Anonymous wrote:OP I live in DC and I hear you. I think it's ridiculous and, while people on this site will never admit it, the fines are excessive.

They aren't excessive. TIf the price was lower, OP would keep on speeding. The fine was just big enough to cause the OP to change her behavior, on the second ticket. Any less and she would keep on barreling through DC because as she admits, she does not believe the speed limit is set correctly.

With OP's attitude, it's just a matter of time before his appointment with a holding cell 'proctologist.'

Is it possible to make people obey rules by making it fun to do so? This avant-garde notion was actually put into practice by the Swedish National Society for Road Safety in Stockholm, Sweden & Volkswagen who implemented one of the winning ideas of last year's Fun Theory competition.


Fun Theory is full of crowdsourcing entries from people on ways we could change the world for the better. Their recent competition included many insightful concepts, & it also found an entry that attempted to answer this question: Can we get more people to obey the speed limit by making it fun?

The winning entry titled called Speed Camera Lottery was forwarded by Kevin Richardson of USA who suggested a novel way of inspiring people to obey speed limits. The idea uses speed traps to identify speeding vehicles and vehicles driving within the speed limits. Based on reinforcing acceptable behavior, the theory suggests that while speeding vehicles are fined to discourage speeding, vehicles traveling within speed limits should also be rewarded to reinforce and encourage the habit.

The idea so appealed to Swedish National Society for Road Safety in Stockholm & Volkswagen that they tested out the theory by placing strategic cameras which took snapshots of vehicles driving through them.

In the Stockholm demonstration, installed speed cameras showed drivers their speed. It took snapshots of 24,857 cars in three days. The average speed which was 32 km/h before the test reduced to 25 km/h during the test, marking a 22% reduction in speed, thereby making the demonstration a grand success.

According to the theory, while speed tickets will be, as usual, sent to drivers exceeding the speed limit, the ones who obeyed the limit will be pooled into a lottery funded by the fines, and a random winner will be chosen to receive a check containing the lottery winnings.

A survey carried out also suggested that drivers also found the idea appealing: Drive legally = Earn Money.

I don't want to know what happened when they took the lottery away though! Take a look at this color wheel for crowd motivation. Where does this crowd fall?

What's your take. Is this just a stunt? Or does it say something about human motivation? Let us know in the comments.

To 17:07, the OP didn't obey the limits, got caught, fined, and then is upset at the amount of the fine. I don't ever have to worry about the fine being too high, because I don't ever plan on going over the limit. And if I do and get caught I won't complain about the penalty being excessive. It's fine for the OP to not come into DC anymore because she dislikes the steep fines. She never has to worry about getting a speeding ticket in DC again. Problem solved.

I hate the stop light cameras. Why do I have to stop. F you all and stay out of my way.

Anonymous wrote:OP I live in DC and I hear you. I think it's ridiculous and, while people on this site will never admit it, the fines are excessive.

+1, and to all you snotty jerks rabbiting on about obeying laws, we do obey the limits but that doesn't mean we have to like it. You are not the only ones who get to be snarky. So suck it.

Anonymous wrote:OP I live in DC and I hear you. I think it's ridiculous and, while people on this site will never admit it, the fines are excessive.

Why wouldn't we "admit" it? We might just disagree.

OP I live in DC and I hear you. I think it's ridiculous and, while people on this site will never admit it, the fines are excessive.

Speed cameras are there for a reason.

http://www.arlnow.com/2012/10/01/marymount-professor-dies-after-being-struck-by-car-in-d-c/

Funny fact: if you don't speed, you won't get a fine.

I do love these posts.

DC will be just fine without your business.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC fines are $75 for 1-10 miles over, $125 for 11-15 miles, $150 for 16-20, $200 for 21-25, and $250 for 26-30. In Maryland, the fine is $40.

The MD fine is too low.

So OP was going 11-15 over and 16-20 over on streets that probably had a limit of 25 or 30.

The fines do not seem excessive to me.

PP here - there is no effing reason why you should crawl along at 30 miles/hour on most stretches of North Cap. I used to drive this stretch often and avoid it like the plague now. MD is being similarly opportunistic, IMO.

There are roads in VA and MD with limits that seem too low to me too. I still drive the limit and expect a ticket if I don't.

not unique to DC
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/traffic/red-light-cameras-fall-short-of-profits-for-palm-b/nSQR8/

Whether you agree or disagree that the posted speed limit is too slow, it's still the limit and if you go over it and get caught, you get a fine. Not sure what the problem is here. Just obey the speed limit. Whenever I'm in those areas that I know are slower than what I think most traffic moves at, I put my cruise control on that limit and just deal with it. I don't have an extra $100 to give not to mention time wasted while they are processing me, so I suck it up and just do the speed limit. Easy solution.

Anonymous wrote:Speed limit was set too low?

Gee, wouldn't it be lovely if I could ignore any law if I thought it was unreasonable.

Absolutely - the metro fare is too high - I'm jumping the fare gate this afternoon. Who's with me!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And the streets of DC just got a little safer.

Shut up and pay. Being unable to schedule your day well is not an excuse for putting lives and property in danger.

B___ S___! The fines are nothing more than money generating mechanisms. No one's life was even remotely at risk.

I live in DC and I agree. North Capitol Street is basically a highway and, north of Rhode Island, there is NO REASON to drive as slowly as their posted limit. It's ridiculous. Ditto the stretch on Military between Georgia Ave and St. John's High School.

Re: Military - deer are everywhere here. I'd be very careful!