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Originally Posted by Lin
Should you not be driving under the speed limit anyway. 
If there's one thing that gets placid little me going its peoples dislike of speed cameras , if they keep people from speeding and killing or maiming someone then they should put them up on every road in my mind.
And no I dont drive.  |
Well perhaps this will give you food for thought.
First off they're not always accurate. One in Florida clocked a palm tree at 90mph.
Second (in the US), they violate your right to a fair trial - a fair trial involves you being able to question your accuser. Since speed cameras can't talk, it's pretty hard to do that.
So let's do a hypothetical. Let's be kinder to most speed cameras and say they are not inaccurate by +90mph as the one in fFlorida was. Let's say they're only inaccurate to +10mph. You get a 10mph over ticket when you were in fact driving the speed limit. Is that fair? No, but unless the judge understands the law (well. . understands it AND gives a damn about what it says) you're stuck paying a fine for a crime you did not commit. In many states you don't have automatic right to appeal in a traffic ticket, and many states laws assume the radar is always accurate unless you can prove it is not.
So speed trap cameras are pretty much a win-win for the cops. They don't have to sit around clocking cars, they don't have to have accurate speed readings, AND they get a constant stream of ticket money that they don't have to do any work for.