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> Friday, March 17, 2006
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>
Editor's Note: A Quick Note On Speed Cameras
NEWSLETTER EXCLUSIVE: We here at Personal Tech Pipeline
Central encourage our readers to obey the law at all times.
Don't engage in music, movie or software piracy, we say.
Never remove those annoying fire-hazard warning tag things on
your mattresses. Close cover before striking, etc.
However, it is also our duty to spot trends before the mass
media grab hold of them, and give you early warning.
One story that is breaking very slowly, and will come out in
the mainstream press any month now is the problematic nature
of speed cameras -- those boxes mounted on light poles that
"bust" you for speeding, photograph your crime and send you a
ticket in the mail.
Speed camera errors are far more common that most realize.
And it's likely that most of those errors go unchallenged.
After all, how do you challenge it? You get a ticket in the
mail for exceeding the speed limit a month ago. Did you
really speed? No human -- including you -- has any
recollection of the event. Still, you pay the fine.
Sometimes, however, speed camera errors *can* be challenged.
Engineer Bryn Carlyon was issued a ticket by a traffic speed
camera in Cardiff, UK, even though he wasn't speeding. He
used multiple timed snaps by the camera, plus a little basic
math, to prove in court that he could not have been traveling
at the speed on his citation. The case was dropped "due to
insufficient evidence" and he received an apology from the
Mid and South Wales Safety Camera Partnership, but Carlyon
won't drop it himself. He's working to overturn the decision
for the benefit of mankind: "I need the verdict to say that
this was not dropped through lack of evidence -- it was
> dropped because it was a false prosecution," he told a local
reporter.
Welsh farmer Steve Crossman received a ticket recently for
doing 85 MPH in a tractor that happened to have a top speed
of 26 MPH. The camera probably detected a speeding car
accurately, but ticketed the wrong vehicle. If he had been in
a car, he would have had no case and probably would have been
forced to pay the fine.
In addition to being prone to error, speed cameras are
biased. That's right -- biased.
Approximately 10 percent of all cars on the roads can't be
detected by fixed speed cameras because of bad shocks or
unbalanced wheels, according to camera user manuals. If a car
is moving up-and-down as it speeds through an intersection, a
speed camera can't issue it a ticket. "Lowrider" cars with
illegal hydraulics that can make a car bounce can also
invalidate speed camera readings.
Conscientious drivers who keep their automobiles legal, safe
and in good repair will be given speeding tickets by speed
cameras, but those who let their cars fall to pieces or who
add illegal hydraulics will not.
Eventually, the mainstream media will put all this together
and cover the story: Speed cameras are prone to error and
bias and should not be used to fine drivers.
In the meantime, if YOU get a speed camera ticket and believe
you were not at fault, please let me know
<mailto:mikeptp@xxxxxxxxx> the details!
PS: Like the Personal Tech Pipeline newsletter? Then you'll
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Mike Elgan
Editor, Personal Tech Pipeline
mikeptp@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:mikeptp@xxxxxxxxx?subject=
[PTP]-03-17-2006>
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