Redlight cameras and speed cameras : Is Big Brother going too far?

Originally posted by Capcom
Doesn\'t London use camera\'s to spot people coming into the city? It seems as if I remember seeing that on the Discovery channel.

Ah the London Congestion charge = anther way to fleece the driver

There\'s a dual carriageway through the centre of my town, it\'s a 40mph speed limit but everyone does 50, perfectly safe, never seen an accident on that road. Then they sneaked a few cameras in there, one of them behind a large road sign. I was riding along on the GPz500 at 50mph, in a straight line, half a mile from the next roundabout. I spotted the camera as I was alongside it, sudden reactions set in and I jammed on the brakes, the lovely new road surface thay\'d just put down turned out to be total shit and the bike went completely sideways, I managed to sort it after smacking my chest on the screen and struggling back onto the seat, AT 50MPH!!

Anyway, I was safe where I was, totally safe and the camera caused a reaction that could have really f*cked me. I see it day in day out, cameras for revenue and nothing more. Someone around Hemel Hempstead is now going around spraying the lenses with black paint!!!!

[GmanJoe]

Originally posted by ooseven
Ah the London Congestion charge = anther way to fleece the driver

What? It costs more money to drive to London on top of your already expensive petrol?

£5 per day. If you don\'t pay the cameras will have a pic of you and will send you an £80 fine!!!

[GmanJoe]

Originally posted by Green Meanie
£5 per day. If you don\'t pay the cameras will have a pic of you and will send you an £80 fine!!!

That\'s...uh....discouraging. I guess it\'s not enough that people going into the city are also going to spend money on restaurants and merchandize which they will also be taxed for?

Then there\'s people going around collecting BBC taxes.

Royal family has to eat,  I guess.

And to make things worse the  Television Licence (aka the BBC taxes) has to be one of the most un balanced tax on the planet.

No matter who you are or what situation your in you HAVE to have a Television Licence even if you don\'t use your TV for watching any of the Channels. (includes having a TV just to play games or to watch DVD\'s).

Also you sould read some of the Propaganda that the Television Licence “inspectors” print.

Trust me (and the other Brits here) its like reading a Nazi Pamphlet.

edit

Using television receiving equipment to receive or record broadcast television programmes without the correct licence is a criminal offence.
You could therefore face prosecution and a hefty fine of up to £1,000.

You may be asking yourself \'how will they know if I\'m using a TV without a licence?\' The answer is through a number of different methods.

At the heart of our operation is the TV Licensing database. It has details of over 26 million UK addresses.

Our officers have access to this computer system and a fleet of detector vans and hand-held detectors to track down and prosecute people who use a television without a licence. To find out how effective our methods are click here.

Each year it becomes easier to find and prosecute people breaking the law in this way.

So please be aware:

 
 Using a television without an appropriate licence is a criminal offence.
 Every day we catch an average of 1,200 people using a TV without a licence.

 
There is no valid excuse for using a television and not having a TV Licence, but some people still try - sometimes with the most ridiculous stories ever heard. To read some of our favourites click here.

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Get caught without a TV Licence and you could face prosecution and a fine of up to £1,000
 
The great thing about being at college is that you\'re always meeting lots of new people from all sorts of interesting backgrounds.
 
Unless, of course the visitor is a TV Licensing officer.
 
If you\'re using a television set at university or college, or anything else to receive or record television programme services (such as video recorders, set-top boxes or PCs with broadcast cards) without a valid TV Licence then you could be prosecuted and fined - which could make your days at college a lot less fun than they should be.
 
To avoid this happening you need to be aware of the following facts of TV Licensing:
 
 A colour TV Licence currently costs £116, a black and white licence is £38.50.
 
 If you live in halls of residence and use a TV in your own room, you need your own separate TV Licence.
 
 You also need your own licence if you are sharing a house with other students and use a TV in your room, and your room is a separately occupied place (a separate tenancy agreement would normally indicate that this is the case).
 
 However, if you have a separate tenancy agreement but a television is only being used in a communal area, then only one licence is required.
 
 Equally, if you are sharing a house with other students and you use a TV in your own room but the house can be treated as one place shared by all, then only one TV Licence is required (a joint tenancy agreement would usually be evidence that the house is a single licensable place for this purpose).
 
 Your parents\' licence will not cover you away from home*

* A TV set powered by its own internal batteries - a pocket sized TV for example - may be covered by a licence at your parents\' address. If you\'re in doubt, please call 0870 241 5973.  
 
Would you like cashback?
 
Did you know you could be entitled to a substantial refund on your licence fee?
 
We understand that most students do not need the final 3 months of their TV Licence as they leave the campus during the summer. Provided you don\'t need your licence again before it expires, you can claim for any completely unused quarters (three consecutive calendar months, e.g. July, August and September).
 
Most students would therefore need to buy a TV Licence at the beginning of term in October in order to allow enough time at the end of the term year to qualify for a refund. But remember to get your licence as soon as you need it, because leaving it late could prove very costly.
 
For further information, please call 0870 241 5973. To find out about the many ways you can pay for your TV Licence, including the ease of paying by Direct Debit, please click here.

To pay online now, click here

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Just don\'t speed or run a red light.  Problem solved.

[GmanJoe]

Originally posted by THX
Just don\'t speed or run a red light.  Problem solved.

You drive 55 in the highway? Liar!

Originally posted by GmanJoe
You drive 55 in the highway? Liar!

Ouch, only a brief area of interstate around here is 55, right going through downtown.  Everything else is 65.

[Living-In-Clip]

Well, I\'ll get a ticket as I very rarely go under 75.

What safety benefits do red light cameras provide? They\'ve been shown to reduce red light violations and intersection crashes. A study in Oxnard, California, shows that red light running violations across the city dropped a total of 42 percent after cameras were introduced at only nine intersections. Significant citywide crash reductions followed the introduction of red light cameras. Injury crashes at intersections with traffic signals in Oxnard were reduced 29 percent after the camera program began. Front-into-side collisions -- the crash type most closely associated with red light running -- were reduced 32 percent overall, and front-into-side crashes involving injuries were reduced 68 percent. Another study showed violations declined about 40 percent in Fairfax, Virginia, after one year of camera enforcement. A recent Institute review of international red light camera studies concluded that cameras reduce red light violations by 40–50 percent and reduce injury crashes by 25-30 percent.