Here I am, gleefully breaking the law, rolling down a Washington DC area Interstate at a leisurly 62 miles per hour (as evidenced by the radar reading in the upper right hand corner). Why is 62 miles per hour a problem? Because the speed limit is FIFTY. Look…. look at that picture, it’s a major goddamn interstate! What the hell? Fifty miles a hour? Who the hell drives fifty?
What’s more, notice the date on this lovely picture? September? I don’t even remember BEING in the DC area in September… hell, I’ve slept since then. But, according to the cops records, the car belongs to Avis… and as we all well know, I tend to rent cars from Avis.
Which brings me to the point of this entry… I read on InstaPundit and Classical Values about Red Light Cameras… which lead me to whine about speed cameras.
Despite the comments from Classical Values, I think red light cameras are inherently a good thing. It’s pretty cut and dry when you run a red light. Either you enter the intersection when the light is red, or you don’t. The problem is really bad here in Atlanta, with four or five cars continuing through the intersection after their light has turned red.
So, what makes a red light camera okay and a speed camera unfair? Well, Libertarian Girl said it best…
Unlike speed limits which are arbitrarily set too low (and you know they are too low when nearly every single driver is disobeying the posted limit), traffic lights are necessary to regulate traffic flow when there is actually traffic at an intersection.
You know the speed limit on that stretch of DC highway was set at fifty miles per hour simply to “catch” more speeders on their way to the Airport and generate more revenue for the city. That’s why they don’t even employ a real officer, so they can take more pictures, more often and work in conjunction with the rental car agencies to reveal the names of the drivers so that they can generate more and more revenue. It even entices me to go ahead and pay the fine by saying that no points will be added to my driving record if I just pay the fine. Gee… thanks.
There’s that joke about the guy who got caught speeding on camera and was sent a picture of himself speeding, so he sent in a picture of the money needed to pay the fine…. I wonder if I could get away with that…. or would they send me a picture of handcuffs in return?
Unfortunately, the technology is getting smaller and more sophisticated… so we won’t be able to take a shit without being on camera.
01/02/2005 at 2:20 pm Permalink
Thanks for the roses. So, does that make you too cheap or too poor, because you didn’t get me the real thing?
02/02/2005 at 12:01 am Permalink
How in the world could they even tell it was you? And what if someone else was driving your car? What then?
Man, I didn’t know they did this. It kind of pisses me off. I say send the picture so you can blog about it.
02/02/2005 at 12:06 am Permalink
To Claire- Whichever one turns you on the most…
To GFF - There’s a second picture, which I left off, where they zoom in on the license plate. Unfortunately, You can read the numbers perfectly. According to Avis’ records, that rental car was rented to me at the time… and I’m the only listed driver. Unfortunately, it’s me. Dammit.