• then_three_more@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    Except they do make it safer and because there’s always tonnes of signs around them you don’t get the brake slamming. They act as a deterrent. Plus accidents at lower speeds are inherently less dangerous.

    Mobile speed traps, however, are a definite revenue boost.

      • then_three_more@lemmy.world
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        5 hours ago

        Maybe you guys ought to campaign to get the law changed. They used to be grey over here, but pressure was put on the government and how they’re all high vis yellow with loads of warnings before them.

        • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
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          2 hours ago

          I don’t want the law changed where I live, because these cameras are prohibited!

          Several states in the USA prohibit speed cameras and traffic light cameras, because a citizen must be able to face their accuser when accused of a crime. This is a great example of freedom in the USA, where we do not let machines automatically issue fines against human beings.

        • thermal_shock@lemmy.world
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          4 hours ago

          how about just not ripping off people for doing 37 in a 35?

          If the penalty for a crime is a fine, then that law only exists for the lower class. if it were a percentage of your annual income, completely different story.

          • then_three_more@lemmy.world
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            4 hours ago

            Over here if you’re just a bit over they’ll normally put you on a speed awareness course for the first time getting caught.

            And I 100% agree on fines being income based. I think some of the Scandinavian countries have done that. I also think there needs to be some kind of catch for the super rich who work the system so they don’t really declare an income. Maybe if your net worth is x times the national average the fine is the greater of either a percentage of your net worth or income.

        • TheTechnician27@lemmy.world
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          3 hours ago

          American driver entitlement is the purest, most potent form of entitlement.

          I don’t know if you knew this, but with regard to US Interstates, there’s a common saying that goes “nine you’re fine, ten you’re mine.” It’s essentially saying “under 15 kph you’re fine, but over 15 you’re busted for speeding”. That is, if you want to exceed the already quite high speed limit, you should feel safe doing up to 9 additional mph over that. And they’re actually not wrong; many police literally don’t enforce traffic law up to that point, or they only do so if they really have a bee in their bonnet. In large part this is because nearly every driver’s doing it, which is one of the main reasons why cameras are useful: it doesn’t have to stop your car, ask if you know why it pulled you over, listen to you try talking your way out of a ticket, be subject to human biases such as ethnicity, gender, and personality in determining whether to let you go with just a warning or not, and generate enough paperwork to disincentivize the enforcement of traffic law as written.

          Except in a school zone, if you get pulled over doing within 5 mph (8 kph) of the speed limit, it’s seen by drivers as a huge power trip and something you should gaslight the court into believing you didn’t do, and from 5–10 mph, it’s basically seen as getting unlucky. The state of speeding in the US is so dire that even asserting that speed limits should be enforced as marked is something that will get you shouted down.