Road safety activists and some states are pushing to depart from a longstanding rule that sets speed limits in the United States based largely on how fast drivers actually travel.
Doesn’t seem like that would be effective on something like the interstate highways. I’d imagine actually fining people would work.
An area close to where I live turned on speeding cameras for a work zone that’s been notorious for speeders. They clocked 38,000+ tickets in the first week.
One of them was for 106 in a 60 mph zone. I haven’t kept up with it since they turned it on but it was desperately needed.
Disclosure: I’m not any expert on road safety or driver psychology. Just someone that used to drive 50k+ miles a year and saw a lot of what I thought were trends.
I lived in a town that had a road with 2 full lanes of travel both ways a center turn lane and full parking lanes on both sides. Speed limit 25. It was actually difficult to drive that speed because you naturally just tended to go faster. That’s not even considering the other drivers going 40 or 50 at times. That entire road needed some hefty rework to make it better. But that costs money and there’s some old farts that are happy driving 25 in an actual 50 zone that would cry bloody murder if the speed limit was increased.
The problem with any automated cameras is making sure they are valid. Speeding cameras might be simpler, but we’ve all heard about many places where traffic light cameras are run by a third party and are time fudged to increase tickets. That being the case, any law is only as good as the enforcement of it, and that’s why we have so many speeders, aggressive, and just bad driving. If everyone knows that their speed is being monitored and going X over the limit may result in a fine, they will slow down. Far better than relying on a few cops in random spots to nap a few here and there. Speed traps should go away and those officers should be on the road looking for things the camera can’t catch, or maybe even helping the occasional car that has hazards on the side of the road (I’ve seen patrol cars go by those, one only hopes they called it in to someone else).
So yes, there is a danger in trying to automate everything, and definitely if someone will profit for more fines. But there are SO many cars on the road, most just keeping pace with the rest, and the only way to slow the whole crowd down is with some psychology. Ever notice how everyone goes around the speed limit when a cop car is in the group? So just post a sign that speeds are being monitored. Hell, don’t even have to put a camera up, just see what a sign alone does.
Also, I like the other suggestion on putting surrounding perceptions to make the speed more apparent to the driver. Won’t slow everyone, but it just has to affect the crowd mentality and then the real speeders stand out more.
Doesn’t seem like that would be effective on something like the interstate highways. I’d imagine actually fining people would work.
An area close to where I live turned on speeding cameras for a work zone that’s been notorious for speeders. They clocked 38,000+ tickets in the first week.
One of them was for 106 in a 60 mph zone. I haven’t kept up with it since they turned it on but it was desperately needed.
Disclosure: I’m not any expert on road safety or driver psychology. Just someone that used to drive 50k+ miles a year and saw a lot of what I thought were trends.
I lived in a town that had a road with 2 full lanes of travel both ways a center turn lane and full parking lanes on both sides. Speed limit 25. It was actually difficult to drive that speed because you naturally just tended to go faster. That’s not even considering the other drivers going 40 or 50 at times. That entire road needed some hefty rework to make it better. But that costs money and there’s some old farts that are happy driving 25 in an actual 50 zone that would cry bloody murder if the speed limit was increased.
The problem with any automated cameras is making sure they are valid. Speeding cameras might be simpler, but we’ve all heard about many places where traffic light cameras are run by a third party and are time fudged to increase tickets. That being the case, any law is only as good as the enforcement of it, and that’s why we have so many speeders, aggressive, and just bad driving. If everyone knows that their speed is being monitored and going X over the limit may result in a fine, they will slow down. Far better than relying on a few cops in random spots to nap a few here and there. Speed traps should go away and those officers should be on the road looking for things the camera can’t catch, or maybe even helping the occasional car that has hazards on the side of the road (I’ve seen patrol cars go by those, one only hopes they called it in to someone else).
So yes, there is a danger in trying to automate everything, and definitely if someone will profit for more fines. But there are SO many cars on the road, most just keeping pace with the rest, and the only way to slow the whole crowd down is with some psychology. Ever notice how everyone goes around the speed limit when a cop car is in the group? So just post a sign that speeds are being monitored. Hell, don’t even have to put a camera up, just see what a sign alone does.
Also, I like the other suggestion on putting surrounding perceptions to make the speed more apparent to the driver. Won’t slow everyone, but it just has to affect the crowd mentality and then the real speeders stand out more.