Busted

[websterize]

Going 50 in a 30 cost me $40 — my first speeding violation in 20 years. This bike will do that to you.

[Jed]

Sorry to hear you got nabbed but it looks like you got off relatively cheaply. How did you go so long without a speeding ticket with that bike? I was stopped twice within my first 45 days of R12R ownership. The first ticket cost me $120 (for 60 in a 40 on a rural highway, actual speed more like 70 mph). The second time it was just a warning (for 61 in a 50).

cheers

[celticus]

I really hate those damned cameras! I got hit twice in one weekend at the same place in two different cars.
Your fine is pretty reasonable however. Cheap "Street creds"

Mark

[deilenberger]

Bill,

Good thing on the camera's - it's apparently ALL about revenue generation - the ones in WDC don't report it to your home state or your insurance company. After I got my ticket for going 55 on an interstate (which had a sudden speed reduction to 35MPH) I went to the WDC website for the camera's, and found they were QUITE PROUD that the revenue camera program had earned them $33,000,000 in 6 months of operation. Quite proud. Not a single word about safety - just how much money they're pulling out of our pockets. Due to that nice attitude I've decided to never ever travel to, or even go near WDC again. Unfortunately - it appears you don't have that choice.

[Shakey]

Here in the UK they are known by the authorities as "Safety Cameras"

Which we riders naturally shorten to "SCAMeras"

[jed1]

Going 50 in a 30 cost me $40 — my first speeding violation in 20 years. This bike will do that to you.

50 mph in a 30 mph zone = 20 mph over the limit. That is about 32kmh over the limit, which here in the state of Queensland (Australia) would cost me $466 and half of my licence points!

More than 41 kmh over the limit, licence is gone for 6 months and is a $950 fine - and the nice police officer looks like this and does this and you do this

Im moving over to your side of the Pacific and speeding everywhere......

[Neil]

In VIC Australia 21Ks over and automatic loss of license we have three million people in VIC and the stat government budget for one year is 780 million $ in speeding fines

[ka5ysy]

Time for a radar detector ! Mr. Valentine avoids all this .


I know of a town near here that ran one a couple of months and it got vandalized so often they gave up on it. Funny happening: the state police gave the van a ticket for illegal parking on the interstate!

[angellr]

Time for a radar detector ! Mr. Valentine avoids all this .


I know of a town near here that ran one a couple of months and it got vandalized so often they gave up on it. Funny happening: the state police gave the van a ticket for illegal parking on the interstate!

Now, *THAT* is funny!!

I have always wanted to get that canned foam insulation (for those intersect exposed cameras) and "obscure" their view. Pellet guns work really well, but mind you, am not recommending ANY vandalism whatsoever.

Most of the red-light SCAMeras are not effective for safety purposes and actually cause MORE accidents than they prevent due to their sensitivity and setting the light sequence to be very short for a green-light. Texas (around Fort Worth, Dallas, Richardson, Plano, etc.) is notorious for these things being installed and causing more accidents than normal from the above behavior. Believe they might have removed them by now, but not sure. Have patents in this area, and this is the wrong way of going about solving the problem.

[websterize]

Time for a radar detector ! Mr. Valentine avoids all this .

Unfortunately, in this instance, a radar detector wouldn't have mattered. Had I updated the Red Light and Speed Camera database in my GPS, however, I likely would have slowed down in time. I was touring that day and had the GPS and headphones on. I would have gotten an audible warning to "start slowing down, speed camera ahead."

The Red Light and Speed Camera database from the POI Factory is updated weekly and covers hundreds of traps across the USA. The file in my GPS is from April 2009. The speed camera that got me on Cedar lane went up last spring.

[Rider Rick]

Woh, thanks for the POI Factory reminder, lol. I haven't updated mine in a year or more either!

[websterize]

Or perhaps a Valentine One would detect a fixed speed camera?

Most photo radars operate on Ka band, but there are exceptions. Unlike ordinary radar traps — ambushes hidden within terrain contours — photo radar operates out in the open, usually in a van parked along the road; but occasionally as a permanent installation that looks much like a red light camera. Instead of hiding, photo radar uses a low-power beam which it angles across the road to reduce the range at which it can be detected. So warning range is short, too short if you have a weak detector. Valentine One readily detects photo radar. But it will be reported for what it is, a weak signal. All bogeys, even weak ones, should be identified before they are dismissed.
— valentine1.com/V1Info/pdf/V1_OwnersManual.pdf

Interesting …

[snag]

And now for a little reverse busted! Last year I got a $94 speed on green ticket from an "intersection safety camera" while driving the Bride's Z4. Two days ago she got a $94 cheque in the mail from the government. Turns out that some of the cameras were not exactly reliable. One camera caught a whole road full of cars doing 143 kph through an intersection. They found 26 unreliable tickets out of 245,000 and decided that they needed to refund 102,700 of them at a cost of $13.2MM. Don't know how they decided which 102,700 to refund. Now I'm not saying that I was speeding, but a little payback now and then sure feels nice! Who knew these things were refundable. My apologies if this post doesn't make you feel just a wee bit better.

Doug

[PrinceBooger]

I'm with the others that say $40 for a 20-over speeding ticket is remarkable!

I have told other non-Bavarian riders of our stock Roadsters' top-end power. Who would guess that an air-cooled, opposed twin would contain such fire on top! I rarely get into that "range" mostly because I am seeing my tire life suffer. Damn those physics!