Speed camera catches wrong man

ananova ^ | 2-2-05

[Cate]

I think this gentleman should be flattered that he only looks '20'.... geesshhh....

[BobL]

"We don't have any toll roads her in Minnesota, at least none put up by the state, thank God!"

You don't get it. I'm looking at my atlas and I see I-35, I-90, and I-94. They're all free. Oooooooo, let's see, I could collect 15 cents per mile - have your governor tell you idiots it's for your own good, and then get with your governor and both of us become multi-millionaires. Wowwww.

Well, that's how it was done in Texas. Keep your guard up. The private toll road companies don't bother with the public one bit (they know the public would go ballistic if they saw what was coming) - they go right to the governor and do their deal making - and there are a LOT of idiot governors (one here in TX, but I don't know either way in MN).

Best of luck.

[rawhide]

I had the same problem this guy has, except for the red light. I sold my car with tags (it was the law) to a guy, who never bothered to register them in his name. Months later I got a citation mailed to my address for a violation. I called them and then sent in a copy of the bill of sale I had this guy sign when I sold him the car. It was the last I heard about it. Shortly ater, my state changed the law, now you keep your tags when you sell a car.

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

It's really no different then having a policeman at the corner instead, so I don't have any privacy concerns

It's a hell of a lot different. The cop catches you if you do something wrong, enough cameras track your every movement. Given time some geek will hack in and know when you're home and when you're not.

[RetroWarrior]

Private toll roads are being discussed here now. I don't think it will be done, but I'm going to keep my fingers crossed.

[barkeep]

Charming theory. Try that in Austin at an intersection without a "turn only" phase on the light and bring a lunch and a good book, not to mention earmuffs for the poor souls behind you.

[Freepdonia]

I don't disagree with anything you have said there, Bob.

[BobL]

"Given time some geek will hack in and know when you're home and when you're not."

"...some geek will hack in..." Heck it doesn't have to be a hacker, how about just someone who works for the tracking company - maybe telling his friend. But that doesn't seem to both the toll-road loving, drug infested, Libertarians, who want GPS to track every car, for per-mile tolling.

[Freepdonia]

But that doesn't seem to both the toll-road loving, drug infested, Libertarians, who want GPS to track every car, for per-mile tolling.

I agree with you. That would be a nightmare.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Because with the electronic device, you cannot face your accuser. You are basically charged, tried, and convicted by a MACHINE. If they start putting them up in my area, I am going to sharpen my sniping skills. The government has no right to monitor every square inch of public space just because it is public space.

[Freepdonia]

It's a hell of a lot different. The cop catches you if you do something wrong, enough cameras track your every movement. Given time some geek will hack in and know when you're home and when you're not.

You make a good point.

[BobL]

"I don't disagree with anything you have said there, Bob."

Thanks - One of the things that irks me about the cameras is that we're told it's being done for safety, and the fact that politicians (or technically government) and their private sector buddies get rich is nothing that we little people should worry about - and it's nothing that they ever consider either.

I think a lot of us hate being lied to about the motive behind these cameras - as much as the cameras themselves.

[jiggyboy]

Wait a minute, the law-and-order people are always telling us not to worry about new technology in law enforcement. If You're Innocent, You Have Nothing To Worry About, right?

[Freepdonia]

Because with the electronic device, you cannot face your accuser. You are basically charged, tried, and convicted by a MACHINE. If they start putting them up in my area, I am going to sharpen my sniping skills. The government has no right to monitor every square inch of public space just because it is public space.

I have stated two times that I don't like the cameras for law enforcement purposes.

As for placing cameras everywhere, I agree with you. There's no reason for that.

[spinestein]

I had a similar problem but a little more serious. I sold a car to a private buyer and about 4 months later the police were at the door asking for me. The "person" I sold the car to killed somebody in an accident and fled the scene on foot and didn't get caught (right away). Of course, he didn't bother to register the car in his own name.

Fortunately, I always write out a bill of sale and get the buyer's name and address--which I gave to the police.

He was found. I avoided further trouble but it did make me sweat for a few days.

[BobL]

Good luck Retro.

If you do the math, you find that tolls are an extremely inefficient way to collect money for highways - due to the vehicle and driver tracking system required, along with the overpaid toll collectors.

If you do what we're starting to do in Texas, which it looks like up there, then you have another problem. That problem is that the private company will DEMAND and GET franchise protection - essentially giving them a monopoly on the route. This even prevents publicly funded highways from being upgraded, if they will take drivers off of the Private Toll Road. So now you have a situation where the private company is able to charge whatever they can get from their captive audience, and the state is actually prohibited from upgrading its own highways - as happened in Canada and California (and soon Texas). And finally, at least in Texas, we hired a foreign company to do this - so the huge profits that they will make will not even stay in Texas, or even the United States.

Raising the gas tax a bit is much better, since the mechanism is already in place to collect the money - hence all of the money can go right into the roads, rather than the above mentioned expenses and gouging. Also, raising the gas tax assures that everyone chips in at the same rate, not just the people who need to travel longer distances.

[Ole Okie]

We have a better system here in Texas. Our governor is instituting super-expensive toll roads (some will likely be 20 cents per mile), and also trying to convert our freeways to toll roads

I feel for you if Texas is going the toll road route.

There is a virulent and discrete turnpike illness. It affects state legislatures like a virus, causing them to appoint Turnpike Authorities that have seemingly unlimited power. And once a road is built as or converted to a turnpike, its toll will never be lifted.

As the old saying goes, nothing is so permanent as a temporary tax or a turnpike toll.

[Fenris6]

Ouch. That happened to us b/c we donated car without checking to be sure plates were removed. Around 12 camera light violations. Approx $1300 in fines. Much aggravation trying to get DC to pull its head out. Don't let this happen to you.

[RetroWarrior]

But the proposal is for, get this, a two year test. Once the road is paid for, the company will stop tolling. And the sun will stop rising in the east...

[BobL]

"And once a road is built as or converted to a turnpike, its toll will never be lifted."

Thanks - I often don't get this degree of sympathy on this topic.

But actually, Kentucky did an outstanding job of removing tolls. I read about it somewhere, and then checked my atlases, that date back 20 years. They managed to free up about 80% of their toll road mileage (by my estimation). They did this by simply paying off the bonds early.

HOWEVER, that can NEVER happen if a Private Company operates (or owns) the road, at least in most or our lifetimes. That's because the private company, at a minimum, gets a 50 year deal (in Chicago, it's 99 years). So even if the road has been paid off several times over, the drivers will NEVER see a dime of reduction, unless the Private Company feels guilty about the billions of dollars it is raking in (and that usually doesn't happen).


But overall, I still agree with you - if you don't have the tolling to begin with - then everyone wins.

Now, in Harris County (where Houston is), the Toll Road Authority promised the drivers that the roads would become free as soon as possible. But now we find that contracts were awarded to companies without any competition; that the Toll Road Authority took over a toll bridge that was about to default - which was probably illegal; that toll money is being used to plan and build other toll roads, without authorization; and, finally, that the county is illegally diverting some toll money to uses that have nothing to do with toll roads.

So yes - I still HATE toll roads.