Pranks using speed cameras in MoCo, MD

[CmdrWilkens]

Regarding the OP, I wouldn't want to be any one of those teens if caught doing that shit. Falsifying license plates is a crime, though I don't know severity. Bad enough in itself and likely something the authorities are not going to really appreciate.

But it's the other stuff. Conspiracy to frame people for a crime they did not commit and then actually carrying it out, which results in the framed person getting a criminal record and resulting in financial damage (increased insurance fees, possible denial of insurance, possible loss of driver's license etc) sounds like being right up there in felony territory to me. And if caught, the fake license plates idnetify the target, leaving the perps open to full scale retaliation in civil court as well as the criminal one. So anyone who gets caught doing that shit is likely to get fucked up, down and sideways without lube and they will deserve every bit of it.

Just falsifying your plates, in MD where this is taking place, is a $500 fine plus points on the license and possibly limited jail time (30 days or less IIRC). I don't know if copying another person's plate is yet any specific fine but I could easily see it going to a lawsuit for defamantion...and I think any judge and jury a decent prosecutor could assemble would not be lenient with a preppy high school kid and his parents. In other words these kids are just BEGGING for somebody to come after them with the lawsuit gimmick and permanently ruin their futures after bankrupting their parents and putting college out of reach.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Counterfieting possibly?

[Tsyroc]

One of my co-workers just got notification in the mail that she was caught speeding by one of those red light cameras.

The cutoff is 10 mph over the posted speed limit. I think she was doing around 13 mph over.

[JointStrikeFighter]

One of my co-workers just got notification in the mail that she was caught speeding by one of those red light cameras.

The cutoff is 10 mph over the posted speed limit. I think she was doing around 13 mph over.

Ps that means she was FUCKING SPEEDING. 13km/h is what? 20km/h. Thats prbly 25% AT LEAST over the speedlimit. Here in AU speed cameras go off at 5km ove rthe limit. Thats right 3mph

[Tsyroc]

One of my co-workers just got notification in the mail that she was caught speeding by one of those red light cameras.

The cutoff is 10 mph over the posted speed limit. I think she was doing around 13 mph over.

Ps that means she was FUCKING SPEEDING. 13km/h is what? 20km/h. Thats prbly 25% AT LEAST over the speedlimit. Here in AU speed cameras go off at 5km ove rthe limit. Thats right 3mph

The speed limit is supposedly 40 mph so she must have been doing at least 50 but I think her ticket said 53 mph. So 25% over is about right. She says that she wasn't speeding for the conditions or the road.

I do think she's right in that maybe the speed limit is about 5 mph lower than it probably should be at that intersection but she would have still been speeding regardless. Anyway, she's about 2 months shy of being able to go to the defensive driving class again so technically she should be stuck paying the fine and taking the points hit on her license. Since she just had her insurance go down because some points had dropped off of her license she's come up with what I consider a rather stupid way to try and avoid paying the fine or getting the points. She's not going to respond to the notice they mailed her and she's going to make sure that no one at her house opens the door to allow the court papers to be served. The way she's interpreting things is that these camera based tickets go away if you don't respond or if the court can't serve you. Incidentally, if they have to send a process server to deliver the ticket you get tagged with an extra $50 fee to go along with your fine.

I think she's just asking for trouble. Obviously she tends to speed and I'm just waiting for her to get arrested the next time she's caught speeding by an actual officer because there will be a bench warrant for her for the photo ticket, or better yet she might just end up getting her license suspended. That should be fun. I don't know why she's risking this. She's a pharmacist so she makes enough money to be paying the fine and the extra insurance cost. I suppose she could be embarrassed that someone at home might see that their insurance went up again but she hasn't said anything that specific.

[JointStrikeFighter]

Amusingly she could probably just pay someone $100 to take the points for her thus saving her insurance.

[Tsyroc]

Amusingly she could probably just pay someone $100 to take the points for her thus saving her insurance.

I wasn't aware of the points being transferrable.


They do have a picture of her driving the vehicle when it was caught speeding so she'd have a difficult time arguing that it wasn't her.

[JointStrikeFighter]

Amusingly she could probably just pay someone $100 to take the points for her thus saving her insurance.

I wasn't aware of the points being transferrable.


They do have a picture of her driving the vehicle when it was caught speeding so she'd have a difficult time arguing that it wasn't her.

Ah didn't realise your speed cameras took a photo of the driver as well.

[Phantasee]

Amusingly she could probably just pay someone $100 to take the points for her thus saving her insurance.

I wasn't aware of the points being transferrable.


They do have a picture of her driving the vehicle when it was caught speeding so she'd have a difficult time arguing that it wasn't her.

Ah didn't realise your speed cameras took a photo of the driver as well.

They usually don't. I know I got caught by one a long time ago that caught me very clearly, but that was the only time. Usually whatever vehicle I'm driving has tinted windows in the back (I have a distinctively shaped head, so that's why I knew it was me). And I've seen a lot of photo radar tickets (I had to deal with my cousin's tickets that one summer I worked for him, it was his tickets, his sister's tickets, and my other cousin's (he worked with me). Oh, and his mother's tickets. The only people who didn't get any were his father and his younger brother. Even I got one that summer.)

[LapsedPacifist]

The way to handle it is to pay the ticket. If that doesn't appeal to her, then get a lawyer who specializes in speeding tickets to fight it.

LP

[Tsyroc]

Amusingly she could probably just pay someone $100 to take the points for her thus saving her insurance.

I wasn't aware of the points being transferrable.


They do have a picture of her driving the vehicle when it was caught speeding so she'd have a difficult time arguing that it wasn't her.

Ah didn't realise your speed cameras took a photo of the driver as well.

I was a bit surprised as well but she said that there was a photo of her in the car. I should have asked her to show me the video. Assuming that the cameras are good enough to get video of speeders too.

The Phoenix area, especially around Scottsdale, has dedicated speed enforcement cameras. Those definitely take the person's picture but those are set up along the highway and Interstate, not at intersections.

[Glocksman]

One of my co-workers just got notification in the mail that she was caught speeding by one of those red light cameras.

The cutoff is 10 mph over the posted speed limit. I think she was doing around 13 mph over.

Ps that means she was FUCKING SPEEDING. 13km/h is what? 20km/h. Thats prbly 25% AT LEAST over the speedlimit. Here in AU speed cameras go off at 5km ove rthe limit. Thats right 3mph

Several years ago I was in traffic court because I got busted for doing 40mph in a 30 zone (guilty) and the woman whose case was called before mine had been ticketed for doing 4mph over the 40 limit where she was at.

The judge dismissed her ticket with the comment that 'my speedometer is probably off by more than 4 miles per hour'.
Personally I don't doubt it, as my own speedo registers 40 when I'm doing 36 according to the GPS built into my blackberry.

IMHO a camera going off at 10MPH over the limit is reasonable, but given the inherent inaccuracy involved in mechanical speedometers (tire size variations being a big factor), a 3 MPH limit is just bullshit and exists purely to raise revenue and not to increase safety.

[dragon]

Here in Germany the camera not only takes a pic of your plate but is angled so it gets a pic of the driver as well. This way if you say it wasn't you they can look at the pic. And since it's against the law to have a tinted windshield its easy for them to get your face in the pic.

That happened to my wife when she was younger her dad was driving and when the ticket showed up he claimed she was driving but upon examination of the pic you could tell he was driving and not her. He lost his license for a full month .

[Phantasee]

Ah, front side license plates. I'm glad we don't have those in Alberta.