Doubled fines and freeway speed cameras could help balance the Colorado state budget.
Colorado lawmakers are looking to the highway patrol to assist efforts to balance the state budget. Earlier this month a state legislative panel unanimously approved a proposal to more than double the cost of speeding tickets and other minor traffic infractions. Colorado Legislative Council staff estimated the change could generate more than $14.7 million in extra revenue from the 208,000 motorists who receive traffic tickets annually, with the state only paying a one-time cost of $33,600 to reprogram court computers with the higher fine amounts.
State House Transportation Committee Chairman Buffie McFadyen (D-Pueblo West) introduced the fine legislation as well as a second measure that would make “work zone” speed traps mandatory. Under the proposal, photo radar would generate automated citations from speeding drivers and a “move over” provision would be used to cite the motorists who are not speeding.
I don’t know WHAT this cop’s problem was. He was WAY to aggressive and impatient. The driver was tasered because he didn’t react with lightning speed? The cop even smacked the driver with the door as he was getting out of the car!
THIS is a reason you don’t want to get pulled over by police.
Think these are binoculars? Look again – it’s actually a speed gun.
Drivers beware! While this device is the smallest speed trap in the world, it certainly packs a mighty punch. Thanks to clever technology, it can pinpoint speeders on busy motorways, or even in bad weather. Called the SpeedLaserB, it fits snugly in the palm and is designed to be no harder to use than a pair of binoculars.
Developed in the US, the compact piece of kit can register speeds of up to 200mph and takes three-tenths of a second to calculate how fast a car is travelling. It uses laser technology to pinpoint specific vehicles on a busy road.
The speed is then flashed up on an LCD head-up display. Obstruction mode allows the lasers to function in heavy rain, fog and snow, or even through the windows of a patrol car.
Police raise threshold for traffic tickets near speed cameras on Watkins Mill Road
To squelch perceptions of a speed trap, Gaithersburg, MD officials have recommended raising the speed limit on a half-mile section of Watkins Mill Road so that the speed is consistent with the rest of the road.The speed limit on the half-mile, city-owned section is 25 mph, while the speed limit for the rest of the road, which is owned by the county, is 35 mph.
City Police Chief John King adjusted the threshold in which a ticket will be issued to speeders caught on camera.
Problems with the set speed limit “didn’t come to light until we put in the fixed speed cameras, and we started getting letters of complaint, which suggested that it was a speed trap,” King said.
In a Feb. 12 letter, the city’s public works department advised Mayor Sidney A. Katz and the City Council that they should raise the speed limit along the city’s section of the road from 25 to 35 mph and extend Watkins Mill Elementary School’s school zone. No date has yet been set for the items review.
Since the city’s Safe Speed Photo Enforcement Program debuted in the fall, officials have received complaints about the 25 mph speed limit posted.
The Federal Communications Commission is investigating whether neighborhood radar speed traps violate federal regulations.
The Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement Bureau is investigating whether violate federal regulations. The agency began its inquiry in February when Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) decided to ask for FCC guidance after it had already encouraged elderly residents for more than a year to use radar guns to track the driving habits of neighbors.
“I don’t quite understand why they would offer to train us, buy us signs, encourage us to report to them on a weekly basis and then report us to the FCC,” said James Roberts, the subject of an FCC complaint initiated by CMPD.
Roberts had been using a Bushnell Velocity Speed Gun to monitor traffic in his area. Although this inexpensive K-Band radar unit is exempt from FCC licensing requirements, its manual warns that improper usage “may cause harmful interference to radio communications.” It is unlikely that Roberts violated any rule or faces any sanction for use of the low-powered gun.
Under the Communications Act, the FCC does not generally have the ability to fine someone who does not hold a license without first issuing a warning. Penalties for licensees can run up to $11,000 for each violation, or each day of a continuing violation. Most police radar guns do require a license to operate because they use higher power levels. The department may face questioning if it loaned equipment requiring a license to uncertified users.
Roberts will not operate his radar gun while the inquiry is pending.
Colorado lawmakers are looking to the highway patrol to assist efforts to balance the state budget. Earlier this month a state legislative panel unanimously approved a proposal to more than double the cost of speeding tickets and other minor traffic infractions. Colorado Legislative Council staff estimated the change could generate more than $14.7 million in extra revenue from the 208,000 motorists who receive traffic tickets annually, with the state only paying a one-time cost of $33,600 to reprogram court computers with the higher fine amounts.
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Drivers beware! While this device is the smallest speed trap in the world, it certainly packs a mighty punch. Thanks to clever technology, it can pinpoint speeders on busy motorways, or even in bad weather. Called the SpeedLaserB, it fits snugly in the palm and is designed to be no harder to use than a pair of binoculars.
To squelch perceptions of a speed trap, Gaithersburg, MD officials have recommended raising the speed limit on a half-mile section of Watkins Mill Road so that the speed is consistent with the rest of the road.The speed limit on the half-mile, city-owned section is 25 mph, while the speed limit for the rest of the road, which is owned by the county, is 35 mph.
The Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement Bureau is investigating whether violate federal regulations. The agency began its inquiry in February when Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) decided to ask for FCC guidance after it had already encouraged elderly residents for more than a year to use radar guns to track the driving habits of neighbors.