NYC Deploying MOBILE Speed Cameras

Fine is cheap and 11 mph over is generous. Definitely in the interest of order and safety.

The New York State Legislature authorized speed cameras in New York City, and Nassau and Suffolk Counties in school zones only. The camera must be on the highway where an entrance to the school is, and within 1/4 mile (1320 feet). CBS news made no mention of a school nearby. It is unknown whether the required school zone speed limit signs were posted at that location. A Google search did not result in any other info about this news.

A Staten Island (New York City) resident, Michael Reilly, posted on Facebook that a mobile speed camera issued summonses when a Staten Island school was closed for spring break. State law requires all school zone speed limits to be posted with signs, "School Days Only," and the time of day the school speed limit is in effect. When school is closed the normal speed limit for that road applies.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/michael-reilly/speed-cameras-...

dobs108

I have emailed Marcia Kramer at CBS News to ask whether this mobile speed camera was within 1/4 mile of a school, since she never mentioned the word "school" at all!

dobs108

Michael Reilly has posted on Facebook that New York City red light cameras have the capability of speed cameras. We have to assume, since we have the latest, best equipment in Nassau and Suffolk Counties, that our cameras can also be speed cameras. We already know they have full-motion video, and they already measure speed. High speed is one of the flags for operation of the strobe and flagging the video for inspection by a person.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/michael-reilly/speed-cameras-...

dobs108

If this is true, wouldn't it have implications on how we handle the red light files for this area. We probably should also list them as speed cameras so there's no possibility of assuming that they're not.

Fred

You are right but I don't think we can assume that every red light camera in New York City is a speed camera. Speed cameras are only authorized within 1/4 mile of a school entrance. On the other hand, the city is not publicizing the locations of the speed cameras.

What I plan to do is run the POI Factory red light camera file as it is, and when I get the proximity alert of a red light camera, limit my speed to just above the speed limit; which is what I am already doing anyway.

dobs108

There will come a day when the pilot program ends, and we will see speed camera fines of several hundred dollars. Listen to our posters in other areas!

dobs108

San Francisco is $480...that is steep, yet at the same time, effective. Depends what we want. If I sped and ran lights all the time, I wouldn't want enforcement. But if I want what's right, I'd want lawbreakers to be fined and possibly jailed after they' ex demonstrated recidivism.

It is probably only a matter of time until EZ Pass is tapped for speeding ticket revenue. Very simple math is all that is needed. Cha Ching for the government coffers.

need files, I have some locations

CBS never answered my email inquiring whether the video was shot in a school zone. After reviewing the video, it is obvious that the speed camera was not in a school zone. According to New York State law, speed cameras can only operate in school zones.

1) The speeding car was timed at 42 mph in a 30 mph zone. The New York City speed limit is 30 mph unless otherwise posted. All school zones are less than 30 mph, so the video was not in a school zone.

2) The second driver interviewed said it was not in a school zone!

It is obvious that the New York City DOT is willing to do anything to slow down speeders, including violate the law!

dobs108

I talked to someone who got a SPEEDING ticket from a RLC in a school zone on the eastbound LIE service road in Queens, between Peck Ave and Francis Lewis Blvd.

The red light camera is at Horace Harding Expy. (Long Island Expy. south service road) and Francis Lewis Blvd. Driving east from Peck Ave. you are approaching the red light camera in front of St. Francis Prep. There is a report that a mobile speed camera was there -

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=13539254023&story_...

The driver may not know whether the red light camera or mobile speed camera issued the summons. Does anyone know whether the school zone speed limit signs are properly posted?

dobs108

The camera is indeed on the lie service road 100 feet east of the Francis lewis exit on the lie. It is perched high atop a pole adjacent to the fence on the left hand side of the road. It is not on the red light camera that is located 25 feet west of the Francis lewis intersection.
The second light is located on s/b utopia parkway 10 feet north of 56 ave. I know because I was caught by both lights. 100 bucks to the city.

I see you took one. (err...two) Was it for the team?

So these are fixed speed cameras?

dobs108

You need a lot more than simple math. You need a calibrated and certified timing system, for every E-ZPass interrogator that might be needed for speed enforcement, for starters. Then you need to prove that the system never makes mistakes. That will be hard, I got billed for a transponder going through a toll when it was actually sitting in a drawer hundreds of miles away.

I agree.

Old Red Light cameras cannot be outfitted with speed camera technology and do both;however, the new cameras can be converted to both. At this time, red light cameras are red light cameras, and speed cameras are speed cameras not both. Misinformation is dangerous.

I think you are confused with the technology. The only difference between a camera used for speed enforcement and one used for a red light is the sensor used. An RLC will normally use either a radar or laser focused on a specific point and look for something to trigger the electronics. Most RLC units do measure speed to aid the viewer in determining if the infraction was above the tolerance point. It's just the sensor trigger is tied to the light phase where a speed camera is tied to the rate of change in the sensor signal.

There are many units which do both, take your picture for not stopping and if you exceed the speed limit. So it's not the camera, but the sensors and their triggers that's the difference.

I-PASS in Illinois uses cameras at the booths to augment the transponders. If you have a dead or missing transponder, it registers the toll through license plate recognition. It gets listed on the account activity as a v-toll. (video toll).

another fine product from New York

Mobile speed cameras are just another thing that need to be banned.

What if a police officer operates it? Would you still ban it?

Just spray painting the Windows and break the camera

From the article... “And one thing that I say is if the drivers of New York slow down, obey the speed limit, and stop running red lights — and the city collects no revenue – I’ll consider it a victory.”

Chicago is exactly the opposite. They started installing fixed speed cameras here in school zones, and "park zones" (though some of what they call "parks" barely qualify). A few months back, I remember reading an article where the city actually blamed some of its financial shortcomings on the unexpectedly high number of drivers who were obeying the speed limits, and the resulting lack of fines being issued and paid.

As for the above comment about making RADAR detectors relevant again, I disagree. At least with the fixed units here in Chicago, due to the computer's essentially non-existent reaction time, and the fact that it's only enforcing at the spot where the camera is aimed, the gain on the RADAR is turned down quite low, and they generally don't set off my detector until I'm within about 30' or less, and those are for the one's on the opposite side of the street, that are pointed right at me (not the ones enforcing my lanes). The one's enforcing my lanes, that I do have to worry about, often don't set off my detector until I'm past the unit, and in front of the camera, as the antenna is pointed away from me until I'm in the target zone. As someone who's used them before, I can attest to the fact that the ones intended to be operated by humans can reach out for over a quarter mile, to allow you time to identify the target vehicle, and react to it, which also allows someone with a detector, time to slow down.

If you have an appropriate FCC licence you could transmit your call to the radar gun and really screw it up!!

That way when they blindly send you a ticket for going some unbeleviable speed it's likely everones tickets gets tossed out from the time between the calibrations!

Oh it's just so much fun to dream up says just to screw with idiots mind's!

You got billed for a transponder going through a toll, when in fact, it was sitting in a drawer. Off the top of my head, it sounds like an administrative error, not a technological one.

I got billed for 4 axles when someone rode my a** without a tag through the EZPass lane. Opened up a case and the charge was removed. System works.

Pretty much any systems that transmits digital data utilizes some form of error-detection (and maybe error-correction) algorithm. The capability can range from pathetic to incredibly powerful. Naturally more capable usually means more complexity with its associated increase in circuit complexity and power consumption. Since EZ-Pass technology is not new and the power available is severely limited, one can presume the error-detection algorithm is weak. Even with what sounds like a very low mis-identification rate, processing hundreds of thousands transactions a day can still result in a lot of mistakes. Sounds like telecomdigest2 just had the misfortune of being the victim of weak system design.

The toll readers (not the tag) vary quite widely in their ability to read the tags as they pass within their area. We all have seen readers that say 5 MPH and we have all seen the high-speed ones installed over the tollways. What happened in this case the toll operator made an assumption the tag was not read but the license plate was registered to an active tag. The open account associated with the tag was charged rather than issue a citation for non payment.

Tail-gating through the low speed readers is quite common and those that do it on purpose get no sympathy from the toll operator. Those people when caught often face criminal prosecution and very hefty charges for tolls they didn't pay.

Some guy on youtube connected his EZPASS to a buzzer so that everytime his EZPASS was read his buzzer would beep. It was going off like crazy as he drove around midtown and different locations where there were no tolls. It seems they want to track the movement of cars.

most of them are by schools

Many, many EZ Pass readers in Manhattan. Look at the traffic light poles and corner streetlight poles. You will see rectangular beige boxes, about the size of a large textbook. They are EZ Pass readers. Supposedly they are used, without your personal data, for monitoring traffic speed and patterns.

Wonder if the radar detector works for the mobile and static red light cameras... Just stay 10 above speed light and u r good...