More speed camera nonsense

How is 600% possible, am I mising something here?

Either you made a typo (60%)or somebody at Xerox needs to be fired for providing such absurd results to a court.

You missed the other scenario of the newspaper making the mistake.

At least that is the prevailing thought. The figure of 600% most definitely is a typo, but then the 60% figure probably is pretty close to being accurate.

The question no one is asking, not even the paper (Shame on you Baltimore Sun!) is what was the posted speed and what speeds were observed? Doing 26 in a 25 means "You ARE speeding." That counts. Howard county, like most municipalities proably hasn't done an engineering study of traffic in the past 50 years if ever. Oh, the county public works does conduct some studies but they usually are more for their information than being presented to the lawmakers as a reason to change posted speed limits.

The article as presented here only starts flame wars. None of us are in a position to do anything about the situation so why get excited?

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/howard/bs-md-ho-sp...

That's why we read the Washington Post!

Fred

... and for pennies everyone is playing the game.

Just consider it a 'jobs program' and keep your own life real.

The 600% figure was not a typo, the data from Xerox indicated that there were six times as many speeders as cars that went through the intersection:

Ten or twelve more cameras pointing in every direction should reduce the number of speeders down to the physical limits of our Universe.

Instances of inaccurate or unfair tickets issued by cameras run by outside venders are widely alleged. Typically it is hard to prove the allegations, even when most reasonable people are convinced of the problems. This case is unusual in that the vender has effectively documented his gross lack of quality controls. If the vender cannot even count cars, it is reasonable to question if he can measure their speed accurately.

We need to up our skills here in the USA.

Sunday’s Baltimore Sun reports that Howard County wants to use the Xerox data to determine if speed limits are reasonable. They are defining reasonable as the 85th percentile of vehicles – not a bad definition. They gave one example where that number is 8 over the existing speed limit, implying they would like to raise the limit. But they cannot now because the Xerox data is completely untrustworthy. The County has apparently given Xerox two weeks to find the missing data and provide an “accurate” report.

data that can be used to justify raising (taxes) revenue (More red light or speed cameras). Just like you can word questions in order to get responses you want (manipulate the data) Government has the means
to protect and make it safer for all under the guise of safety (cough).

If they can't get that data right, do you really think they can get what your speed is right???? Time to ban them so all these issues go away.

Warning Of speed Camera now install on the side of school bus too now.IF a bus have the Sign to stop actived and a vehicle Does not stop The camera mounted on the side of the bus will take picture of the license plate.fine can range from $300 first offense $700 second time and third $1.000

http://www.atsol.com/media-center/videos/

It's not a SPEED camera. It's there to photograph those a**holes that pass stopped school busses with their flashers on.

Using the same logic, if a driver is unwilling or unable to drive at a speed lower than the posted limit, they should be banned from driving.

Your rebuttal is a false analogy fallacy. You don't generally get fined for travelling slower than the speed limit, unless on a highway with a minimum speed.

While I would prefer a solution that is fair and equitable regarding the cameras, I don't think local governments are interested in one. Thus an outright ban is still the best option.

"The 2013 data sometimes reported that 200 percent, 400 percent or even 600 percent of the number of cars that passed by a camera were speeding."

"The Washington Post. Ifyou don't get it, you don't get it."

We got it but we also have the highest concentration of cameras likely in the nation when you consider MD, DC. & VA as an ensemble.

Fred

and disturbing. Thanks for the info. I live in Montgomery County, MD.

.

It's not clear that Xerox is worse than other venders. It could just be that they have provided more evidence of mistakes locally.

with a green left arrow this AM, waiting for 2 cars to complete running their left turns on red (based on approach speed aka lack of stopping), and wondering why in the heck there is no rlc at this intersection, I thought, if 4 more cars run the light on the next cycle, that will be the same 600% on this thread

Bringing to mind this horrifying video of a semi-trailer truck passing a stopped school bus **on the right** and nearly killing a 7th grade student:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VbRtnzzK34
Caught on video and turned himself in after the video was aired widely, according to the Minnesota Dept. of Public Safety. Cameras on school buses are a good thing to have.

(Looking at the video, my guess is that the trucker was speeding and distracted and felt compelled to pass on the right at the last second to avoid the worse alternative of slamming the truck into the back of the bus--still doesn't excuse the violation, of course--this is a trucker who should not be driving.)

At least 600%, lol

Interesting video, but I note that the camera did not stop the incident from happening.

…should be: "600% more cars were speeding than were not." That sounds reasonable by my experience. Not unusual at all. People should slow down. People shouldn't run red lights. People shouldn't pass stopped school busses. But they do.

Uh, no, but what would have, other than a more alert and responsible truck driver? Maybe a police officer on the scene would have prevented it by making the driver more alert, but not necessarily.

Please note: I am no supporter of enforcement cameras as established in dozens of posts on this forum. School bus cameras are there to document incidents, not issue tickets, at least in many jurisdictions. It wasn't a ticket that directly brought this driver to heel--it was publicity. If the camera hadn't been on the bus and if no one noticed the truck number or license plate number, nothing would have come of it at all.

The real problem is that the red light vender was unable to count the number of cars correctly.

You should care because if he cannot even count correctly, do you think he is able to determine who is running the red light.

and either don't ask or are given no other info. Someone at city hall has a buddy at the paper who puts crap like this in a NEWSpaper in order to raise taxes, oops, put in more RLC.

I have never seen any cold hard facts on taxes going up due to enforcement of the law, short of law enforcement costs (PD).

A LAPD starts at $54k with no experience whatsoever, and is up into the high 80's in as little as 2 yrs. on the job. If that 100k officer is spending his/her time catching criminals, instead of writing traffic infractions, when a camera can do that, perhaps there is a savings?

Reminds me of say BAC who complains that credit unions don't pay taxes, which is why they can offer car loans at 1.49%, when the best they can do is 2.5%. Who would want to pay 1% more? But the fact of the matter is BAC paid an effective tax rate of 10.9% in 2012, hardly anything to complain about.