this is a little off topic but does anyone if those police boxes that tell you your speed give you tickets if you're speeding? i thought i heard somewhere that they take your pic for proof and license # and mail you a ticket. anyone have any clues cuz i was going around 50 in a 35 and then finally noticed it about 40 feet away blinking "50" at me in red. im in houston, texas btw.

 

I used to live in Houston and never saw one while I lived there, but we do have them where I live now in Midland, texas and they don't do ****. They're just there to scare the **** out of you and get you to slow down.

 

I always try to get the numbers to turn from orange to red when I see 'em by gunning it.......if they gave out tickets from that I wouldn't have a liscence anymore!

 

Heheh, you too? I love watching them flash red.

 

Well if they did give a ticket, it would just be a fine. You wouldn't get any points or anything, because they can't confirm who is driving the car. Its kinda like if you speed through the e-zy pass. That type of thing.

 

Hey DRU, is the unit you saw on the Sam Houston Tollway close to the Hardy Toll Road? They used to have one out there close to where I work. I believe for now it's just an attention getter to get us to slow down, but also has the capability to photograph an do the ticket thing.

 

About the only thing those things are good for is to check your speedometer accuracy! The speedo in my car is about 1mph slow. I saw my first one while I was riding my motorcycle 60mph in a 40mph. They don't pick up motorcycles until you are about 10 yards away if there is other traffic around.

 

Yeah they used to have photo cop where I lived, in Sandy Utah. It got me for 32 in a school zone. The thing that pissed me off is that I was slowing down and I still had about 50 yards before I was in the school zone. about a month later I get a ticket in the mail with a picture of me and a friend in the car. I tried to fight the ticket, but they wouldn't budge. I'm glad they don't have those anymore, just the copboxes now or whatever they're called.

 

I always thought those things were to see how fast you could get going in a short time.J/K-- Here in Colorado they like to use the photo vans, some jerk sits in the van and monitors the photo equipment while the radar tracks your speed and tickets you accordingly. I think the the people who man these vans are the academy rejects, at least that's my opinion.

 

I know they do not use them to issue tickets around here, but I'm sure they are capable of doing it in some jurisdictions.

/aac

 

Here in Birmingham, Alabama I have seen one that gave you the speed limit, your speed, and how much your ticket would be. This one didn't take pictures or anything.

 

I read somewhere that most of these things have the capability to issue tickets, but most states don’t actually use that part. Scary thing is, they can with the flip of a switch… possibly without you being aware of it.

There are some constitutionality issues with these, and that’s why they’re not used for ticketing in most states.

Texas, FYI, is one of the states that don’t ticket with them. YET.

 

I forgot- Yesterday I saw a cop hiding behind one of these things clocking people for himself (In Addison, TX if you’re curious).

Pretty smart, he’s got it out for you "make it flash pretty red" guys. Your radar won’t know the difference….

 

If anyone is in NYC, there is one now permanently placed on the Southbound Henry Hudson Bridge at the very beginning. BTW, the cop sitting behind the sign, what a brilliant idea. I know that when I see those things, I always speed up to see how fast I can get it to say.

 

There has been a lot of debate about the local cops setting up photo-mailin-tickets at intersections to bust people running red lights. According to the news, they have a company that will provide and set up the equipment for free, all they want is a percentage of the fines.

So, has anyone ever tried those license plate covers that screw up the photos so that they can't read the numbers? Someone told me that the cops can identify them because they have a green tint.

 

I know that in San Francisco they send you the ticket to your house. My uncle got one a few weeks ago...sux bick time

 

I've heard that they use some of those boxes to survey the speed of traffic for setting speed limits. As for those photo tickets, I thought there were some pretty basic ways to get out of them. Since there's no person giving you the ticket, you're denied the right to face your accuser, and they can't force you to incriminate yourself by identifying yourself or your car in the photo.

It does have interesting other uses, though- I remember a Columbo movie a while back where the murderer had his accomplice get a photo ticket wearing a mask so he could have an alibi...

 

I remember about a year ago, I was reading a Car and Driver, and in the reader sightings section, there was a MBenz S class crashed into one.

 

I think they're just to get you to slow down. It's one thing to speed on the interstate where you've got room, but when the population is dense there are many hit-and-run accidents, almost on the news everyday. It's always some kid or elderly person it seems.

But my friend said she got a ticket in MD for going through a red-light, and it was just mailed to her. I was curious if you got the photo too and she said no. I assume they can't assign points because they don't know who was driving.