DC Dopers: Beware of the speed camera

[CookingWithGas]

I arrived home yesterday to find a little "greeting card" from the DC police. It seems that they have a speed radar/camera set up on I-395 just as you exit a tunnel near the Mass. Ave. exit. I was fined $50 for doing 56 in a 45.

Yes, I was guilty. And I do not object to automated enforcement for the sake of public safety. But this reeks of fundraising rather than public safety. Driving conditions were perfect and I was the only car on this stretch of divided interstate, which, by the way, is a necessary condition for the radar system to work. I can't believe a live cruiser would have pulled me over in the same situation. Actually, today I saw a car blatantly run a red light and a DC police car stopped at the same intersection did nothing at all.

I don't like the $50 but I really don't like having a blemish on my record; I haven't had a ticket in about 8 or 9 years.

[Enter the Flagon]

I seem to get one of these tickets every month or so. So I can't believe that they count as points against your license, because if they did, I think I'd have been notified by now that my license has been suspended.

I also can't say that I mind the public fundraising aspect of the automated ticket "industry", since the net result is still that the roads become a safer place to operate an automobile. And I prefer to think of the fine as kind of an "unsafe driver tax", and who better to tax at an accelerated (if you'll pardon the pun) rate than speeders? Like you, I'm also quite aware that we probably wouldn't need these cameras at all if the Metropolitan Police Department would get off it's notoriously lazy ass and issue some goddam tickets. But what can you do?

As they used to say, 'if you can't do the time, don't do the time'.

[dbuzman]

Originally Posted by Enter the Flagon

<snip> As they used to say, 'if you can't do the time, don't do the time'.

I think that's "don't do the crime".

[Malacandra]

Well, y'know, 25% over the limit ain't just a rounding error.

Now lemme tell you about getting snapped by a red light camera at a deserted junction with no vehicle or pedestrian within two or three hundred yards...

[Steve MB]

Originally Posted by Malacandra

Well, y'know, 25% over the limit ain't just a rounding error.

The problem is the limit itself -- a 45-MPH section on a highway is clearly a revenue-raising scheme.

[Wallenstein]

Amazing how nearly everyone who receives a speeding penalty does it on a Perfectly Clear Road, with No-One Else Around, generally in Fine Weather on a piece of road that is Completely Straight and Level.

No-one says "well, come to think of it I was a little tired from the office, and it was a bit overcast, drizzling even, and it's been a few months since I checked my tyre pressure, and yeah, exiting a tunnel can take a moment for the eyes to adjust to the change in contrast, plus we were coming up to an exit... so all-in-all it kinda makes sense to enforce the current limits".

[CookingWithGas]

Originally Posted by Wallenstein

Amazing how nearly everyone who receives a speeding penalty does it on a Perfectly Clear Road, with No-One Else Around, generally in Fine Weather on a piece of road that is Completely Straight and Level. .

The time was 11:07 AM. The notice says, "Weather: SUNNY". The description on the back about how the system works says, "The camera will not take a photograph if...there is more than one vehicle in the radar beam." According to the diagram on the back the radar beam covers 150 feet.

The photographic evidence shows my car on a Perfectly Clear Road, with No-One Else Around, generally in Fine Weather on a piece of road that is Completely Straight and Level.

Now, I admitted I was guilty, and I have already paid the fine. But my gripe is that traffic enforcement in DC generally sucks. Every day when I leave the city, driving about a mile to the freeway I have to get over to avoid dozens of cars parked in the curb lanes illegally (not allowed 4:00-6:00 PM) which is not so much a safety issue but a huge traffic flow issue. I see people flagrantly running red lights almost every day. Cars block intersections that they shouldn't have entered.

Enter the Flagon, the notice says there are no points assessed.

This particular enforcement is tantamount to the small town speed trap. "Just smile at the judge and pay the fine, son."

[GorillaMan]

Originally Posted by Malacandra

Well, y'know, 25% over the limit ain't just a rounding error.

Now lemme tell you about getting snapped by a red light camera at a deserted junction with no vehicle or pedestrian within two or three hundred yards...

You could see 300yds in every direction at the time you didn't start to brake?

[appleciders]

Originally Posted by CookingWithGas

The description on the back about how the system works says, "The camera will not take a photograph if...there is more than one vehicle in the radar beam." According to the diagram on the back the radar beam covers 150 feet.

So this camera is specifically designed not to attempt to catch people who speed in traffic, but only people who speed when no one else is around?

[FairyChatMom]

My husband got gigged a couple of weeks ago in PG county running a red light. ($75) His problem is that if he starts thinking about work, he becomes semi-oblivious. Lucky for him when he starts his new job on Aug 25, we can ride to work together, and I'll be driving.

[Bearflag70]

Perhaps you can fight it. I think, in California anyway, posted speed limits are not absolute. The state speed law essentially says you can drive the speed that is safe for conditions, but not to exceed 65 MPH.

The posted limits are only prima facie limits, not absolute limits. In other words, the posted limit is presumed safe unless you can show otherwise. Perhaps get a road survey for that section and find out what traffic engineeers said is safe. Then show the judge how the conditions were favorable.

[Rhythmdvl]

I got nicked the day I moved out of DC, on my way to the U-Haul place. East Capitol, a short bit after the stadium.

They knew.

[CookingWithGas]

Originally Posted by appleciders

So this camera is specifically designed not to attempt to catch people who speed in traffic, but only people who speed when no one else is around?

I don't think it's by design, exactly. I think that they do that so people can't claim it was the car in front of them or alongside them that was speeding.