Speed Cameras: How Do They Know?

I was driving on the highway last night through a work zone. The work zone speed limit is 50 m.p.h., and I was going 40 (the car in front of me was going slowly so I couldn't get up to 50). We passed by a speed camera, and I saw the flash of the light in my rearview mirror as it caught someone speeding (probably the guy next to me who hit the gas at just the wrong moment). However, I'm really curious as to how (and if) it knows whom to cite. The camera seems to take a still picture of a whole range of cars. My (not speeding) car must be in the picture right next to the speeding car, but you can't tell from a still picture. I guess (I hope) it is sophisticated enough to know who is speeding and who is not.

On a related note, I'm finding the speed cameras in this work zone to be very curious. First, I have noticed that speeds are generally down in the work zone, which is a good thing. When they first started with the speed cameras, the light would flash like flashbulbs at a rock concert, basically constantly. Now, they only flash occasionally.

However, the speed cameras are not there all the time (they're mounted in special trucks on the side of the road and can move around). I have noticed that they are almost always there at night and rarely there during the day. The goal is to increase safety, especially of the workers, in work zones. However, in this particular work zone, they are not working at night so it seems like they are there at the wrong time.

My Daughter Wants to Drive Like Me

I was driving in my car the other day with my children, and my 13-year-old daughter told me that she hopes that when she starts driving, she follows my example and drives the speed limit. It was a very proud moment.

Fast Times in Florida

I was down in Florida visiting my dad and my old hometown, and I noticed that the speed limits are higher down there. In Maryland, we have highways that are 55, 60, and 65. I drove three hours on the Florida Turnpike at 70 (that was the speed limit). Many of the non-highways are also higher. Many of the non-highways were 45 and 50. Of course, those "back roads" also tend to be wider (many of them 3 lanes each way). With the higher speed limits, there were still many people passing me, but not as many as usual. The pressure to speed was much less with higher speed limits.

One more thing. I was driving my father's wife's car, and it doesn't have cruise control. Maintaining speed is much harder without cruise control. I use cruise control all the time. I just have to watch myself on hills so I don't speed up too much going down hill. Cruise control would have been perfect in Florida because there are no hills. Instead, I found myself going up and down in speed, never quite sticking to the speed I wanted.

Stupid Gray Honda

This morning it was raining. Many people were driving more cautiously than usual but not the gray Honda behind me. She must have been on my tail for about 8-10 miles (my whole commute is 12 miles). After following me for that distance, we are coming to the end of the last big street, one lane each way, 30 m.p.h. speed limit, double yellow line, wet road. At that moment she decides to pass me just in time to get behind 10 cars waiting at the stop sign at the end of the street. Once we turn left on that street, the road becomes two lanes in about a quarter of a mile. That is, if she had waited 1/4 mile, she would have been able to pass me safely and easily. Not that it really mattered. She got a little bit ahead of me only to be stopped by a train just past the intersection where I turned off.

I have to stop myself from secretly hoping that idiots like this get into an accident from their dangerous driving, but I am happy to revel in their getting stuck at a train crossing and gaining nothing from their stupidity.

Flashed by Pedestrians

I haven't blogged much lately because it has been the same ol' same ol' of some tailgaters and some following safely. Today, something new happened. I was driving down a 30 m.p.h. road and two pedestrians were on the sidewalk with there hands in their pockets (it was about 50 degrees F this morning) and they were waving one of their hands while in the pocket at the passing drivers. It wasn't completely clear what they were doing, but I was guessing that they were warning of a speed trap (not that I had anything to worry about). Sure enough, a few hundred feet down the road was a police car. I've never been warned by a pedestrian; usually, it's done by cars flashing their lights.

Speaking of cars flashing their lights, I was reading something online the other day about whether or not it was ethical to warn people of speed traps (apparently, it is legal, but is it ethical). I was surprised by the large number of comments that suggested that it was not ethical. I would think that most drivers (a) do it when they get the chance, and (b) have no problem with the practice.

Flashed

I was driving on a 30 m.p.h. road this morning at my usual speed (somewhere between 31 and 33), and the car behind me actually flashed his lights at me the way you do when someone is in the left lane on a highway, and you want him to get over to a slower lane. The problem is that there was no other lane. I'm not quite sure what he expected. This is the first time someone has ever flashed me on a one-lane road.

No Cop This Time

A couple of weeks ago I was passed right in front of a police officer, and justice was served. It happened again this morning but no police officer this time. I was driving down my 40 m.p.h. road on the way to work and a Jeep (I've seen this one before). She was driving very close and then crossed the double-yellow line to pass me. But this time a different kind of justice was served. By the time I turned off, she was only about 30 feet ahead of me tailgating someone else. Her dangerous (especially on the wet roads from yesterday's big rain) and illegal maneuver bought her a total of 0 seconds of time saved (if she were still behind me, she would have gotten to exactly the same spot within seconds of my turning off).