I'm not generally in favor of obeying rules but enforcing them on 2+ tons of metal that people drive around is kinda where I start being in favor. With large dangerous objects should come some semblance of responsibility and social demand.
Or if we're shitposting, every one of those cars contains at least 10k in scrap metal.
If they're just enforcing speeding rules, then I'm all for it. But something tells me the speed limit enforcement is an ancillary side effect of them keeping a record of every car that passes the thing and when.
It in incentivizes lowering speed limits below what the actual reasonable speed is for an area to increase profits. There are literally speed trap towns where their largest revenue stream comes from their speed traps.
All the cool thieves know stealing catalytic converters for the platinum in them is the way to go. Way easier than hauling away multiple tons of scrap metal.
I thought it was the palladium, but yeah they are valuable.
Fuck people who drive recklessley. There's more copper in their car than the camera. Heaps more as we move to EV's and not micromobility solutions.
I've heard they keep a packet of meth right behind the lens as a desiccant. Just smash the lens and it falls right out.
Some do, some don't. If you don't find one right away you gotta keep trying and you'll find one eventually.
I'm calling bullshit on this. There is no way there is that much copper in one of those cameras. However, if you find a red light camera that looks like a big birdhouse or a mailbox... I've heard that those cameras might be more worth your time
Those cameras are specialty built. There was some guy that stole a bunch of those cameras and got busted because he wasn't able to offload the cameras and eventually tried craigslist.
Maybe don't run red lights instead of trying to get meth users to take the cameras down?
I know it's a joke but drivers are assholes by me and enforcement is low so these cameras are the best option.
The problem is that red light cameras incentivizes cities to encourage dangerous driving, because it is now a revenue source. Multiple cities have been caught illegally shortening yellow lights because shorter yellow lights cause more red light violations, yielding more money for the city and also increasing the rate of accidents at those intersections.
Changing a yellow light for that reason is messed up in so many ways.
Yep, that and the inconsistencies of timing. Some areas yellow are very long, some are short, and some seen to vary within the "allowable range." In other words, encouraging people to slam on the brakes because God only knows when the lights will change.
I hate the cameras (I spend most of my work day driving city/suburban areas) and think that if they're going to exist, they should have longer yellows to give more opportunity for drivers not to panic between getting ticketed or rear ended.
Is there any actual hard evidence of this? Or is it all anecdotal?
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130813201430.htm
There are also a bunch of court cases where tickets have been thrown out because the yellow time was too short, but maybe you think that counts as "anecdotal" because I can't find a source to cite that's tallied them all up.
Drivers are assholes by me too and enforcement is low here too, but that doesn't justify a camera watching every driver 24/7, plus pedestrians in some areas.
If you want more traffic enforcement, get the cops to do their fucking jobs.
Lol good luck with getting the cops to do anything. They love abusing traffic laws themselves.
But these cameras do not watch people. They take a picture when they detect a car is going too fast or blows a red light, not constant surveillance.
Plus cars are on public roads, peds are on public streets. I don't really care about the privacy argument tbh in this case. Much more people are harmed from cars speeding and blowing red lights then any sort of abuse involving public cameras.
But these cameras do not watch people. They take a picture when they detect a car is going too fast or blows a red light, not constant surveillance.
Speeding ticket like many other crimes are an issue on;y if you are poor. Making presecution more agressive and non-fines based or limiting the cars sold\registered there are probably the quick fixes to this systemic trouble.
It's a black box we don't have much info about in this or other states. What makes the overseer abstain from OCRing every car plate and having it's trajectory mapped at every junction? There are many justifications to do so, like car theft or general tracking of wrongdoers, but with it's automation comes the understanding that every ride in your car is tracked A to B without you knowing it.
I'd much rather an almost unbiased and passive camera making the decision rather than a likely racist, and certainly biased in other ways, cops enforcing the law. Certainly considering I would rather cops doing more important work than handing out tickets. Maybe even spending that time getting training to be less fuckwits.
If you said they should be put in cars, I would agree that is watching it very driver 24/7, but strategically placed cameras in dangerous areas seems like a good idea to me and certainly not watching everyone all the time.
The solution to shitty drivers is fewer drivers, not more cameras.
All these cameras accomplish is forcing people to brake strongly and spontaneously, which is unsafe. In truth, they’re a revenue stream first, second, and third; for the government, insurance companies, and automotive shops. It’s a selective tax system that also nudges your bumper every other week. I don’t believe they’ve ever actually improved traffic conditions.
CDC says they reduce injury crashes.
https://www.cdc.gov/transportation-safety/calculator/red-light.html
I'm just saying, copper prices are HIGH right now too yall
$30+ for each camera easy
Unfortunately, all the other prices are high right now, too.
Only $30?
You know who has never paid a speeding ticket his entire life? The guy who rides the bus.
If there were a bus closer than two miles and across a four-lane highway from me, I would be that guy.
Yeah, the system is fucked. But I can't help notice we install speed traps rather than bus lanes, almost as though we see drivers as revenue streams rather than traffic risks.
Is this really true? Pipes, heat exchangers and motors all have lots of copper. Why would a camera have a lot of copper in it?
Google is not being helpful and just returning results of this meme. There is a story out of Houston implying they do not have a lot of copper. And a story out of Honolulu that's pretty ambiguous.
You'd think they basically just be a digital camera, a big lens, power supply, hardwired internet. So I mean I guess you could just cut and harvest the power line, but that will eventually lead down the pole and into concrete. The internet line is apparently fiber optic in many cases.
"Google is not being helpful and just returning results of this meme. "
Google? Not providing helpful results in 2024???
:O
Definitely, I would be shocked if there's more than a pound of copper in that camera assembly. It's all low voltage electronics.
If you want to end the enforcement cameras just take a picture of the plates of your least favorite high ranking political figure. Print a ton out and go a sports bar or chad gym and paste over all the plates in the parking lot. Prioritize cars with big fins or stance. That driver's infraction are re routed to the copied tag. Rinse repeat once they catch on to that tag.
5.5lbs of just copper alone?! WTF.. that's a heavy ass camera.
Yeah im calling bullshit on this one
How about we just change to roundabouts without any lights and everyone just has to carefully merge
Traffic enforcement cameras are good for all road-users, including car drivers! We need more of them, tbh. And I say that as a petrol-head.
Enforcing traffic laws is one thing, but sooner or later they're going to get hooked up to a central archive and database and be used to create a license-plate-tracking panopticon.
There was a study done about this in the late 90s. With existing analog cameras in New York City police were able to track cars license plates with 90% accuracy. Keep in mind this was pre-GPS, pre-digital processing, and pre-image recognition.
Just think how much further camera technology, computer software, and image recognition has come since then. Not to mention that your phone and car or GPS enabled and constantly tracking your location.
This has been here for over 30 years.
Well, this just happened recently in my local area. Easy pickings....
Those cameras wouldn't be needed if people didn't drive so fast it endangers the people around them.
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