Hidden Radar Traps & Speeding

I started replying to a post from Earthworm in the thread: "Every member please check in here!" in General SVX Babble. Then I thought to myself that I should add some pics of actual hidden German radar traps that you might err... enjoy. But then it seemed like I was going waaaaay off topic, so here it is in a new thread....

Originally Posted by Earthworm

That sucks. I've met cops while indicating 20kph over the limit and nothing. In fact I've never had a speeding ticket. (must be the stealth feature on the SVX).

Yeah.... I never had a speeding ticket in my life until we moved to Germany. Then I got two almost right away. (No points, just small fines. )

The second one was a bit of a joke. I got "caught" by a portable hidden radar camera doing 78km/h (48.5mph) in a 70km/h (43.5mph) zone. The tolerance was set to 3km (1.9mph), so officially I was 5 km (3.1mph) over the limit. Was fined 10 euro, about $12 US ... no points. They have those radar traps all over the darned place!


typical hidden radar trap set-up


we have a "tree stump" near where I live. It isn't always there, maybe a few days every month.


These come out on garbage pickup days.

[subeman90]

are those setups photo radar or is there a cop down the road wating to get you?

[Matthewmongan]

ok. i got a q for ya. i was driving down rt 50 (a four lane high way with a 20 foot median) and a school bus made a u ture infront of me and turned on its yellow lights, when i was about a car length or two away the red lights came on. as i was going about 50mph their was no way i could stop and a cop darted out from the road the buss stoped on and pulled me and several cars over for passing a schoolbus. i have seen maybe 5 busses stop on highways before and never once have i seen one use the red lights. its a 450$ fine, not only that but when i tried to explain to the cop that the average stoping distance for a car traveling 50mph in wet weather is in excess of 150 feet he told me not to talk and he had a picture if i wanted to see it. now im thinking, where he was sitting the bus was between me and him so he could only get a pic of me behind the bus and/or infront of the bus. did he take the picture when the red bus lights came on, shortly after or what. its one of those things where i couldnt stop, what do they want us to do, defy the laws of physiscs?

QUOTE from Subeman90
are those setups photo radar or is there a cop down the road wating to get you?[/QUOTE]

Most radar traps in Germany are permanent and unmanned. You only know you got caught by the bright flash. And sometimes you don't notice it at all, given certain sunny conditions and light flashing off other cars. There have been quite a few times when I thought "oh..oh...was that a "blitz"? (flash)" when it wasn't. There is usually a warning sign when entering a town that has a permanent camera, so if you pay attention you have ample notice to slow down and shouldn't get "blitzed".


Similar permanent cameras mounted on poles are also used to watch intersections for cars running red lights.

A week or two later you get a notice in the mail, with all the details of what when etc. At that point you can choose to simply pay the fine, or ask for them to send you the photo. Once you have the photo, you can again choose to simply pay the fine or else fight it. Be warned, fighting traffic tickets in Germany is NOT easy. Unless your car is stolen, the car owner is usually responsible. (Be careful when lending your car!) But you might be able to have the fine/points reduced if you have a good explanation (recently, rushing a child to hospital was accepted as a good reason by a judge.) Both my fines were so small that I didn't bother wasting time or effort and simply paid them. Small speeding infractions with no points don't affect your insurance or anything else here (assuming you don't gets lots and do pay them promptly). If you don't pay the fine, no matter how small, and ignore the reminder notice, then an actual uniformed cop will show up at your door! (that happened to an acquaintance)

There are also a whole bunch of unmarked cars fitted out with radar cameras. Others have video cameras and are used mostly on the autobahn to measure speed and show proof of dangerous driving. The "best" of the videos are then broadcast on a popular tv show here every week. Lately there's also a bunch of motorcycles (marked and unmarked) also with built in video cameras patrolling the streets and highways.

I received both my speeding tickets in the mail. I believe that is how most people in Germany get notified of simple speeding infractions. On TV, however, I've seen dangerous and idiotic drivers being stopped and "invited" to sit in the unmarked police car and see an instant replay of their rotten driving on video before being issued with a ticket in person. The cops try to follow the driver for a while in hopes of getting several examples on tape of, for example, cutting people off or weaving in and out of traffic or blocking the left passing lane etc. A friend's old aged Aunt got stopped for driving too slow, so they aren't just after speeders. I believe she was going 25km/hr in a 50 zone.

Spotting and reporting both permanent and mobile radar traps has become something of a national pastime here in Germany. Here's an example of a list of known radar camera & video cars: http://www.unicon-gmbh.com/~holz/blitz_fz.html#Blitz

and here's a list of permanent radar cameras in my state of Baden-Württemberg: http://www.unicon-gmbh.com/~holz/bl_bw.html

Radio programs also compete to be the first to announce the locations of newly installed radar cameras, be it permanent or temporary. A favourite trick of the cops is to place a temporary camera just down the road from a known, long-standing permanent one. People slow down to go by the known one, then once they think they are safely past, they speed up and "blitz!" you've got mail!

Stuttgart is a larger city near me with a pop of almost 600,000. I checked a popular radio station web site, and they have 23 speed and red light cameras currently listed just in the city itself. I can also search within 70km (43.5 mile) radius, and get a list of 411 cameras!

QUOTE by Matthewmongan]
ok. i got a q for ya. i was driving down rt 50 (a four lane high way with a 20 foot median) and a school bus made a u ture infront of me and turned on its yellow lights, when i was about a car length or two away the red lights came on. as i was going about 50mph their was no way i could stop and a cop darted out from the road the buss stoped on and pulled me and several cars over for passing a schoolbus. i have seen maybe 5 busses stop on highways before and never once have i seen one use the red lights. its a 450$ fine, not only that but when i tried to explain to the cop that the average stoping distance for a car traveling 50mph in wet weather is in excess of 150 feet he told me not to talk and he had a picture if i wanted to see it. now im thinking, where he was sitting the bus was between me and him so he could only get a pic of me behind the bus and/or infront of the bus. did he take the picture when the red bus lights came on, shortly after or what. its one of those things where i couldnt stop, what do they want us to do, defy the laws of physiscs?[/QUOTE]

gosh, are they STILL using school buses for speed traps? That's a classic that was extremely popular in the '50s and '60s. Smaller towns would park a school bus with lights flashing, and ticket people as they lost patience and passed it. Was a great revenue generator.

That kind of ticket, or one like yours, I would fight to the bitter end.

You might be interested in checking out http://www.speedtrap.org/ to see if your location is listed as a known speed trap area.

[svxfiles]

Good morning, Matthew,
Go to your library, look in the
Maryland Motor Vehicle Law,Annotated Book,
look up vehicle law #21706,
go to the exceptions...

If it was a divided highway, and the bus with the red flashing lights, was on the "other roadway", you don't have to stop!




Looking forward to your new signature, BS ticket fixed by svxfiles!
Good luck.

[Matthewmongan]

no can do tom, we were on the same road. still a pita ticket.

[svxfiles]

Oh,
Well, you have nothing to lose by telling your side of the story to the Judge.
Maybe the nice policeman won't show? Good Luck.

[Matthewmongan]

that cop better bring his A game because im rolling hard on his amendment violating arse.

[Mr. Bill]

Same thing happened to me in Virginia Beach. Just as I was approaching the school bus, the driver flipped on the "reds" but she waved to me to go on by (as if I could have stopped anyway). As I passed the bus, smokey came out of the brush with his lights flashing. He didn't want to believe the part about her waving me on ... but he did let me go.

Maybe the driver waved you on by, are you sure you didn't see it?

[Matthewmongan]

the man is just keeping us down.

[b3lha]

Speed cameras are becoming a real nuisance in Britain. Our little island is flooded with them. The cops have outsourced the running of them to private companies that earn a commision for each ticket they issue. So obviously it's in their interest to issue as many tickets as possible.

A road safety group http://www.safespeed.org.uk has done some research and discovered that accident rates were declining each year until the introduction of these cameras, but now they are increasing each year.

I can believe it too because I've seen an accident caused by a speed camera, right outside my house. A motorcyclist travelling at a safe (but not legal) speed, hit the brakes hard when he saw the speed camera. His girlfriend on the back of the bike was unprepared for this and fell off. She slid a fair distance along the road, and was seriously injured.

I personally think that nobody should be prosecuted if they are driving safely. The maximum safe speed to drive at is determined by many factors such as the weather, road condition, vehicle and driver skill. Why should it be a crime to exceed an arbitrary number on a signpost has no relation to road safety
?