Anonymous wrote:I'm not from DC and when I visit I never drive but travel by train or plane. Recently I did drive to DC and got a speeding ticket by mail a few weeks later.

Since I don't ever plan to drive to DC again what will happen if I just ignore the ticket? Will DC MVC contact my state MVC or ????

Thanks,
Herman

Anonymous wrote:Protections under the law:
1.) Do they have to place a sign telling you there is a camera up ahead?
2.) When was the camera last maintenance and was the person testing it qualified?
3.) The camera was it after exiting onto a new highway? Often excessive speed is needed there to ensure ones safety and you would be looking all directions so a flash could cause you potential injury. Emphasis a crash to the rear is almost always fatal or with long lasting whiplash.
4.) Were there other vehicles in the photo?
5.) Was it raining?
6.) Would repainting your car be cheaper than paying the ticket? Tell them the plates may have been forged because after all that is a possibility in any situation and forging is generally a term related to metal working.
7.) Is there a second lane with a dotted line that you could perhaps be merging in to. Perhaps you were speeding up to pass another vehicle.

As to the feeble minded, apathetic and ignoring members that seek to attack thought rather than think towards a solution. If you don't like living in a nation of rebels in a democracy that dwells on the belief of constructive criticism I suggest you get your gung ho carebear patriotic ass out of here. Here we acknowledge natural rights of all man kind and we only give them up in exchange for our mutual benefit. In short... kiss my ass.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:those of you who are naive or stupid enough to say quaint things like "don't speed = no ticket" are utterly clueless about the vagaries of radar, calibration, etc.

Ever see the test in which radar clocked a stationary tree going faster than the speed limit?

I didn't think so ....

Oh please, that was decades ago and the speed cameras are operating from a fixed position aimed down at one spot on the road. You are dreaming if you think those speed cameras are catching a tree blowing in the wind.

the physics principles etc. behind those false readings are just as applicable today, IIRC those readings were also fixed readings, not moving.

the point is that the technology is still highly susceptible to error, first; and second, these cameras are pure income generators and do nothing to get bad drivers off the road at the time of the violation (since no one is stopped), nor will they result in license supensions.

they're simply disguised tax collectors ...

No they aren't, and there are so many reasons you are wrong.

#1 a fixed position camera can be aimed so that it does not have trees waving in its field of vision. The setup is much more reliable than a cop aiming a gun at the top of a hill from the window of his car.
#2 radar's reliability decreases with distance, but these speed cameras in urban areas are a few hundred feet away, not 1/2 mile off.
#3 The technology they are using is usually Ka band with photo. The photo camera is aimed at a fixed position, and the detector is aimed at exactly the same spot. Sometimes there are even road sensors.
#4 They keep maintenance logs and to mount a defense you would have to subpoena the logs and find fault with them, or else you will find it hard to argue for inaccuracy.

This is why the only defense with some chance of success is that the picture is too blurry to identify you, and gosh you don't know who was driving your car that day. You can throw a hail mary and tell them it was raining, but they are going to ignore that.

If you don't believe me, google photo radar defense. The suggestions for defense are laughable.

What's laughable is your Johnny Appleseed fixation on trees.... the point is that there can be radar error for any number of reasons yet you are obsessed with the waving tree theory.

But yes, you are also right to mention the calibration and maintenance logs and anyone who gets a speed camera, as well as anyone who gets a manned unit ticket where they believe the reading is in error, should subpoena the calibration records, the repair records for the unit, as well as the training records for the citing officer.

You would be surprised (as unquestioning a believer as you seem to be) at how often units are not calibrated properly, have spotty repair records, or are operated by officers without the requisite training.

You must work for the city or the speed camera operator from the sound of your sheep-like acceptance that these units are never wrong.