there's no loophole out, which someone pointed out is likely to lead to
people *not* entering intersections when the light is red in order to
make way for emergency vehicles.... (Don't know what happened to that,
that wasn't as big a bee in my bonnet as the whole redistricting thing.)
> > 2. Has it ever? (I'm pretty sure Colorado stopped using them, and
> > Ontario as well)
No.
> > 3. What stops them parking one on the side of an interstate and
> > generating HUGE amounts of cash based on the FHWA's comments above...
My understanding of how things worked on the highways patrolled by DPS
(TX State Troopers) a few years back, anyway, was that they'd cruise in
the right lane a good 5-10MPH under the speed limit (enough below that
people felt comfortable passing them), using cruise control, and use
radar on the traffic moving in the opposite direction. If the
difference in speeds was too great, they'd punch on the sirens, pull
into the left lane, cross over and do a U-turn, and pursue the vehicle
in question. They don't park on the side of the interstate. :)
Local law enforcement *does* park on the side, sometimes somewhat
hidden. I know of a number of favored speed trap places, and tend to
make sure I'm not excessively exceeding the speed limit (and be acutely
aware of how safe a driver I'm being!) in those spots; on surface
streets, I try to go *at* the speed limit in those areas, and that may
make me a pain in the butt, but I may have saved a few of the people
cursing me from being ticketed.
(In the Austin area, be careful on northbound US 183 right around the
big interchange ramp structure around MoPac (Loop 1), and up to where
you go under Capital of Texas Highway (Loop 360); on McNeil Drive
between Research Blvd. (US 183) and Technology; and in Pflugerville, on
Dessau between Howard Ln. and Pecan St. Those are the speed traps I've
seen manned most often. They're also places where there's a great
temptation to speed, and it could have bad consequences if you weren't
allowing enough space in front of you to brake suddenly. Except maybe
the Pflugerville one, and that's near a construction zone where traffic
fines can be doubled if people are working *anyway*.)
> > 4. Is the reason for not having them the presumed guilty until proven
> > innocent method of infringement ticketing?
I can't speak to that in Texas.
Julia
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