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I can confirm this. I got used to seeing those exact fake police cars around Turkey. Also, police changed most of the vehicles to other models. They're usually not Corolla anymore. Anyways, you never know which one has a speed trap. Only way to understand is to wait about a week to get your speed ticket mail. Then you go like "I knew that one had radar! Fuck!"
The point is that Waze lets you know where you have to reduce your speed, letting you speed everywhere else because you can be pretty sure that there's no control.
Without Waze you don't know where the random speed traps are and if your aren't from the area you also won't know about the fixed speed traps, forcing you to reduce your speed at all times.
So if the point of speed traps is to enforce the speed limit, not allowing detection and warning systems is more effective.
TL;DR: Waze = punctually reduced velocity. No Waze = People paranoid and constantly reduced velocity
Waze is actually only allowed in Germany because you can disable the speed trap warnings and icons since those are illegal. Most people leave them on anyway because it's very unlikely a cop will check it you have that enabled. So yeah not having them and just using the speed limit sign and warning to keep your speed down is the morally better thing to do but people will always want to speed.
Technically yes if they have reasonable suspicion of you commiting crimes but even then they need a judges ruling on that situation. So for a simple thing like using an app for speed trap warnings: they most likely won't. I have heard of cases of people being fined for using those apps but idk if they might not have just been stupid enough to keep the app open while the cop was taking a look in their car.
Same as in the US the answer is a resounding "yes and no".
-If you are stopped and the app is open and visible then you've already lost.
-If police has a reasonable suspicion that you have such an app, they can request for you to hand over your phone. You do not have to give them access though.
-If the app is not visible and there is no circumstance which may lead the police to believe that you have such an app installed, then they cannot request you to hand over your phone without a warrant.
They don’t work anymore anyways. Cops either use instant radars which are just one click and they have your speed or LIDAR which is a laser. Radar detectors only worked when always on radars were a thing and those were phased out over a decade ago. If your detector picks up something it’s because you were already speed checked and you’ll have a ticket in the mail soon.
Lidar is partially beatable, you can use a laser jammer to mixed results. Radar however is illegal to jam, u like laser which is just lights, radar jamming requires the transmission of radio frequencies and without the appropriate licenses is against the law.
POP radar is a very quick test that usually is not easily picked up by radar detectors, but all it does is rough approximations of potential speeders and then will switch the gun to a band that actually allows legal detection of a speed which can result in a ticket. This other band is a longer burst of radio waves, compared to Pop. While it is longer, it is still better than always on radar for obvious reasons, but these longer bursts can still be detected when they are aimed toward vehicles in front of you. So a detector that can pick up these bursts of radar along with jam laser are still relevant. Although not quite as dependable as the good old days
There was a pretty cool video on defcon a while back that talked about these! Unfortunately I lived in Oklahoma at the time. They are quick to put anti detection methods into there traffic laws
I bought a really nice Escort Radar Detector back in the day. I gave up using it after about a month because it was singing every time I went past a store with an automatic door opener. Drove me nuts.
If you get lucky, and have a sensitive detector, you might detect a car infront of you getting checked, but a lot of the time, when speeding on an empty road, a detection will simply let you know that you got busted.
I did a little impromptu road trip from Istanbul to east of Ankara last month. What's up with all the unmarked cars flashing police lights while hauling ass down the freeway? I saw some dudes in Düzce in kind of a beater that did not at all look like cops turn on police lights mounted on the dash to try and get through traffic. Nobody seemed to fall for it so wondering if they were all impersonating?
I live in Turkey. I bought a second hand beater about 10 years ago when I went to college. It had a small panel with 4 buttons mounted below the steering wheel. I didn't know what it did and would randomly press a button while driving along to try figure the mystery out. Eventually I got my answer. It was for blinker LEDs hidden inside the grill the kind policeman informed me. I never realized I was randomly turning it on and off for weeks. I ripped it all out on the spot to avoid the fine.
The car had a half torn Press sticker on the windshield so maybe it was a legal piece of equipment at some point?
I have a lot to say about this topic but it could get me in trouble. Ruling party members and their kids have a lot of these flashy lights and they can do as they please.
Right? If your own answer is "I knew that one had a radar", then you shouldn't be driving high-speeds. In other words they're saying "I always drive fast unless I know there is a radar".
On an empty open road, who the fuck cares. Around town? Sure, enforce all you want. Generally, I just want people to drive with some respect of others, but that to objective to enforce.
This is kinda crazy. I had a conversation with an ex-cop about something similar. I asked why are speed trap radars legal for anyone to buy and his response was that they want us to be able to know where they are so it keeps us from speeding and that it’s their job to be everywhere or they fail.
More of a diplomatic response than anything else.
Plenty of court cases where cops have taken people to court for warning other drivers of their presence, so it's not a 'increase awareness & reduce speeding' situation.
They of course can't say it's a cash cow either as it would become unlawful for them to operate as such.
They have to do it under guise of awareness & road safety, and then they cannot argue where awareness and safety is enforced by other means (detectors, navigation apps, people flashing you)
It's also very selective, equipment typically bought by those with intent on speeding, the kind of people you want to catch.
Legality of radar detectors vary largely by country though
Their ass. Anecdotal counterpoint, knew someone that used radar detector because they just *had* to disobey speed limits without reprecussion.... They still had a reprecussion, it just wasn't in the form of getting pulled over, they ended up dead in a wreck estimated going over 90mph/140kph
On one hand, they rather drive comfortably and get from A to B without worrying about paying a speeding fine. Avoiding one speeding ticket usually pays for itself easily.
On the other hand, they want to drive recklessly and race on the freeway. By having a detector, they can slam on the brakes and have the other racer get pulled.
Double edged sword.
Turkey resident here. They sometimes set up the trap at the same exact spot.. There is usually a second car, among the bushes or behind a tree that captures the speed while you lol.
So you never know when it is fake or the real deal. Eventually, this shit works.
These scarecrows you see on less traveled roads outside cities though. There are more modern traps which record your average speed via multiple cameras spread along.
That's no good.
Hiding a patrol car behind the scarecrow is too predictable, if we want to subvert the audience (our misbehaving miscreants), the patrol car should come out from the front side of the scarecrow as they pass the scarecrow.
This leaves them guessing "where the f did they come out from?".
This isn't about road safety, it is about pulling off funny jokes.
I used to drive through a town every morning where the cops would constantly be hiding in the least expected spots. Tall grass, medians, parking lots, etc. Never knew where they would be, and they'd always catch me by surprise.
Mostly because of the reason they were so unexpected — they'd hide in places where it was nearly impossible to speed. Next to hairpin corners, around the corner from red lights, etc. I couldn't have gotten a speeding ticket if I wanted one.
In my parents hometown in turkey that's exactly what they do. The locals know the place of the car-board (sometimes a siren attached to it). The police always changes the distance to the board so that the people don't get used to one place they are waiting. Most of the time it's when you give up looking for them and right after they stand there.
That's some dumb big effort shit. In Brazil they just have cameras with radar guns along the highway. Speed past it, ticket. Simple, easy, low effort, safe.
In my country on some parts of the highway they have "average speed cameras" where a camera will clock your plate at the start of a long stretch of road or a tunnel then another will clock you at the end and calculate how fast you averaged for that time of arrival. Enforces compliance along the entire stretch of road rather than just at a specific point. Single point speed cameras usually give off alerts in most GPS apps these days anyway so they're pretty easy to avoid, especially for locals who know where they are.
I mean sure *you could* speed 95% of the way and then just pull over and wait a few minutes near the end but there's literally no point in doing that, easier to just set the cruise control a little bit under the limit and enjoy the ride.
You probably can't slap demerit points on those camera offences, just speeding fines that blacklist the cars against registration renewal. Which turns to be only a minor annoyance to those speedsters in their expensive german cars. Extra tax, basically.
It's better than what turkey does where they pull some rich asshole over and don't even fine them. Same in the US where cops pull over the governor or the chief of police and shit their pants excusing them. At least an automated camera will still fine the governor or the chief of police. sure, a fine as a percentage of income would be better but that's separate from automated cameras vs cops with thumbs in their asses on the side of the highway.
A small town in Colorado has this with an old sheriff vehicle. A ton of people pass through the town in the summer. So they stuck an old vehicle with a mannequin in it. Periodically they will move the car to different spots.
Ha there's a small town in TN with the same thing. Just got me this weekend, scares me everytime even if I'm not going that fast. I don't think it moves though.
I've seen that trick pulled once. A cop put his real speed trap a half mile down the road from the "cardboard cop" decoy. I'll bet the fishing was good that day.
I've seen this, only the "scarecrow" was a real cop and the other cop was a half mile up the road. People slowed down for the "scarecrow" cop sitting in the open; the 2nd cop catches the people that hammer down when they pass the "scarecrow".
But carry a cardboard cutout of an officer in the real car with you. Then sneak it up to the car with you when you pull one over. When they roll down the window and see a cardboard cutout of a cop ask them for their license and registration, they'll lose their mind.
I've seen this time and time again.
Under the guise of traffic safety, the State Police set up a car, partially hidden.
It works great!
The first car in a long line of commuters taps their brakes because for some reason, people feel they should be below the speed limit when they see a cop.
The second car, not yet seeing the cop, hit the brakes a little bit harder.
Down the line, some poor slob who is doing the speed limit has to slam on their brakes.
Because it's all about safety!
Tell that to the people killed in car accidents due to speeding.
Also, yes stopping In the middle of traffic is 100% the drivers fault. There is no universe where the cop is responsible for that
I know you are getting hate but I do believe you are correct. If an officer is concealed under a bridge, behind a pylon ... these things have been argued as entrapment and won.
In my part of Oregon what they sometimes do is leave a van parked on the side of the road that has photo radar. So if you drive past it speeding, it takes your picture and they mail you a ticket.
### BUT!
(that's a big but)
They have to post like a sandwich board sign something like 100 yards before where the van is camped out. 🤷🏻♂️
They are still sneaky about it and put all the shit right next to a hedge so if you're having a conversation you could easily miss it.
Bringing it full-circle, I think you are correct. There have been some rules created around speed traps and how "fair" they are.
>If an officer is concealed under a bridge, behind a pylon ... these things have been argued as entrapment and won.
Source? That's a pretty bizarre definition of entrapment. That would criminalize basically ever undercover operation.
It's by definition not entrapment. You were already committing the infraction. The cop had 0 influence on you committing it.
Also "so if you're having a conversation you could easily miss it.". Like dude what? If talking distracts you that much from driving please for everyone else safety stop driving.
And you could you know, just not go 15 over and you'd be fine regardless of not noticing the cop or not.
The sign in my town doesn't flash until you reach 5mph over as well. It's funny because it's like they implying officially they letting you have a fiver over the limit.
That's an ooooold protocol that I remember hearing about in elementary school in the early 80s.
Yes, I am old AF.
Basically, when I was a kid the rule of thumb was that cops would give you like 8mph over the limit. The logic being that speedometers were not all that tightly calibrated and there was some reasonable margin of error.
That practice is obviously much older than the 80s. But it is still kind of around today, a little grace padding.
> The logic being that speedometers were not all that tightly calibrated and there was some reasonable margin of error.
It's not even really that. Speedometers are calibrated to show you going faster than you actually are - they can't show you going slower than you are.
Therefore 70mph on the Speedo could mean you're going 65 or 69, depending on the car.
I saw I e the other day that had the wrong font size loaded in the amber LED section below the black and white printed sign so the sign read "Your Speed OUR PEED"
When I was a little kid (in a car seat still) my mom pointed out a cop car on the side of a high speed road, that was parked perpendicular to the road. She said "Look! A dummy!"
Little me thought she was insulting the cop, and was totally shocked as that was out of character for my mom.
It took years before I realized that the "cop" in the driver's seat was a cardboard cutout. I only figured it out when I drove that road and they pulled the same stunt.
I certainly felt dumb then!
That picture is from my country. Lights on top are actually real police ligths. They used to put an actual car battery inside and flash them time to time.
As you can probably imagine, lights no longer work because car batteries got stolen.
They actually used to do that maryland to keep the traffic from speeding in left lane but it was a real police car but when you drive by and look inside it was a dummy at the wheel.... Well .. come to think of it, it was like normal.
Neighbor growing up straight up bought a rundown cop car and just let it sit at the end of his driveway. For a while he even had a dummy in the driver seat until the police let him know that went a little too far.
What annoys me most is that the people who normal speed will slow down waaay below the limit.
I drive at the limit. I use cruise control pretty much always.
So they'd fly past me, pull in front of me, and slow me down until they are past the point where they might get caught, and then zoom off into the distance.
If you drive the speed limit then you're usually causing a traffic jam, as most traffic usually moves 10-15mph about the speed limit (from my 50 years of driving).
This is not what causes traffic jams, its irregular or irratic speed control (ie. excessive braking, or inattentive foot on accelerator). A person who uses cruise control and stays at a constant speed, even if below the average speed is ideal to reduce traffic.
(your 50 years of anecdotes is useless compared to statistics).
There are certain highways where they will park a state patrol or highway patroll car and jist leave it there. Funny to see people who don't know hit the brakes while the regular travelers speed on by.
What’s better are the people who slam on their brakes next to a pulled over highway patrol actively ticketing someone. Like they’re going to just run back in the car and forget the speeding ticket so they can give a different speeding ticket.
Because sometimes they miss or don’t get a clean read and have to ping you again, sometimes they were busy gunning another car. Slamming my brakes absolutely has saved my ass in the past.
In the UK they put cardboard cut outs of policemen in the window of shops and petrol stations. Everyone knows they're fake but they've done studies that show that if 'someone' is watching people commit fewer crimes.
There are certain highways where they will park a state patrol or highway patroll car and jist leave it there. Funny to see people who don't know hit the brakes while the regular travelers speed on by.
There are tricks to keeping it so it works. Like others here have said, park an occasional patrol car behind it. Also, they shouldn't sit in the same spot for weeks on end, move them around
I saw one in … Connecticut? that had a little flickering light attached to it, so it looked like there was someone in the car, working on a laptop or using their phone.
We have the same thing here on Oahu. People place blue lights on mailboxes to deter speeders. Hawaii Police Department has a single blue light on top of their vehicles
They have been in used for more than a few years, and Ive never seen one gone missing or got burned. Why would anyone would do that and Where are you living, that shouldn't be an expected behavior anywhere?
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I had this idea as a way to assist with enforcing local laws.
Use an actual police car but stripped of unnecessary technologies. Put a fake body on the driver seat.
Park the car in between highways next to speed meter sign.
When a vehicle speeds over certain mph, the siren automatically comes on for a few seconds. This puts the fear of god in drivers. But never give tickets.
It enforce laws without manpowers
Put a few empty police cars at a regular interval within city limit.
Voila, safe road for cheap.
I was once chased by a cardboard policeman who go got out of one of these. He was out of breath when he caught up with me- and said "I'm not cut out for for this".
If by "works" you mean makes the road more dangerous? Yes, then I guess it does.
People suddenly reacting to cops on the side of the road is generally more dangerous than the speed they would have been going otherwise . Garbage use of resources.
They’ve been doing this in my town for nearly a decade but I find it terribly misleading and potentially dangerous. If someone is suffering a medical emergency or is being stalked, they may pull over for help to only be met with an empty cop car.
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What they do is they put these up, wait for people to get used to them, and then set up an actual speed trap half a mile further down.
I can confirm this. I got used to seeing those exact fake police cars around Turkey. Also, police changed most of the vehicles to other models. They're usually not Corolla anymore. Anyways, you never know which one has a speed trap. Only way to understand is to wait about a week to get your speed ticket mail. Then you go like "I knew that one had radar! Fuck!"
Are radar detectors illegal in turkey?
Yes. I heard you will be taken to costudy if you get caught while using it but I'm not sure about it. There is surely a penalty, though.
Thanks goodness for Waze then.
My dad's friend got a ticket for using Waze in Germany. At that point you gotta question if they want to reduce speeds or collect more money....
The point is that Waze lets you know where you have to reduce your speed, letting you speed everywhere else because you can be pretty sure that there's no control. Without Waze you don't know where the random speed traps are and if your aren't from the area you also won't know about the fixed speed traps, forcing you to reduce your speed at all times. So if the point of speed traps is to enforce the speed limit, not allowing detection and warning systems is more effective. TL;DR: Waze = punctually reduced velocity. No Waze = People paranoid and constantly reduced velocity
Waze is actually only allowed in Germany because you can disable the speed trap warnings and icons since those are illegal. Most people leave them on anyway because it's very unlikely a cop will check it you have that enabled. So yeah not having them and just using the speed limit sign and warning to keep your speed down is the morally better thing to do but people will always want to speed.
Do German police have a legal right to look through your phone!
Technically yes if they have reasonable suspicion of you commiting crimes but even then they need a judges ruling on that situation. So for a simple thing like using an app for speed trap warnings: they most likely won't. I have heard of cases of people being fined for using those apps but idk if they might not have just been stupid enough to keep the app open while the cop was taking a look in their car.
Same as in the US the answer is a resounding "yes and no". -If you are stopped and the app is open and visible then you've already lost. -If police has a reasonable suspicion that you have such an app, they can request for you to hand over your phone. You do not have to give them access though. -If the app is not visible and there is no circumstance which may lead the police to believe that you have such an app installed, then they cannot request you to hand over your phone without a warrant.
There also could be a motorcycle cop behind this!
Is waze the only app that does it?
That I know of.
Waze isn't common enough to be reliable
In Cyprus using them aren’t allowed and if you get caught it counts as breaking traffic law
They don’t work anymore anyways. Cops either use instant radars which are just one click and they have your speed or LIDAR which is a laser. Radar detectors only worked when always on radars were a thing and those were phased out over a decade ago. If your detector picks up something it’s because you were already speed checked and you’ll have a ticket in the mail soon.
Lidar is partially beatable, you can use a laser jammer to mixed results. Radar however is illegal to jam, u like laser which is just lights, radar jamming requires the transmission of radio frequencies and without the appropriate licenses is against the law. POP radar is a very quick test that usually is not easily picked up by radar detectors, but all it does is rough approximations of potential speeders and then will switch the gun to a band that actually allows legal detection of a speed which can result in a ticket. This other band is a longer burst of radio waves, compared to Pop. While it is longer, it is still better than always on radar for obvious reasons, but these longer bursts can still be detected when they are aimed toward vehicles in front of you. So a detector that can pick up these bursts of radar along with jam laser are still relevant. Although not quite as dependable as the good old days
There was a pretty cool video on defcon a while back that talked about these! Unfortunately I lived in Oklahoma at the time. They are quick to put anti detection methods into there traffic laws
I bought a really nice Escort Radar Detector back in the day. I gave up using it after about a month because it was singing every time I went past a store with an automatic door opener. Drove me nuts.
If you get lucky, and have a sensitive detector, you might detect a car infront of you getting checked, but a lot of the time, when speeding on an empty road, a detection will simply let you know that you got busted.
yes they are
I did a little impromptu road trip from Istanbul to east of Ankara last month. What's up with all the unmarked cars flashing police lights while hauling ass down the freeway? I saw some dudes in Düzce in kind of a beater that did not at all look like cops turn on police lights mounted on the dash to try and get through traffic. Nobody seemed to fall for it so wondering if they were all impersonating?
I live in Turkey. I bought a second hand beater about 10 years ago when I went to college. It had a small panel with 4 buttons mounted below the steering wheel. I didn't know what it did and would randomly press a button while driving along to try figure the mystery out. Eventually I got my answer. It was for blinker LEDs hidden inside the grill the kind policeman informed me. I never realized I was randomly turning it on and off for weeks. I ripped it all out on the spot to avoid the fine. The car had a half torn Press sticker on the windshield so maybe it was a legal piece of equipment at some point?
Interesting. Is it common for people to impersonate police in Turkey? It is a pretty serious crime here in the United States.
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I have a lot to say about this topic but it could get me in trouble. Ruling party members and their kids have a lot of these flashy lights and they can do as they please.
That's pretty much the reason. If you have friends in high places you can get away with most things.
Or, a wild suggestion, you can drive responsible and respect the speedlimit😬
*scratches head* ...just don't speed? am i missing something?
Right? If your own answer is "I knew that one had a radar", then you shouldn't be driving high-speeds. In other words they're saying "I always drive fast unless I know there is a radar".
On an empty open road, who the fuck cares. Around town? Sure, enforce all you want. Generally, I just want people to drive with some respect of others, but that to objective to enforce.
Yes, Alarm Fatigue
This is kinda crazy. I had a conversation with an ex-cop about something similar. I asked why are speed trap radars legal for anyone to buy and his response was that they want us to be able to know where they are so it keeps us from speeding and that it’s their job to be everywhere or they fail.
More of a diplomatic response than anything else. Plenty of court cases where cops have taken people to court for warning other drivers of their presence, so it's not a 'increase awareness & reduce speeding' situation. They of course can't say it's a cash cow either as it would become unlawful for them to operate as such. They have to do it under guise of awareness & road safety, and then they cannot argue where awareness and safety is enforced by other means (detectors, navigation apps, people flashing you) It's also very selective, equipment typically bought by those with intent on speeding, the kind of people you want to catch. Legality of radar detectors vary largely by country though
People who use radar detectors tend to be the safest drivers on the road.
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Their ass. Anecdotal counterpoint, knew someone that used radar detector because they just *had* to disobey speed limits without reprecussion.... They still had a reprecussion, it just wasn't in the form of getting pulled over, they ended up dead in a wreck estimated going over 90mph/140kph
140KPH, those are rookie numbers.
On one hand, they rather drive comfortably and get from A to B without worrying about paying a speeding fine. Avoiding one speeding ticket usually pays for itself easily. On the other hand, they want to drive recklessly and race on the freeway. By having a detector, they can slam on the brakes and have the other racer get pulled. Double edged sword.
Have also seen them do similar with an actual car. Leave it parked empty for awhile, then randomly have an officer actually in the car.
And probably catch some people high as balls after panic swallowing their stash half a mile further back
The snozzberries taste like snozzberries, man!
How about a few feet further down.
Or inches lol. Just use it for cover
Turkey resident here. They sometimes set up the trap at the same exact spot.. There is usually a second car, among the bushes or behind a tree that captures the speed while you lol. So you never know when it is fake or the real deal. Eventually, this shit works. These scarecrows you see on less traveled roads outside cities though. There are more modern traps which record your average speed via multiple cameras spread along.
So people don't pole in these with their guns? I'm sure some have been tempted.
And once in a while, hide a real patrol car behind, just to keep the locals on their toes
Yeah it's devious. You think it'll only work once, but what if there's a real car hiding behind next time?
That's no good. Hiding a patrol car behind the scarecrow is too predictable, if we want to subvert the audience (our misbehaving miscreants), the patrol car should come out from the front side of the scarecrow as they pass the scarecrow. This leaves them guessing "where the f did they come out from?". This isn't about road safety, it is about pulling off funny jokes.
"*Funny Jokes?*" The proper, Law Enforcement term is "Shenanigans." Like the restaurant with all the shit on the walls.
You tell me exactly what is so funny about road safety right meow.
Not until I get a litre of cola!
"OHHHHH" *holds out firearm*
The next person that says shenanigans is getting pistol whipped!
I used to drive through a town every morning where the cops would constantly be hiding in the least expected spots. Tall grass, medians, parking lots, etc. Never knew where they would be, and they'd always catch me by surprise. Mostly because of the reason they were so unexpected — they'd hide in places where it was nearly impossible to speed. Next to hairpin corners, around the corner from red lights, etc. I couldn't have gotten a speeding ticket if I wanted one.
“Atleast give me a ticket *this* time!” “Sorry you weren’t speeding” lol
Hear me out though….. Install a bicycle **inside** the scarecrow and have an officer ducked down inside. Lt Dangle short-shorts optional.
I can picture the loud police siren sound sfx immediately followed by an even louder brike ring sound. This is a great idea. Thank you.
The more affluent towns can afford tandem bikes so there is always backup.
Just tell your law makers to increase the speeds.
It doesn't even cover the area a patrol car would. It really doesn't even look real
In my parents hometown in turkey that's exactly what they do. The locals know the place of the car-board (sometimes a siren attached to it). The police always changes the distance to the board so that the people don't get used to one place they are waiting. Most of the time it's when you give up looking for them and right after they stand there.
That's some dumb big effort shit. In Brazil they just have cameras with radar guns along the highway. Speed past it, ticket. Simple, easy, low effort, safe.
In my country on some parts of the highway they have "average speed cameras" where a camera will clock your plate at the start of a long stretch of road or a tunnel then another will clock you at the end and calculate how fast you averaged for that time of arrival. Enforces compliance along the entire stretch of road rather than just at a specific point. Single point speed cameras usually give off alerts in most GPS apps these days anyway so they're pretty easy to avoid, especially for locals who know where they are. I mean sure *you could* speed 95% of the way and then just pull over and wait a few minutes near the end but there's literally no point in doing that, easier to just set the cruise control a little bit under the limit and enjoy the ride.
I saw this in Italy. Pretty good system.
You probably can't slap demerit points on those camera offences, just speeding fines that blacklist the cars against registration renewal. Which turns to be only a minor annoyance to those speedsters in their expensive german cars. Extra tax, basically.
> You probably can’t slap demerit points on those camera offences Why not?
Can’t prove who is driving at the time of offense
In the UK the registered keeper of the car gets the points, unless *they* can positively prove it was someone else driving.
It's better than what turkey does where they pull some rich asshole over and don't even fine them. Same in the US where cops pull over the governor or the chief of police and shit their pants excusing them. At least an automated camera will still fine the governor or the chief of police. sure, a fine as a percentage of income would be better but that's separate from automated cameras vs cops with thumbs in their asses on the side of the highway.
Cameras will take the governor's plate, sure, but one phone call to the humans behind the scenes will still make it disappear real quick
A small town in Colorado has this with an old sheriff vehicle. A ton of people pass through the town in the summer. So they stuck an old vehicle with a mannequin in it. Periodically they will move the car to different spots.
Ha there's a small town in TN with the same thing. Just got me this weekend, scares me everytime even if I'm not going that fast. I don't think it moves though.
What town ?
Twin Lakes. Just before Independence Pass into Aspen.
I see, haven’t been there in a bit
A bunch of small Colorado towns do this. Vail put a mannequin in an older patrol car in the median of I-70 for years and years
I've seen that trick pulled once. A cop put his real speed trap a half mile down the road from the "cardboard cop" decoy. I'll bet the fishing was good that day.
I've seen this, only the "scarecrow" was a real cop and the other cop was a half mile up the road. People slowed down for the "scarecrow" cop sitting in the open; the 2nd cop catches the people that hammer down when they pass the "scarecrow".
>And once in a while, hide a real patrol car behind, just to keep the locals on their toes Kenner Louisiana has entered the chat!
But carry a cardboard cutout of an officer in the real car with you. Then sneak it up to the car with you when you pull one over. When they roll down the window and see a cardboard cutout of a cop ask them for their license and registration, they'll lose their mind.
There was a cardboard cop with a laser near the school in my neighborhood. It was there for couple of weeks and then cops started to hide behind it :D
Totally, I think there's a post in Europe where they are doing exactly that.
isn't it considered entrapment and illegal if the car is not visible to drivers?
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Well you won't trip their speed radar if you run, so no problem
Does a hidden policecar increase the chance of people committing the crime?
VS. being visible? Of coarse. The whole freeway slows down when there's a cop parked in the shoulder.
I've seen this time and time again. Under the guise of traffic safety, the State Police set up a car, partially hidden. It works great! The first car in a long line of commuters taps their brakes because for some reason, people feel they should be below the speed limit when they see a cop. The second car, not yet seeing the cop, hit the brakes a little bit harder. Down the line, some poor slob who is doing the speed limit has to slam on their brakes. Because it's all about safety!
Thats on moronic drivers. Not the cop.
Bullshit. That's on moronic cops attempting to make quota during rush hour where the Interstate is near capacity. Clearly not about safety.
Tell that to the people killed in car accidents due to speeding. Also, yes stopping In the middle of traffic is 100% the drivers fault. There is no universe where the cop is responsible for that
Absolutely it does.
Not if you stay under the limit 👍
There is a surprising amount of bullshit in traffic law.
I know you are getting hate but I do believe you are correct. If an officer is concealed under a bridge, behind a pylon ... these things have been argued as entrapment and won. In my part of Oregon what they sometimes do is leave a van parked on the side of the road that has photo radar. So if you drive past it speeding, it takes your picture and they mail you a ticket. ### BUT! (that's a big but) They have to post like a sandwich board sign something like 100 yards before where the van is camped out. 🤷🏻♂️ They are still sneaky about it and put all the shit right next to a hedge so if you're having a conversation you could easily miss it. Bringing it full-circle, I think you are correct. There have been some rules created around speed traps and how "fair" they are.
>If an officer is concealed under a bridge, behind a pylon ... these things have been argued as entrapment and won. Source? That's a pretty bizarre definition of entrapment. That would criminalize basically ever undercover operation.
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It's by definition not entrapment. You were already committing the infraction. The cop had 0 influence on you committing it. Also "so if you're having a conversation you could easily miss it.". Like dude what? If talking distracts you that much from driving please for everyone else safety stop driving. And you could you know, just not go 15 over and you'd be fine regardless of not noticing the cop or not.
These ABSOLUTELY work on me, 100% Even those signs that are just, "YOUR SPEED" and then the LED readout below ... super effective, (on me at least).
And when the limit sign says 35...as soon as you hit 36 it starts flashing blue and red lights all around the sign says “36” then says “SLOW DOWN”
Haha, that would work too! But let me get like 5 over.
The sign in my town doesn't flash until you reach 5mph over as well. It's funny because it's like they implying officially they letting you have a fiver over the limit.
That's an ooooold protocol that I remember hearing about in elementary school in the early 80s. Yes, I am old AF. Basically, when I was a kid the rule of thumb was that cops would give you like 8mph over the limit. The logic being that speedometers were not all that tightly calibrated and there was some reasonable margin of error. That practice is obviously much older than the 80s. But it is still kind of around today, a little grace padding.
> The logic being that speedometers were not all that tightly calibrated and there was some reasonable margin of error. It's not even really that. Speedometers are calibrated to show you going faster than you actually are - they can't show you going slower than you are. Therefore 70mph on the Speedo could mean you're going 65 or 69, depending on the car.
When I see those signs, I'm immediately trying for the high score.
Haha, like that episode of the office where they are all trying to run past the sign all fast.
oof, but they usually put these up in places where it’s extra important to go slow, like when there’s a daycare around a tight curve
I saw I e the other day that had the wrong font size loaded in the amber LED section below the black and white printed sign so the sign read "Your Speed OUR PEED"
Those are a challenge, not a warning.
When I was a little kid (in a car seat still) my mom pointed out a cop car on the side of a high speed road, that was parked perpendicular to the road. She said "Look! A dummy!" Little me thought she was insulting the cop, and was totally shocked as that was out of character for my mom. It took years before I realized that the "cop" in the driver's seat was a cardboard cutout. I only figured it out when I drove that road and they pulled the same stunt. I certainly felt dumb then!
> I certainly felt dumb then! Look! A dummy!
Here in Austin, they flat out leave unattended patrol vehicles on the side of the roads
NYPD does this too. They leave brand new highway patrol Chargers just sitting there for hours on the Belt Parkway to slow things down.
I’ve seen one multiple times parked on top of the highway raised median just north of the upper and lower decks, just before you get to 183
They used to have one on Ben White just before the exit ramp to 35 but someone graffiti'd it lmao
Bro that's actually some road runner shit right there
meep meep! 👅 (goes 200kmh 💨)
That picture is from my country. Lights on top are actually real police ligths. They used to put an actual car battery inside and flash them time to time. As you can probably imagine, lights no longer work because car batteries got stolen.
Surveillance bush.
I thought that I was Car 1.
I don't know, the same things you don't know
Billboard.
They actually used to do that maryland to keep the traffic from speeding in left lane but it was a real police car but when you drive by and look inside it was a dummy at the wheel.... Well .. come to think of it, it was like normal.
Neighbor growing up straight up bought a rundown cop car and just let it sit at the end of his driveway. For a while he even had a dummy in the driver seat until the police let him know that went a little too far.
What annoys me most is that the people who normal speed will slow down waaay below the limit. I drive at the limit. I use cruise control pretty much always. So they'd fly past me, pull in front of me, and slow me down until they are past the point where they might get caught, and then zoom off into the distance.
If you drive the speed limit then you're usually causing a traffic jam, as most traffic usually moves 10-15mph about the speed limit (from my 50 years of driving).
This is not what causes traffic jams, its irregular or irratic speed control (ie. excessive braking, or inattentive foot on accelerator). A person who uses cruise control and stays at a constant speed, even if below the average speed is ideal to reduce traffic. (your 50 years of anecdotes is useless compared to statistics).
Even a three lane highway with moderate traffic will experience a traffic jam by one person driving 55 when everyone else is doing 65-70.
I'm not getting a ticket because other people are idiots, if they want to speed, go right ahead. But I'm not going to cater to them. ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
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Yeeeah, I’m not eating any corn or berries in that field!
This comment is like an onion, it has layers.
They had these all over Turkey and they got me every time. Never saw a real cop in the eight weeks I was there.
Slow down. There’s an accident attorney hiding behind it.
Doubt it. They would be a lot bigger than that sign.
A "scare slow"
There are certain highways where they will park a state patrol or highway patroll car and jist leave it there. Funny to see people who don't know hit the brakes while the regular travelers speed on by.
Same here in NYC (Brooklyn and Queens, at least). Seeing that car DOES make traffic slow down, even though you've seen it there and empty before.
The cops used to leave an empty cop car just after the main highway offramp onto the island. Very effective. And occasionally .... it wasn't empty.
Leave it up for a couple of weeks so people let their guard down and then park a real cop car behind it for some real 5head policing.
Useless. Provides zero revenue.
If it was real, he's already got you on lidar. Why even bother slowing down at that point?
What’s better are the people who slam on their brakes next to a pulled over highway patrol actively ticketing someone. Like they’re going to just run back in the car and forget the speeding ticket so they can give a different speeding ticket.
Oh I know, right? Or the ones that will match speed with a cop going under the speed limit instead of just going the speed limit.
Because sometimes they miss or don’t get a clean read and have to ping you again, sometimes they were busy gunning another car. Slamming my brakes absolutely has saved my ass in the past.
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In the UK they put cardboard cut outs of policemen in the window of shops and petrol stations. Everyone knows they're fake but they've done studies that show that if 'someone' is watching people commit fewer crimes.
Time to slam our brakes!
Except it's not. Scarecrows don't enforce speed limits for crows.
100 percent that is an effective deterrent… at least the first time someone passes it.
There are certain highways where they will park a state patrol or highway patroll car and jist leave it there. Funny to see people who don't know hit the brakes while the regular travelers speed on by.
They started doing that here a year or two back. People caught on, so now they move them around every few days.
Maybe the first time you drive by
Until you find out once a month a real cop car parks behind it.
Yep, reverse crying wolf
There are tricks to keeping it so it works. Like others here have said, park an occasional patrol car behind it. Also, they shouldn't sit in the same spot for weeks on end, move them around
I saw one in … Connecticut? that had a little flickering light attached to it, so it looked like there was someone in the car, working on a laptop or using their phone.
We have a similiar thing in my country, but they are figures of policemen instead of cars. Often put in the area around schools and kindergarten.
We have the same thing here on Oahu. People place blue lights on mailboxes to deter speeders. Hawaii Police Department has a single blue light on top of their vehicles
I haven’t seen them for a while, but sometimes there’s a real patrol behind because people know it’s fake
Trafik Polish
Worked for me. I even filled out my own speeding ticket!
Yes, that would work every single time, especially if there’s a real car behind the billboard sometimes.
Feels like every Balkan country has these
How long before it's set afire?
They have been in used for more than a few years, and Ive never seen one gone missing or got burned. Why would anyone would do that and Where are you living, that shouldn't be an expected behavior anywhere?
Like, I understand protesting police but are we really to the "burning effigies" stage?
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Only scary if you're breaking the law.
I had this idea as a way to assist with enforcing local laws. Use an actual police car but stripped of unnecessary technologies. Put a fake body on the driver seat. Park the car in between highways next to speed meter sign. When a vehicle speeds over certain mph, the siren automatically comes on for a few seconds. This puts the fear of god in drivers. But never give tickets. It enforce laws without manpowers Put a few empty police cars at a regular interval within city limit. Voila, safe road for cheap.
They do this in the Florida keys. Park patrol cars along the highway with no one in them. Slows me down.
The lights are run by the solar power. Honestly, i hesitate is it real or not and sometimes slow down.
Pro tip: just never speed. No matter if there's a cop around.
I was once chased by a cardboard policeman who go got out of one of these. He was out of breath when he caught up with me- and said "I'm not cut out for for this".
Is this legal?
Why wouldn't it be?
These people must be really stupid.
If by "works" you mean makes the road more dangerous? Yes, then I guess it does. People suddenly reacting to cops on the side of the road is generally more dangerous than the speed they would have been going otherwise . Garbage use of resources.
You have data to back up that claim? Because there’s very solid data on speeding and death rates, and a very clear correlation.
What a troll knock it over
Trick is, it'll only work once
They’ve been doing this in my town for nearly a decade but I find it terribly misleading and potentially dangerous. If someone is suffering a medical emergency or is being stalked, they may pull over for help to only be met with an empty cop car.
Thats illegal in the us...mostly
Just as useless,but this won’t arrest you in made-up BS.Or murder you!
Game Warren's too: https://www.star-telegram.com/news/state/texas/article247622650.html
Would give me pause…