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(The Newspaper) Amusing Vigilantes disarm speed traps worldwide, in one case literally stealing the equipment from behind a police officer's back   (thenewspaper.com) divider line 133
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pxlboy [TotalFark] 2008-11-29 08:14:35 PM  
is img1.fark.net on vacation?

 
AntiNorm [TotalFark] 2008-11-29 10:17:23 PM  
pxlboy: is [Hero] on vacation?

No, because you don't just get to do whatever you want to on the road.

 
SurfaceTension [TotalFark] 2008-11-29 10:49:26 PM  
AntiNorm: pxlboy: is [Hero] on vacation?

No, because you don't just get to do whatever you want to on the road.


But I do have the Constitutional guarantee of the right to face my accuser, which in this case is a machine.

 
Yogimus 2008-11-29 11:28:23 PM  
Vigilantes later seen erecting roadside memorials to fallen comrades.

/Sharp curves and icy roads... God's speed traps
//Too bad the state cant get money out of em

 
Adam Baum 2008-11-29 11:29:39 PM  
img140.imageshack.us

 
fallingcow 2008-11-29 11:30:16 PM  
Another vote for "Hero" tag.

 
Barakku [TotalFark] 2008-11-29 11:30:47 PM  
Next time try disarming mines worldwide, and maybe I'll think you're something other than an attention whore

/Even if you fail, fark wins

 
AnArmyOfNuns 2008-11-29 11:31:23 PM  
Hero tag, biatches...

 
12inpianist 2008-11-29 11:32:05 PM  
SurfaceTension: AntiNorm: pxlboy: is [Hero] on vacation?

No, because you don't just get to do whatever you want to on the road.

But I do have the Constitutional guarantee of the right to face my accuser, which in this case is a machine.


And a calculator will tell you that 2+2=7, if that's how it's programmed.

Down with the machines!

 
Glass Joe 2008-11-29 11:32:06 PM  
Is it really a correct use of the term "vigilantes"?

 
The Asshole Guy 2008-11-29 11:32:08 PM  
From the article...

Local jurisdictions in Pennsylvania are banned by state law from using radar because lawmakers believe they would only use the devices to generate revenue from passing motorists.

So why don't they just use LIDAR?

 
Get Lost 2008-11-29 11:33:13 PM  
Awesome! Would read again..

If speed enforcement is for safety? Then how come it takes 3 weeks to enforce the ticket? And in the meantime, the driver keeps speeding, generating more revenue for the poor, broke, destitute police..

Meanwhile you are all drunk until proved innocent by the cop blocking the road..

 
meowgret thatcher 2008-11-29 11:33:59 PM  
you fark with people's freedom and privacy long enough, and they're going to fight back. At least I hope so.

 
Klivian 2008-11-29 11:34:15 PM  
The Asshole Guy: From the article...

Local jurisdictions in Pennsylvania are banned by state law from using radar because lawmakers believe they would only use the devices to generate revenue from passing motorists.

So why don't they just use LIDAR?


Notice how it only says LOCAL cops can't use it to generate revenue. Nothing about staties using it that way.

 
DeathToRetail 2008-11-29 11:34:18 PM  
I'm with the hero bandwagon, thank you.

Also, why does the word Vigilante have a bag stigma to in real life, but good ol' skull smashing, brain stabbing Frank Castle-ish fun in fictional terms?

 
RoyBatty 2008-11-29 11:36:19 PM  
In Phoenix, some folks put Silly String on one camera and post-it notes on another, and now there is a manhunt to find the perps and charge them with several misdemeanors.

I think that's asinine.

I welcome Spy Cam Fan Janet Napolitano to Obama's cabinet as head of DHS.

We're farked.

/I'm a liberal, wish Obama and Napolitano were.

 
Custer 2008-11-29 11:36:40 PM  
Why not draw the line?

We get as muck BS as we will put up with.

 
Gyrfalcon [TotalFark] 2008-11-29 11:39:24 PM  
Yeah, because how dare the police attempt to enforce the law! Fascists!

Seriously, enforcing the speed limit is one thing. Hiding unmanned laser traps behind bushes is something else entirely. The very least the cops can do is sit in driveways or along blind curves and work for it.

However, I wouldn't steal the things. I'd post two or three people at each of the laser traps, and trip them off in order, synchronizing the beams to make the cops think some maniac was driving through at like 195 mph. Then sit back and watch the carnage.

 
Shadow Blasko 2008-11-29 11:39:41 PM  
AntiNorm: pxlboy: is [Hero] on vacation?

No, because you don't just get to do whatever you want to on the road.


Oh jesus flipping christ .. you love these threads dont you ?

 
darth_shatner 2008-11-29 11:40:46 PM  
Score one against the Kodak Cops and their revenue cameras

/another vote for hero tag

 
Claude Ballse 2008-11-29 11:40:56 PM  
AntiNorm
No, because you don't just get to do whatever you want to on the road.

It's not at all about wanting to do whatever you want on the road. It about how these people consistently try to make money off of people doing nothing wrong. Triple-digit speeds? Road Rage? Cutting people off? Tail-Gating? Yeah, those are unsafe. Doing 10-15 over the limit on a highway in normal weather? No, that's a BS excuse to generate revenue.

If it's all for safety, then why is it that cops never set up speed traps when it's raining? That's when people drive the most dangerously. Oh, I forgot. Cops don't want to be inconvenienced and risk getting wet.

If you really wanted speed traps to save lives, set them up in inclement weather to make people associate rain and high winds with increased police presence to make them slow down.

Oh, my bad again. If people actually slowed down, no tickets would be given, and no revenue would come in.

Public Safety my ass.

 
EngineerBoy [TotalFark] 2008-11-29 11:41:15 PM  
I'm no fan of vigilantism, but I feel that the use of technology solely to produce revenue from traffic violations is abhorrent and hypocritical. The same amount of money could be spent to put in speed limit indicators (Speed Limit: X, Your Speed: X+10) that would actually serve to preserve the public safety.

I'm also no fan of scofflaws, but most speed traps are designed to take advantage of obscure and/or purposely hidden speed limit changes to play gotcha with otherwise safe drivers. The fact that "Protect and Server" has mutated into "Harass and Penalize" sullies the entire system and makes otherwise law-abiding persons like me begin to feel contempt for our system of laws, as our only typical direct interaction with peace officers is basically a legalized scam.

Also, I don't blame the cops - they're just doing what the State tells them to do, and they end up doing BS work they don't agree with, like most of us have to.

 
The Asshole Guy 2008-11-29 11:42:11 PM  
Klivian: The Asshole Guy: From the article...

Local jurisdictions in Pennsylvania are banned by state law from using radar because lawmakers believe they would only use the devices to generate revenue from passing motorists.

So why don't they just use LIDAR?

Notice how it only says LOCAL cops can't use it to generate revenue. Nothing about staties using it that way.


Yes, I noticed that but the article said, RADAR, not LIDAR. While some can argue they are the same they are not. Maybe they cannot use LIDAR but the article made no mention of it.

As for the HERO tag? You people do realize they are destorying things that most likely were paid for with tax dollars, at least in the United States.

I don't see how any of these people are heros, at all. Don't want a ticket, don't speed. It's your choice to speed, nobody is forcing you to do so.

 
machoprogrammer 2008-11-29 11:43:44 PM  
Claude Ballse: AntiNorm
No, because you don't just get to do whatever you want to on the road.

It's not at all about wanting to do whatever you want on the road. It about how these people consistently try to make money off of people doing nothing wrong. Triple-digit speeds? Road Rage? Cutting people off? Tail-Gating? Yeah, those are unsafe. Doing 10-15 over the limit on a highway in normal weather? No, that's a BS excuse to generate revenue.

If it's all for safety, then why is it that cops never set up speed traps when it's raining? That's when people drive the most dangerously. Oh, I forgot. Cops don't want to be inconvenienced and risk getting wet.

If you really wanted speed traps to save lives, set them up in inclement weather to make people associate rain and high winds with increased police presence to make them slow down.

Oh, my bad again. If people actually slowed down, no tickets would be given, and no revenue would come in.

Public Safety my ass.


this

 
NeuroticMan 2008-11-29 11:43:50 PM  
How, exactly, are these people "vigilantes?"

Did they take the law into their own hands?

 
studebaker hoch 2008-11-29 11:46:28 PM  
They have these things:

www.istockphoto.com

All over I-10 heading east into Phoenix now.

I'm just waiting until the entire state has them.

/so glad I got to be young in America before it went soviet.

 
ha-ha-guy 2008-11-29 11:46:37 PM  
I will simply say this on speeding. The speeding ticket is a debt to society right? As in I need a punitive damage because I went out and was a threat to society because I was driving an unsafe speed. So it isn't about poloice revenue or any of that, it is about me endangering others through my actions and me needing to pay for that. So lets change the law so that I can pay that debt to society by donating to a social good. So I could say donate to the local children's hospital, the local public schools, a state college, a public homeless shelter, free clinic, etc. Anything that serves the public so that my money repays them instead of going directly to the government authority that pays the police.

Does anyone think we'd have anywhere near as many speed traps, pushes for the camera systems, etc?

 
Heroic Poser 2008-11-29 11:47:36 PM  
Cry me a farking river.
Just go the speed limit and you won't have to worry.

 
Dispector 2008-11-29 11:48:24 PM  
meowgret thatcher: you fark with people's freedom and privacy long enough, and they're going to fight back. At least I hope so.

I like the idea of citizens fighting back against laws they find unjust. Maybe that's more of what we need in this country. Obviously, the police don't have enough spine to do it.

 
The Asshole Guy 2008-11-29 11:49:32 PM  
Claude Ballse:

If it's all for safety, then why is it that cops never set up speed traps when it's raining? That's when people drive the most dangerously. Oh, I forgot. Cops don't want to be inconvenienced and risk getting wet.

If you really wanted speed traps to save lives, set them up in inclement weather to make people associate rain and high winds with increased police presence to make them slow down.

Public Safety my ass.


A good friend of mine is a police officer. He did set up RADAR one day while it was raining. He was sitting in the median and some idiot saw him there, locked up his brakes, slid off the road and smacked him right in the passangers side door which totaled both cars.

Officers are not afraid to get out in the rain to right tickets but it is very dangerous to run RADAR/LIDAR in the rain as there are a lot of idiots that freak out when they see a police car and hit the brakes hard because they are speeding.

I doubt you have any friends that are police officers.

 
Kar98 2008-11-29 11:49:32 PM  
The £40,000 (US $60,000) device on Long Road in Canvey was destroyed, despite its proximity to firefighters who eventually managed to put out the blaze.

So the fire chief comes into the room, puts a box of donuts onto the table, and says, "guys, finish up your coffee, take your time, and whenever you're ready, we got to go and put out this fire. No hurry, though."


Right?

 
delchi 2008-11-29 11:49:58 PM  
We get as muck BS as we will put up with.

That's true. When I was hit by a guy going 50 in a 35 , and decided the stop sign at the intersection didn't apply to him ( or maybe he didn't have time to brake without doing some damage to his penis extension ) I decided I had enough of the BS speeders and light runners in this town. I chased his ass away from the scene with a tire iron. When the cops showed up he was nailed at fault for the accident AND leaving the scene of an accident. Turns out he had a long string of unpaid tickets too.

Oh well, plenty of room on the bus for asshats like him.

 
plausdeny 2008-11-29 11:51:30 PM  
Glass Joe: Is it really a correct use of the term "vigilantes"?

I'd say not in most of the cases from TFA. A vigilante is supposed to be a person that skips the normal course of due process in order to achieve some notional "justice" when the regular authorities are inadequate in their response. Beating the ever-loving tar out of a drug dealer that supplies kids would be an act of vigilantism. Disabling equipment erected by the lawful authorities doesn't seem to qualify.

Now the Pennsylvania guys that ran off with part of the speed system could be seen as vigilantes. The cops in PA are forbidden from using radar speed systems because the state lawmakers think that they would use it as a revenue generating source. (How cynical those lawmakers are!) Since the cops are attempting to implement a non-radar speed system in order to technically avoid violating the letter of the law while intentionally violating the spirit of the law, the thieves could be seen to be independently acting in accordance with the intentions of the state legislature. So, where's the HERO tag?

 
The Asshole Guy 2008-11-29 11:51:34 PM  
And I spelled write as right. Getting late. Anyways, You will get the point but go talk to an officer and ask him or her why they don't run RADAR/LIDAR in the rain.

 
Kar98 2008-11-29 11:52:13 PM  
www.speedcam.co.uk

 
Weaver95 [TotalFark] 2008-11-29 11:52:39 PM  
Heroic Poser: Cry me a farking river.
Just go the speed limit and you won't have to worry.


You can be doing the speed limit and STILL end up getting a ticket. Do you realize how many reports we have of these machines screwing up and just writing tickets on random people? And good luck fighting that ticket too, because traffic court assumes you're guilty from the start.

Do you understand why nobody likes these machines? Or are you too far gone to care?

 
darth_shatner 2008-11-29 11:53:02 PM  
The Asshole Guy: I don't see how any of these people are heros, at all. Don't want a ticket, don't speed. It's your choice to speed, nobody is forcing you to do so.

Yawn.

I presume that you are for similar enforcement of all other laws?

I look forward to the hundreds of jaywalk cameras, ride your bike on the footpath cameras and "you did an illegal U-turn despite no-one being within 500m" cameras, as well as the hundreds of parking police who will book your ass for being 30 seconds over the limit.

Yeah - sounds like a plan.

/we'll get off your lawn now.

 
vodka 2008-11-29 11:53:05 PM  
I'm with you, Homer! Fight the Power!

 
The_Ancient [TotalFark] 2008-11-29 11:54:03 PM  
12inpianist: SurfaceTension: AntiNorm: pxlboy: is [Hero] on vacation?

No, because you don't just get to do whatever you want to on the road.

But I do have the Constitutional guarantee of the right to face my accuser, which in this case is a machine.

And a calculator will tell you that 2+2=7, if that's how it's programmed.

Down with the machines!


it is more than that, RADAR has been proven time and time again to be woefully inaccurate, esp since most police forces never property tune the guns, which have to be done on a very regually basis or they become even more inaccurate.

With the Speed Cams, they have proven to be even more inaccurate. People get tickets every day from these that have done nothing wrong at all (see the artical on the guy that got a ticket while his car was being towed)

Further these do violate the 5th amendment in the US (this same defense has beaten Red Light Cams)

And the Final and most important, Traffic Violations have nothing to do with safety and everything to do with Revenue, If you think otherwise your a moron. Infact COPS should hate these, If they become widely accepted you will see police forces across the nation start laying people off, Why Pay a Cop when you can line the streets with these citizen watchers.

 
CBFLATLINE 2008-11-29 11:54:45 PM  
OK fine, Maybe the local government is going to raise your taxes, even more after the Feds (after Obama), so they can hire more police in order to enforce traffic laws.

Maybe then you will scream about how technology can do it cheaper or you will complain how the speeder killed your (husband, brother, sister, uncle, etc.).

/Have yourself a big, cool, frosty glass of STFU.

 
ayretise 2008-11-29 11:55:02 PM  
img213.imageshack.us

 
Occam's Chainsaw [TotalFark] 2008-11-29 11:56:19 PM  
The Asshole Guy: I doubt you have any friends that are police officers.

No. I associate with a better crowd.

 
Darth Invictus [TotalFark] 2008-11-29 11:56:35 PM  
Might be a coordinated raid from anti-speed trap websites?

I could see that happening.

/Fark isn't the only forum where I post/lurk

 
Crosshair [TotalFark] 2008-11-29 11:56:55 PM  
The Asshole Guy: Don't want a ticket, don't speed.

I take it you're the idiot doing the speed limit when everyone is doing 10 over in nice weather. If so, YOU are the dangerous one.

It's also a fact that many roads have artificially low speed limits vs what the road can safely handle.

How does the world look in Black and White?

As for the HERO tag? You people do realize they are destorying things that most likely were paid for with tax dollars, at least in the United States.

Actually, they are bought as a way to generate revenue and pay for itself. If it isn't profitable to run speed cameras, they likely won't use them. Note how speed/red light cameras are taken down then the local government isn't allowed to keep the profits. (Lubbock, Texas for example.)

 
Claude Ballse 2008-11-29 11:56:58 PM  
The Asshole Guy
I doubt you have any friends that are police officers.

And I doubt that you have any friends that are chimney sweeps from how you're trying to blow smoke up my ass.

Accidents because people suddenly see cops happen regardless of driving conditions. So that doesn't justify removing police presence when it's inconvenient. Still doesn't change anything.

 
CitizenTed [TotalFark] 2008-11-29 11:57:39 PM  
Heroic Poser: Cry me a farking river.
Just go the speed limit and you won't have to worry.


Yay! Who needs the right to face their accusers?

/DIAF, you surrender-monkey farktard.

 
CBFLATLINE 2008-11-29 11:57:48 PM  
Weaver95

Show me the proof that this happened.

OR ARE YOU TOO FAR GONE TO CARE?

 
Dispector 2008-11-30 12:01:00 AM  
Crosshair: Actually, they are bought as a way to generate revenue and pay for itself. If it isn't profitable to run speed cameras, they likely won't use them. Note how speed/red light cameras are taken down then the local government isn't allowed to keep the profits. (Lubbock, Texas for example.)

I remember there was an article... maybe a few months ago... where one town took down the speeding cameras at the intersections because it actually increased traffic accidents. Sure, they made more money, but it was at the sake of safety.

 
TinfoilBerka 2008-11-30 12:01:18 AM  
Sounds like someone has.. well, you know:farm4.static.flickr.com

 
darth_shatner 2008-11-30 12:02:23 AM  
Weaver95: Heroic Poser: Cry me a farking river.
Just go the speed limit and you won't have to worry.

You can be doing the speed limit and STILL end up getting a ticket. Do you realize how many reports we have of these machines screwing up and just writing tickets on random people? And good luck fighting that ticket too, because traffic court assumes you're guilty from the start.

Do you understand why nobody likes these machines? Or are you too far gone to care?


I doubt they care, even when presented with the evidence. I can only hope that they get a ticket and have to take time off work and spend their money to fight it because "the machine says they're guilty".

Meanwhile, here's an example of why they suck.

Datsun 120Y booked by speed camera at 158km/h (new window)

I should point out that even after the owner had the car dyno'd at a maximum speed of 117, the cops refused to give in.

/die speed cameras die

 
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