Quote from: dohabee on May 30, 2009, 08:33:49 AM
Just get one of these www.flipaplate.com

Huh, I might just get that.

Not for the reasons discussed here (I don't think we have these cameras in NY/CT yet) but that's some pretty good security for license plate theft! (Already had mine stolen once).

I know some guys  use them to avoid paying on toll roads, but we don't have speed cameras around me in Texas yet.

Another tactic I have seen that made me LOL is when going through the toll tag lane on the toll road  cover your plate with one hand while flipping the bird.

I went on a cruise with about 100 sport bikes in dallas a few weeks ago and at least 10 or 20 guys used that trick.

Quote from: respite on May 28, 2009, 01:02:32 PM
Those things are everywhere in hollywood. There is an intersection where they consistently flash at me while making legal left hand turns. Luckily i have not received any unwarranted citations to contest. From what I've read they are not 100% automated. There is person who reviews the photo and video before issuing the ticket. There was another article in the la times which officials estimate more than 80% of the tickets go to rolling stops on right hand turns, not running red lights.

Id say as long as your not running red lights, just watch the rolling stops.

Too bad we are turning into a surveillance state. I can see us catching up with Britain in the next 20 years.

California law says you have to have a picture that contains both the driver's face and front license plate, which is why cops have become so hardcore about front license plates lately. I have no idea how this works for motorcycles. I imagine that it isn't possible to get a red light ticket if you're wearing a full face helmet. The constitution allows you to refuse to incriminate yourself by identifying a picture of you, and if they don't have your face, I think they've got no way to positively identify you. Not that I'd want to run red lights around here, I'm too afraid of someone else also running the light and killing me...

I don't think anyone is intending to run red lights.  The issue, or at least the issue I have, is that these are being installed to prevent accidents, they're there to make the municipality some money.  What makes it even worse is that a private company is running and maintaining them and issuing the tickets and more tickets=more money for them, which is bullshit.

Quote from: qwertydude on May 28, 2009, 05:41:25 PM
There have been documented cases also where intersections which have had these cameras installed where they've shortened the yellow light time. Just in the city next to me a newspaper article was written that said yellows were shortened from 4 seconds down to 3.5 seconds, sneaky bastards the yellows are set to allow safe stopping from the posted speed limit you can't just arbitrarily change the yellow time without causing safety issues. The only reason for this was to let more people get caught on blasting through the red. More yellow time allows people to safely stop whereas if the yellow is short you do have more people slamming on the brakes and possibly causing accidents cause of the camera paranoia.

Pardon for the following tangent on yellow time, traffic piques my interest. As part of the college education (in Orlando when all the camera idiocy started in 07 or 08, conveniently), my transportation engineering class taught us how to time lights the old fashioned way with set times for each cycle, not withstanding the fact that most lights now having in-road sensors (actuated signals) inputting/processing raw info directly. 3sec was the recommended minimum default time for the yellow cycle, however, yellow is tied to posted speed. However, most lights are *also* timed with an "all-red" 1 sec time. -All-red being when signals for entire intersection is red.- So you'd actually have 4 sec effective to get through the intersection "safely". Actuated intersections would still have set yellow and red times.

http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/Publications/signal_timing/04.htm <-- Basic signal timing, very interesting. Keep in mind that for states with a higher elderly population (FLORIDA), they may adjust reaction time to account for the increase in average driver age or deacceleration speed for roads with a significantly higher truck percentage. This is also an excellent resource page if you think your local lights are being timed unsafely.

However, this was all "theory" we were taught. I know for a fact there are quite a few lights in good ol' Otown (especially near the college) WITHOUT all-red. Stupid? Extremely. The lights in your town may have originally been timed conservately, and then adjusted later. Perhaps not fair to the daily intersection user, but perhaps allowable by sound engineering recommendation.

Also, if I remember my class correctly, a LONGER yellow can actually cause MORE people to run the light. I can't recall the reasoning behind this though. I would rather see lights timed with a longer ALL-RED vs. a longer yellow.

Orlando's issues with the camera came up because of the extrememly LARGE number of red runners causing accidents. The college was also experimenting with placement of solid bars (2-3' in width) at calculated distances before the interections as a visual point for drivers to determine if they would make it safely, i.e. if traveling the road at the posted speed and had crossed the bar as/before the light turned yellow, maintaining posted speed would allow safe passage of the intersection. I'm not sure what the study ultimately concluded, but it sounded like a great idea and I hope it gets used.

Now, I don't like the idea of a camera being able to write me a ticket. But - I have been waiting patiently at too many lights, been given the green, let off the brake and had to STOP due to some idiot running a RED RED.

For the blocker spray, just don't run the RED. Unless the person on the back of your bike is in labor and you are in transit to the hospital, I don't see any reasons for running a light on something that should have more than adequete brakes to stop in time, but then again... why a person in labor would be on a motorcycle in transit to the hospital is a whole 'nother can of worms. ^_^

Quote from: cstilt on May 28, 2009, 01:30:10 PM
You could do a wheelie through every intersection so your plate is facing down.
Oh, and be sure to flip off the camera while you do it.

LOL!  And yes...red light cameras only cause you to break things.

Best solution I found was mounting your plate a little lower and bending it to follow the profile of the tail.  Cops can read it, but cameras can't.

Here in AZ if you are wearing a full face helmet they don't send you the tickets.  +1 for a tinted visor.

what do you mean bend it to fit the profile?

I'm not sure if anyone has brought this up yet....

But THE best way to beat those....



DON'T RUN THE LIGHT!!!  Plain and Simple.

Quote from: dohabee on May 30, 2009, 08:33:49 AM
Just get one of these www.flipaplate.com

That reminded me of this product: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.16963

This is why they aren't working but yet they say they are. http://www.wftv.com/video/19626959/

Also, this is why I wait a second or two on the green! THIS HAPPENS ALL THE TIME! It almost seems as if it is in reverse you go on red and stop on green. Which is how I got in my accident the car in front of me slammed his brakes on at a green light! Of course ,one of my friends (i know bad sterotyping) he said "it takes them a few seconds to translate it!"

These people are not going to pay the fines. Only thing that will stop them is some time in jail!

Mary.

PS can we just shoot David Maus. OMG I hate his commercials!

The thing that really irritates me about the potential for this is the fact that actuated signals often dont' pick up the bike.  You'll be sitting there FOREVER.  Some states have laws that allow you to proceed through the light after a certrain period of time, if its clear and all, but Florida isn't one of them.

Having said that, the only time I've intentionally run a red is the above situation, and it was after sitting for long enough to have roots growing around my wheels.

With the cameras, it would certainly bring this to a halt.

Quote from: jdw03n on June 08, 2009, 05:27:42 AM
The thing that really irritates me about the potential for this is the fact that actuated signals often dont' pick up the bike.  You'll be sitting there FOREVER.  Some states have laws that allow you to proceed through the light after a certrain period of time, if its clear and all, but Florida isn't one of them.

Try this http://science.discovery.com/videos/brink-home-with-kip-kay-green-means-go.html

Quote from: dohabee on June 03, 2009, 01:58:25 PM
I know some guys  use them to avoid paying on toll roads, but we don't have speed cameras around me in Texas yet.

Another tactic I have seen that made me LOL is when going through the toll tag lane on the toll road  cover your plate with one hand while flipping the bird.

I went on a cruise with about 100 sport bikes in dallas a few weeks ago and at least 10 or 20 guys used that trick.

They must have pretty long arms!

The time is coming my friends... the time when all forms of fun will be illegal or restricted, taxed, and monitored by state employees with their pants around their ankles.. our world will be a giant peep show for the sickest individuals in our society, the bureaucrats.