Fuck this shit, fuck how they target minority communities with it, fuck how every technology is eventually used against you by the state
…because adding cameras to watch the public for ‘safety’ has never been horribly abused.
Speed cameras were introduced in my area. It caused accidents to go up, not down. Ex: Person A sees the camera and slows down, but person B doesn’t and now swerves to avoid them while maintaining speed. Or doesn’t and just rear ends them. The cameras got deactivated. Speed traps aren’t a good answer.
As described, the cause of the accident is driving too fast for the conditions, inattentive driving and possibly following too close. Every US jurisdiction I have driven in requires a driver to maintain speed and spacing that allows them to stop safely if the vehicle in front of them comes to a sudden stop. If a driver needs to take evasive action to avoid a vehicle that is not stopped, but just slowing, that is one shitty driver. We are all better off if individuals like that are ticketed and get points on their license.
This is one of the reasons places have taken out red light cameras, as well. It was causing people to slam on the brakes.
It was causing people to stop at red lights? Can’t have that can we.
It causes people to stop at the first sign of a yellow light, whether or not it was actually safe to or not.
Many cities who implemented red light cameras also deliberately decreased the length of yellow lights in order to boost tickets.
This assumes you can see and recognize the camera. Driving in sf there’s so many other things you’re watching out for, and the streets/sidewalks have so much other shit going on that you’d be hard pressed to spot the camera.
Also like someone else mentioned it could increase overall incidents but if those are minor, like getting rear ended, it’s well worth reducing pedestrian fatalities.
Is there data showing speed cameras reduce anything other than people’s wallets? I know that slower speeds reduce fatalities, but I’m unconvinced that speed cameras do
I work in government in a city where cameras designed to detect license plates for active warrants, stolen vehicles, and vehicles from Amber/Silver alerts have been deployed. It was crystal-clear from Council that those were the only authorized uses as a condition of their installation.
Within a week, the police were using them to identify cars for other purposes.
The article says that even with just warnings speeding reduced by 31% on the monitored areas in general, and 64% on a specific stretch. So yeah they do reduce speeding, and like you said reducing speeding reduces accidents and fatalities.
This paper seems to suggest so, but also mentions “Previous empirical work on this topic, which shows a diverse range of estimated effects […]” - so it seems like other factors will play a role. (Disclaimer: I read only the abstract)
Really depends on where you put them, and if you couple them with other common sense changes like infrastructure redesigns and public outreach.
Speed cameras are very common in the UK and while they don’t eliminate speeding altogether, they are effective.
Apart from the risk of either a fine, doing a ‘speed awareness’ course or losing your license, it also means that people who are driving too fast regardless are more likely to simply get stuck behind other drivers who are observing the speed limit.
Maybe if they’re truly ubiquitous on all roads everywhere, then maybe. But if they’re just scattered around here and there then i doubt they achieve much beyond fattening they city’s ticket income
This is interesting. I’m curious to see how it goes, though I generally refuse to drive in SF.
It will go the same way it goes in every other city that has tried this. After a few years they’ll realize it isn’t profitable so they’ll pull all the cameras out.
