Speed traps

[max_caper]

Just went by my 4th speed trap in as many miles. WTF! Anyone else fed up with the draconian speed/stunting laws that seem to be the cash-cow du jour? For anyone travelling in the East side of the GTA (Greater Toronto Area), watch your speed in town and on the 400-series roads as well.

Save your money for gas and booze!

Cheers!

Blaine

 

[RaWarrior]

That's odd, the few times I've driven in Canada(usually between Kingston and Montreal), the highways are always deserted. I've never seen a single cop on them. I know radar detectors are illegal in Canada, but I use mine anyway.

Unfortunately, cops are becoming the new cash cow for governments in need of a coffer boost. As usual, NY is leading the train straight into hell, I swear every state trooper has been reassigned to highway beat to write tickets. They seem to pick a random day, then absolutely swarm the highways. There's a pair of cops at almost every crossover between lanes and the radar guns are set as low as 6 or 7 over. NY speeding tickets are ludicriously expensive. Not only is the actual ticket at least $150, there is now an instant $100 "state surcharge" on every moving violation. As I've said before, a 17-over ticket last summer cost me around $250......after bargaining it down to a "failure to obey traffic device". It would have been pushing $350 if I had marked "guilty" and just mailed it in.

 

[woodsman30]

That's odd, the few times I've driven in Canada(usually between Kingston and Montreal), the highways are always deserted. I've never seen a single cop on them. I know radar detectors are illegal in Canada, but I use mine anyway.

Unfortunately, cops are becoming the new cash cow for governments in need of a coffer boost. As usual, NY is leading the train straight into hell, I swear every state trooper has been reassigned to highway beat to write tickets. They seem to pick a random day, then absolutely swarm the highways. There's a pair of cops at almost every crossover between lanes and the radar guns are set as low as 6 or 7 over. NY speeding tickets are ludicriously expensive. Not only is the actual ticket at least $150, there is now an instant $100 "state surcharge" on every moving violation. As I've said before, a 17-over ticket last summer cost me around $250......after bargaining it down to a "failure to obey traffic device". It would have been pushing $350 if I had marked "guilty" and just mailed it in.

New York sucks for speed traps every local cop thinks their Dragnet but in all reality there Barney Fif :rofl_200:

 

[max_caper]

With Ontario's debt growing larger every year we should expect more govt cash grabs. Funny, I hardly saw a police car on my trip around the Finger Lakes but passing through West Virginia over March Break was a different story...I thought the state flower was the cherries on the squad cars. Blaine

 

[naughtyG]

You guys should try riding/driving in the UK these days.. GATSOs (the speed cameras) are everywhere! Most annoying is that 80% of them are empty boxes (the actual cameras are really expensive) but you just never know, so you still have to slow down for every single bloody one of them...

 

[richwrench]

Around here lately it's Red Light cameras. It used to be a city/county thing, but the State of FL just gave it's blessing & now it's coming to major intersections everywhere. I just visited my son in Tampa tonight, & several intersections looked like the fourth of July as soon as the light turns red. FLASH FLASH FLASH - bastards. I'm not endorsing people who run red lights, but the yellow lights in Tampa are so short you better SLAM the brakes when you see yellow, or you're out over 100 bucks. No Cop needed - just Big Brother with a camera on a pole.

 

[satariel666]

You guys should try riding/driving in the UK these days.. GATSOs (the speed cameras) are everywhere! Most annoying is that 80% of them are empty boxes (the actual cameras are really expensive) but you just never know, so you still have to slow down for every single bloody one of them...

No only in the UK, preatty in all europe

 

[max_caper]

I've heard of folks getting pinched for 10 over. Poor govt can't be getting enough tax coin from charging $11/pk for cigarettes or $35 for a 24 of beer.

Blaine

 

[ghostntheshell]

There was one on Ritson yesterday.

 

[davidon]

passing through West Virginia over March Break[/QUOTE]

where in WV?

 

[max_caper]

I81 to I77 were the main roads through WV. The family and I made a trek to Mobile, Alabama and Pensacola Florida over the March Break. We meandered through Georgia, Tennessee on the way back...sure loved the bbq and all those twisties in the Smokey Mts. Then we hit the interstates because we were running behind schedule.

Got to admit that the scenery in WV is top notch (except for the aforementioned cherries). Would have liked to explore more of the secondary roads.

Cheers!

Blaine

 

[forestdaledave]

In Massachusetts be careful at the end and begining of each month. That is when the State Troopers are filling their non-existing quotas. They are using lidar, which are light beams.
Dave

 

[RaWarrior]

The lidar(laser) guns are a lot harder to avoid. They maintain a very narrow "beam" over distance, unlike radar which spreads very wide, making it easier for a radar detector to pick up "overshot" radar waves. With narrow beam laser, your only hope is if the LEO shoots a car near you, otherwise by the time the detector alerts to laser, they already have you.

Laser still seems to be not widely used in NY...only once has my Whistler alerted to a laser signal on the highway, the cop was actually outside the car, leaning on the hood holding the gun up. Otherwise most of the time they just angle their car toward the road and use the dashboard Ka gun.

 

[98Redlne]

I just got pinched in one of my local town's traps. Completely flat, open road between two open fields and a 35MPH speed limit.....WTF!?

In PA, only the state cops can use radar but the local cops are moving toward more difficult to detect methods such as ENRADD which is impossible to detect unless you see the sensors before passing them.

It is not about the enforcement of speed. If it was, the cops would be conspicuously parked where you would seen them and slow down. It is about generation of revenue. This is why they will tell you to challenge the ticket, come to court, work out a reduced or no points deal with the officer and still pay the full fine. The municipalities could care less about the points or true enforcement. They just want the revenue. If the local municipality was not able to keep any of the revenue of the stop I would bet the number of speed traps would drop to nearly zero.