It’s insane the lengths that some people will go to save a few seconds on their commute, while also endangering others.

  • essell@beehaw.org
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    11 months ago

    Good. Speed cameras are an abominable hypocrisy. The claim that they’re there because safety is important is undermined by the total lack of action Devon and Cornwall police take against actual unsafe drivers.

    I drove past a police officer standing with a speed camera recently at 20mph with another car driving less than two feet from my bumper.

    Had I been speeding I’d have gotten a ticket, meanwhile the police watch this actually dangerous driver sail past them without taking any action.

    Half a mile later I have to drive onto the wrong side of the road around a lorry parked on a corner, with almost no visibility of oncoming traffic.

    Their moral authority is destroyed and their pretence shattered by their own inaction and ineffectiveness.

    So tear down the speed cameras if it highlights their fiction. Devon and Cornwall police are great at many things. Traffic is not one of them.

    • survivalmachine@beehaw.org
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      11 months ago

      I don’t really get your argument.

      Speed cameras are designed to do one thing – issue citations for speeding.

      The job of the police officer is to identify a wide array of crimes and issue citations for them, when they observe them.

      The incident where a car was tailgating you and the incident where a lorry was creating an unsafe driving situation have absolutely nothing to do with the speeding camera. Both of those situations are the responsibility of a policy officer, if they are alerted to the crime or observe it themselves. You have a valid complaint about the complacency of your local law enforcement, but what does your argument have to do with the speed camera?

      • essell@beehaw.org
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        11 months ago

        The basis for the rationale for putting up speed cameras depends on the police to act with an unquestionable moral authority.

        By acting with inconsistent moral principles they demonstrate their stated and genuine motives differ which undermines the moral authority they need to police by consent.

        • survivalmachine@beehaw.org
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          11 months ago

          The basis for the rationale for putting up speed cameras depends on the police to act with an unquestionable moral authority.

          No, it doesn’t?

            • Sonori@beehaw.org
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              11 months ago

              It explicitly takes control away from the police and moves it to simple sensors and circuits, as well as simple bureaucratic mailing lists. If it screws up, you can either request a manual review of the footage or spend an afternoon to bring your own evidence it in front of a judge. The police have nothing to do with it.

              • essell@beehaw.org
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                11 months ago

                Except when the camera is in the policeman’s hand and when they run the training courses you mean?

                • Sonori@beehaw.org
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                  11 months ago

                  Well, we are talking about a pole mounted camera, and if it was misscalibrated is would be very easy to prove, so yes?

    • Elise@beehaw.org
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      11 months ago

      A place where I lived they installed eur 600k worth of cameras. I mean every little corner was covered.

      Well one day I got beaten up and the police didn’t care when I tried to report it. And another day I found a backpack so I brought it to the police and this woman was incredibly rude to me.

      I mean for 600k they could have a full time patrol there!