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Comment by 8organicbits | Hacker News Reader

This was shocking to me when I traveled. Worse, traffic stops are a major cause of deaths for officers and drivers. What's the urgency to chase down and ticket traffic infractions when cameras seem extremely effective elsewhere?

[1] https://abc17news.com/news/crime/2022/01/28/numbers-rising-f...

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/06/us-police-ki...

Edit: I've often wondered why someone didn't put a license plate reader at every on/off ramp. You can compute speed from the elapsed time and there's no way to game/avoid/learn the positions of the cameras. Purge readings that don't generate tickets, for privacy. Wouldn't take many cameras.

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This is called an average speed check in the UK and I hate them, you literally can't speed at all

Yes, that's the point.

>I hate them, you literally can't speed at all

What do you think speed limits are for then?

>What do you think speed limits are for then?

In the presence of vulnerable bystanders or users of the road (e.g cyclists on city streets), limit serves as protection against fatal outcomes in case of an error. That's the only case where no one could argue against limit.

Does UK track average speeds in cities? I'm not familiar with their system. But aware that Dutch use it on highways to make everyone miserable. While their east neighbor doesn't have a default limit on highways at all while still having one of the best in the world highway safety record.

> Dutch use it on highways to make everyone miserable.

There's a couple places it's used and the only people it makes miserable are people who speed. Unlike in some places over here the speed limits are generally sensible, speeding above those limits is inherently dangerous.

Speed limits in the UK are a little weird, for example on the North Circular, you can be limited to 40 mph for many miles, on a 4 line wide highway with concrete walls on each side and no pedestrians possible, everyone crawls along. Also on the Westway, my pet peeve, a completely enclosed, raised and straight highway with nothing to hit, you can be stuck at 30 mph. Having spent an hour and a half getting out of London, you immediately hit tiny twisting country roads barely one lane wind, full of blind spots, and they're 70 mph limit. This is why its my pet peeve.

go less fast than the speed limit

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