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Old 08-28-2002, 01:10 PM   #8
Xugumad
Punisher of Good Deeds
 
Join Date: Apr 2001
Posts: 183
Quote:
This tastes bad. I'm not sure why but it just seems sneaky and of dubious legality.
Two things: not my personal opinion, merely cultural observations. In the US, some people seem to hold the belief that speeding is a God-given right, or some sort of privilege that smart people simply get away with. Populist state laws, intended to appeal to drivers, and thus favour incumbent politicians, seek to restrict the amount of speed checking done by the police, and to impose limitations on how it can be done. Often, signs have to point out where radar checking is done, or where speed is monitored by aircraft. Automatized radar traps seem to be rare. In conversation with drivers, many seem upset and annoyed that the police would employ 'sneaky' (see the above wording) methods to catch speeding drivers. And, as dhamsaic said, I am always speechless, since it's a method of checking illegality without causing any harm to anyone in the process. Whilst spying on everyone's phone conversations to find out if you are a criminal has serious repercussions, checking everybody's speed does not. Questioning the legality of such checks is particularly strange, since it implies that there is some sort of social contract going on between law enforcement and the people: apparently you can only catch illegal actions if you make sure beforehand that the people committing those actions know that you're there.

Nonetheless, those methods are nothing compared to what is done in Europe. Automatic radar traps are the norm, your speed is measured, a photograph immediately/automatically taken, then processed, and your fine sent to your home address via mail. Simple and effective. Radar traps are not usually announced in advance ("slow down here, then continue speeding"), and often they are ingeniously hidden. The best I've ever seen looked like a trash can standing by the roadside next to a highway exit in Germany, where people were likely to speed up to enter traffic. For obvious reasons, there is a speed limit on such an onramp, to avoid crashing into highway traffic that may not see you in time. The trashcan was big and grey, and looked a bit out of whack. On very close inspection, it had a grille of some sort on its side. It had a radar trap built into it, and was chained to the ground.

X.
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