Traffic cams

[Its from Onion]

A man was driving when he saw the flash of a traffic camera. He figured
that his picture had been taken for exceeding the limit, even though he
knew that he was not speeding.

Just to be sure, he went around the block and passed the same spot, driving even more
slowly, but again the camera flashed.

Now he began to think that this was quite funny, so he drove even slower
as he passed the area again, but the traffic camera again flashed.

He tried a fourth time with the same result.

 

He did this a fifth time and was now laughing when the camera flashed as he rolled past
-- this time at a snail's pace.

 

Two weeks later, he got five tickets in the mail for driving without a seat belt. 

 

You can't fix stupid.

[Anne Grant]

If only traffic cams were that smart!  :~)    .....Here, I am sure they are not, but then again.....our car doesn't move unless EVERYONE has their seatbelt on!

 

Annette Grant

Albuquerque, N. M.

---

From: Its from Onion <areda...@msn.com>
To: TSCM-L2006 <TSCM-...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wed, November 4, 2009 6:45:38 AM
Subject: [TSCM-L] {4362} Traffic cams

[Alway...@aol.com]

Message received. Thanks. I don't know about our government.

[James M. Atkinson]

No, but the traffic camera reading gets outsourced to people in India who make enough money to feed their family by screening the camera pictures looking for scofflaws.

You can have a pretty intelligent screening system when the ability to buy food is directly linked to you ability to find someone running a red light, or driving with no seat-belt.

-jma

At 11:59 AM 11/4/2009, Anne Grant wrote:

If only traffic cams were that smart!  :~)    .....Here, I am sure they are not, but then again.....our car doesn't move unless EVERYONE has their seatbelt on!
 
Annette Grant
Albuquerque, N. M.

From: Its from Onion <areda...@msn.com>
To: TSCM-L2006 <TSCM-...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wed, November 4, 2009 6:45:38 AM
Subject: [TSCM-L] {4362} Traffic cams

A man was driving when he saw the flash of a traffic camera. He figured

that his picture had been taken for exceeding the limit, even though he

knew that he was not speeding.

Just to be sure, he went around the block and passed the same spot, driving even more

slowly, but again the camera flashed.

Now he began to think that this was quite funny, so he drove even slower

as he passed the area again, but the traffic camera again flashed.

He tried a fourth time with the same result.

 

He did this a fifth time and was now laughing when the camera flashed as he rolled past

-- this time at a snail's pace.

 

Two weeks later, he got five tickets in the mail for driving without a seat belt. 

 

You can't fix stupid.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 James M. Atkinson                             Phone: (978) 546-3803
 Granite Island Group                         Fax:     (978) 546-9467
 127 Eastern Avenue #291                Web:   http://www.tscm.com/
 Gloucester, MA 01931-8008             E-mail: mailto:jm...@tscm.com
                 http://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesmatkinson
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the
 enemy until it is ripe for execution. - Machiavelli, The Prince, 1521

[Anne Grant]

James,

 

Thank you for that bit of info.  American Government with Technology + Observation by a live person in another country needing to feed their family = scofflaw crackpots.  ....Luckily last night I WAS wearing my seatbelt when the camera at the intersection went off when I was going a little less than the speed limit and going through a green light.  Let them dare try to get something on me.....a law-abiding American woman on a drive with my daughter and not doing anything wrong!!!!

 

:)

-arg

---

From: James M. Atkinson <jm...@tscm.com>
To: tscm-...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thu, November 5, 2009 4:13:10 PM
Subject: [TSCM-L] {4368} Re: Traffic cams

[ians...@googlemail.com]

I thought us brits lived in a surveillance society I wonder when indian call centres will be monitoring our citizensm
Ian

Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange

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From: Anne Grant <flowers...@yahoo.com>

Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 16:08:41 -0800 (PST)

To: <tscm-...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: [TSCM-L] {4369} Re: Traffic cams

[James Brown]

Anne you are able to see camera flash?  I assume at night! Those units must cost a bundle. wow

---

From: Anne Grant <flowers...@yahoo.com>

To: tscm-...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thu, November 5, 2009 6:08:41 PM

Subject: [TSCM-L] {4369} Re: Traffic cams

[ed]

As much as red-light cameras are hated, I'm surprised they're not
"taken out" by more angry people. They're usually only 8'-10' off the
ground, so anyone with a can of car undercoating spray duct-taped
taped to a short pole could easily disable the optics with a layer of
that hard-to-remove black goo.

Some people might find gaslighting those greedy and unethical traffic
cam / red-light camera contractors to be a cathartic TSCM experience.
(Not that anyone on this list would ever condone doing something like
that).

-ed

[Eric Schmiedl]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/5320092.stm

[Eric Schmiedl]

...more relevant, I suppose:
http://www.speedcam.co.uk/index2.htm

Makes me glad I don't live in the UK.

[James Brown]

Ed rumor has it that laser pointer's work just as good  without all the mess!

---

From: Eric Schmiedl <eric.s...@gmail.com>
To: tscm-...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Sat, November 7, 2009 9:54:09 AM
Subject: [TSCM-L] {4373} Re: Traffic cams

[ed]

James, where did you hear that rumor? The laser diodes used in "laser
pointers" do not emit nearly enough coherent optical energy to cause
any destructive effect to a lens-protected CCD. Even if this was
technically possible, the incident beam would have to be perfectly
stable for long enough to damage the CCD. And the incident angle
would have to be fairly straight-on so as not to reflect. Even then,
the CCTV lens would attenuate a large percentage of the laser's
optical power.

[James Brown]

Ed,   not sure where I got that info. I do know from other pilot reports that the fbi takes a dim view on pointing a laser at the pilot of a airplane.
Possibly from other pilots. Sorry just not sure.

---

From: ed <ber...@netaxs.com>
To: tscm-...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Sat, November 7, 2009 9:26:45 PM
Subject: [TSCM-L] {4376} Re: Traffic cams

[James Brown]

Ed look for a publication in technology review, published by mit
The laser causes blooming and starburst effect, does not destroy the cam but wrecks the picture.

---

From: James Brown <epau...@yahoo.com>
To: tscm-...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Sat, November 7, 2009 10:32:14 AM
Subject: [TSCM-L] {4375} Re: Traffic cams

[ed]

James,

This is another good example of a technical myth gone viral, and in
some cases being used by law-enforcement and prosecutors
disingenuously. While it's incredibly stupid to shine a laser pointer
at any aircraft, there's no way that could blind or damage the eyes of
a pilot, or cause great risk.

The optical power level of a laser pointer (LED laser diode 1-200mw)
at such great distances (power diminishes exponentially as distance
increases) and the tiny fraction of a millisecond this low-power light
could actually impinge upon a pilot's eye (think very high-speed
moving target thousands or tens of thousands of feet away) is less
than what a pilot is exposed to whenever they're flying within visual
distance of a thunderhead cloud when there's a lightning flash (this
happens quite often.)

Here's some more detailed info on this:

http://dahnbatchelorsopinions.blogspot.com/2008/10/can-laser-pointers-really-blind-pilots.html

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4191/is_20050104/ai_n10043772/

Think critically, folks.

[ed]

Um, yeah...if someone can manage to successfully aim a
millimeter-width beam at a CCTV lens from a distance (likely from a
moving car) it might very momentarily overwhelm a portion of the CCD,
but not as badly as the "bloom" that old-style CCTV vidicon tubes
suffered.

The bottom line is that a handheld laser pointer would be a very
ineffective CCTV traffic cam countermeasure, and in fact would likely
bring attention to the vehicle/plate of someone trying to to do this.

For some reason, people latch onto these crazy technical ideas and
ascribe unwarranted credibility to them. Probably a similar mental
phenomenon to what the tinfoil-hat crown suffers from.

[d...@geer.org]

|
| The bottom line is that a handheld laser pointer would be a very
| ineffective CCTV traffic cam countermeasure, and in fact would likely
| bring attention to the vehicle/plate of someone trying to to do this.
|

What I want is one of those precisely timed flash tubes that
change all the traffic lights in my path to green...

--dan

[Its from Onion]

Those are called Opticom and they can be found at times on Ebay for around 300.00 /w controller.

HOWEVER, if you cause a accident using one and get caught.... 

 

They can be programmed for different levels of vehicles.  IOW a cop and a fire truck at same intersection they give the preempt to the fire truck.

 

VERY  intense strobe!

 

Onion

[James Brown]

Ed I have 23000 hours of pic time. Glad to find out lasers are not a threat. Silly me. Even in hazy conditions I turn off the strobes and request that atc kills the rabbit. All approach;s are hand flown, no autopilot and no laser shinning in my eyes. You and superman may be ok with lasers when flying but not myself. I keep 20 miles between the airplane and t-boomers. As for your other post and me being with the tinfoil bunch, could be true! Do you get inspired while fingerpainting or is it doing homework in your coloring book? Cheers

 

---

From: ed <ber...@netaxs.com>
To: tscm-...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Sun, November 8, 2009 12:00:58 PM
Subject: [TSCM-L] {4379} Re: Traffic cams

Nov 1 07:37:19 PST 2009 -->

[andyg...@aol.com]

LOL..that reminds me of the Burn Notice episode where they taped a bunch of lasers together to take out security cams.

-----Original Message-----
From: ed <ber...@netaxs.com>
To: tscm-...@googlegroups.com

[sean]

Having owned an opticon device for a couple months now, I would
imagine the risk of an accident caused by use of the device to be
almost none.
It merely acts as something like an accelerated crosswalk button,
where instead of a usual delay, all other directions are presented a
standard timed yellow light, and after a few seconds ( maybe 10-12 I'm
guessing) your travel lane and any left arrow gets a green.
The great advance distances involve necessitate the super strong
strobe.
I can't imagine a scenario where to emergency personnel are going to
not see each other as they approach the intersection and cause an
accident.
It doesn't work on every light at every intersection, either. And I
using it each and every day in my vehicle would likely draw some
curious suspicion to any law enforcement officers who's commmute
coincides with mine and surely bring about a time-robbing
investigative vehicle stop using some obscure probable cause.

[sean]

Chance of causing an accident by using the opticom is about the same
as a pedestrian pressing the crosswalk button, since they work in a
similar fashion. The opticom is basically an accelerated crosswalk
button for your travel lane and any left turn lane. Yellows for cross
traffic remain in place, there is no sudden change from green to red.
Responders using them frequently enter intersections from different
directions and no conflict should arise that would cause a seasoned
emergency responder driver to collide with another.
Not every intersection is equipped and some use different technology
Mine isn't always in use. It's not a low profile device, quite bulky,
and requires conspicuous placement to work properly as that very
powerful beam needs to hit the device while your still quite a
distance away. Also surely some LEOs curiosity may be peaked when
your vehicle routinely causes a shorter light cycle than they are
accustomed to at familiar intersections, resulting in a time consuming
vehicle stop by a curious officer using some oddball PC to pull you
over to investigate.