Let’s be honest, police trying to catch speeding cars or compulsive phone users with unmarked or hidden cruisers is not the reason why people don’t trust the US police.
I can only speak for myself, but I absolutely add any form of hidden speed traps to the list. Cops know they can perform “traffic calming” by parking a marked cruiser in an easily seen location, be it on a highway or a city street. People see the car and slow down. This works anywhere it’s clear they can join traffic and pull you over. The officer effortlessly achieves a local bump in traffic safety just by sitting there, and cops don’t need to do risky traffic stops unless someone is really not paying attention. So that’s gotta be the preferred method, right?
Meanwhile, hidden traps and unmarked cars have only one purpose: generate ticket revenue. The only mass “calming” that happens is kinda/sorta in the area where a cop has someone pulled over - and that’s after the car is clearly visible.
Edit: We can also solve speeding and reckless behavior by engineering calming measures into the road itself. The freaking DOT wrote a manual for it. IMO, it’s hard to view speed traps as anything more than a band-aid fix with this in mind.
Eh, if enforcement was actually consistent then traffic behavior would still change over time, even with unmarked cars. I don’t really have sympathy for drivers who disregard traffic safety rules and I’m not interested in giving folks a fair shake at evading enforcement. Driving is a privilege and speeding imposes risks to society at large.
Frankly, I’d be fine if we forced cops to fund themselves through ticket revenue, up until traffic safety stats improved.
Yes/no. I’ve seen every permutation over the years though. Some in the median or on the sidewalk with no warning signage, some with. Some just up a pole somewhere out-of-sight with no warning signage. Some big-ol trailer contraptions complete with police/county seals on the front. I’ve even seen some that were temporary tripods set up in front of unmarked cars on the shoulder, for some mobile overnight shenanigans.
I can’t say they’re all 100% bad. Just maybe some of the sneakier implementations run afoul of my thesis above.
vandalise
I don’t condone that, but that’s kind of convenient!
Meanwhile, hidden traps and unmarked cars have only one purpose: generate ticket revenue.
That’s not true - knowing that there could be a speed trap hidden anywhere makes drivers more likely to actually follow the law. Hidden traps are only an issue for people who believe that breaking the speed limit should be the norm.
I dont believe this is true in practice as much as you might like it to be, and I’d love to see any actual data you might have to support your assertion
IF there’s no data, then we don’t come to @sudoku@programming.dev’s conclusion . We don’t draw any conclusion. We admit we don’t know, and continue to try to discover a method for collecting data.
Let’s be honest, police trying to catch speeding cars or compulsive phone users with unmarked or hidden cruisers is not the reason why people don’t trust the US police.
I can only speak for myself, but I absolutely add any form of hidden speed traps to the list. Cops know they can perform “traffic calming” by parking a marked cruiser in an easily seen location, be it on a highway or a city street. People see the car and slow down. This works anywhere it’s clear they can join traffic and pull you over. The officer effortlessly achieves a local bump in traffic safety just by sitting there, and cops don’t need to do risky traffic stops unless someone is really not paying attention. So that’s gotta be the preferred method, right?
Meanwhile, hidden traps and unmarked cars have only one purpose: generate ticket revenue. The only mass “calming” that happens is kinda/sorta in the area where a cop has someone pulled over - and that’s after the car is clearly visible.
Edit: We can also solve speeding and reckless behavior by engineering calming measures into the road itself. The freaking DOT wrote a manual for it. IMO, it’s hard to view speed traps as anything more than a band-aid fix with this in mind.
Eh, if enforcement was actually consistent then traffic behavior would still change over time, even with unmarked cars. I don’t really have sympathy for drivers who disregard traffic safety rules and I’m not interested in giving folks a fair shake at evading enforcement. Driving is a privilege and speeding imposes risks to society at large.
Frankly, I’d be fine if we forced cops to fund themselves through ticket revenue, up until traffic safety stats improved.
Are the speed/ red light cameras hidden where you are.
Our red light cameras are usually at intersections and people tend to know about them because they are always trying to vandalise them.
Yes/no. I’ve seen every permutation over the years though. Some in the median or on the sidewalk with no warning signage, some with. Some just up a pole somewhere out-of-sight with no warning signage. Some big-ol trailer contraptions complete with police/county seals on the front. I’ve even seen some that were temporary tripods set up in front of unmarked cars on the shoulder, for some mobile overnight shenanigans.
I can’t say they’re all 100% bad. Just maybe some of the sneakier implementations run afoul of my thesis above.
I don’t condone that, but that’s kind of convenient!
That’s not true - knowing that there could be a speed trap hidden anywhere makes drivers more likely to actually follow the law. Hidden traps are only an issue for people who believe that breaking the speed limit should be the norm.
I dont believe this is true in practice as much as you might like it to be, and I’d love to see any actual data you might have to support your assertion
How exactly would you collect data on this
Self reporting is going to be dubious at best when it comes to admitting breaking the law
IF there’s no data, then we don’t come to @sudoku@programming.dev’s conclusion . We don’t draw any conclusion. We admit we don’t know, and continue to try to discover a method for collecting data.