Text 14208, 49 rader
Skriven 2008-04-18 16:48:20 av Björn Forsström (2:203/614.61)
  Kommentar till text 14203 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
Ärende: Government greed (was: Property prices)
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 RB> Amusing story... naturally, the excuse given for such things is always
 RB> that they reduce accidents, not that they generate revenue.

The number of accidents have gone down here since the speed cameras
came up and that was the purpose.

 RB> In Germany, there are (to my knowledge) no redlight cameras, but instead
 RB> automatic radar-actuated cameras that take a nice picture of you and your
 RB> license plate if you are exceeding the speed limit. The consequences are
 RB> the usual: three weeks later (useless for safety purposes), you get a
 RB> ticket in the mail that you can pay (usual) or dispute (lotsa luck) - your
 RB> picture is generally included, just so that you know what's what.

And the quality IS rather good. Although I had sunglasses on it was impossible
not to see it was me. And then they compare the pic with the pic on the driving
license.

 RB> These "speeding" cameras are set up on metal posts in places designed to
 RB> be invisible (for example behind a traffic sign), and are painted in
 RB> camouflage colors (dirty brown and green) to make them hard to see. As a
 RB> rule, their presence is also not announced by signs. So much for the
 RB> excuse that they are there to increase traffic safety.

Not so here.
http://www.startskott.se/extra/news/?module_instance=2&id=65&nid=

There are also signs saying from where to where they are.

 RB> Sometimes some "public-spirited" folks shoot out the camera lens, paint
 RB> the lens with black spray paint, or even saw down the metal pole holding
 RB> the camera (no mean feat, as the things are armored for obvious reasons).

They used to do that here too but not that I've heard receantly. Our cameras
costs about 50 000 Euro each and they are connected to a central upp in
Lappland, Kiruna, from where they are controlled so they can see the road in
real time via the video camera. If the traffic is heavy they can activate the
radar and start the process.

DS>> In addition, cameras usually give a cut of the proceeds to some company
DS>> who is managing them (sort of like the lotteries do).

 RB> This, hoever, doesn't happen in Germany, since only the government can
 RB> operate such installations here and may NOT farm them out to private
 RB> companies. That also applies to manual radar speed checks, incidentally.

The police in Kiruna operates ours.

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 * Origin: . (2:203/614.61)