Autoblog

Red light cameras are nothing more than a surreptitious tax. Oh sure, they're sold to municipalities as a safety benefit, but what else would you say if you wanted to be paid to install, administrate, and monitor your little ticket-writing bots? The cities and towns that put the cameras greedily snap up the extra revenue generated by dangerously short yellow lights and overzealous cameras. Patrick Bedard has been poking holes in the theory that traffic cameras are the salve for behind the wheel idiocy, and a recent study by the University of South Florida Public Health agrees that the cameras actually cause accidents. Other studies also back up the findings that drivers are quicker to slam on their brakes at yellow lights when they spot the cameras. While it should not play out with a rear ending, nobody maintains a safe following distance, or even pays attention. In some cases, the rate of red light running is low enough that the cameras cause a spike in incidents, proving that the cure can sometimes be worse than the sickness.

[Source: Kicking Tires, Photo: Morning Chu Hi]

We've all been tempted to merge into the car pool lane when driving alone in heavy traffic, but either the shame of other motorists seeing you illegally use it or the thought of the police catching you in the act may have kept you honest. Now there's a way to legally use the lane, but it's going to cost you.

Private companies in the Washington D.C. area are considering building separate lanes for fee-paying drivers, but they'll need a method of differentiating paying solo drivers and carpoolers. One option is to install infrared scanners that can detect the number of people in a car. That means anyone thinking they could get away by putting a fake dummy in the passenger seat had better think again.

It's estimated that one out of every five cars using car pool lanes in Virginia has only the driver inside, which has this scanner idea receiving strong support from both authorities and private individuals. Privacy advocates are wary that the scanners could actually identify individuals' faces and be used by the government to monitor a person's movements, but the makers of the system are designing them so that faces are obscured.

[Source: The Wahington Post via Winding Road]

click above image to view new pics of the SSC Ultimate Aero TT's record run

It was made (almost) official last week that Shelby Supercars' Ultimate Aero TT has been crowned the fastest production car in the world by the kind folks at Guinness – after they file the appropriate paperwork. Until now, all we've had are pictures of the 1183 HP, six-liter V8-powered beast looking menacing at speed, but thankfully SSC posted video of the record-breaking run on its site.

It's pure aural bliss, and although the camera work isn't the most compelling, the sound is enough to make you weak in the knees. Click on and enjoy.

Britain's installation of more speed cameras and the swap to digital means they'll catch even more speeders. That's good for the treasury. According to British insurer Swinton, it isn't good for the points system that insurance companies use to set premiums -- there are too many people getting more and more points to make it a useful criteria. So Swinton says it will no longer automatically raise premiums if drivers get points due to speed cameras, saying "points alone can no longer be used as a yardstick for driver evaluation." Currently in Britain, getting 12 points means losing your license. With 6,000 cameras nabbing two million speeders annually, and mobile phone infractions earning three points, Swinton says "a few years ago insurers might have assumed that a motorist with six or more points on their license was a reckless driver, but that is no longer necessarily the case." With the suggestion that drivers with 6 points could be viewed as "standard," six could become the new zero. We can't wait for that kind of sense to make it this way. Allstate? You listening?

[Source: Daily Mail]

Finally, someone's fighting back against the fleecing of the general populace. Famous for liking things big, Texas lawmakers have laid the smackdown on red light and speed cameras in a large manner. HB.922 states "A municipality may not implement or operate an automated traffic control system with respect to a highway under its jurisdiction," which means that cameras, automated radar or laser, or anything else designed to snag an image of a car, driver, or license plate and record its speed is now forbidden. The even larger racket of red-light cameras have had the brakes applied by HB.1052, which requires giving motorists notice of the devices at least 100 feet out.

These bills have passed through the legislature and are awaiting Governor Rick Perry's inscription. If the measures do make it into law, we hope that other states follow suit. Ticketing egregious speeders and actual red-light scofflaws is one thing, but the systems have been calibrated in a cynical manner to generate loads of revenue (and kickbacks) for the companies that sell and administrate the systems for municipalities. Rather than keeping people safe, random ticketing amounts to a tax, and that really sticks in our craw. We're pleased beyond words that Texas has taken up the motorists' cause, and we hope that the new legislation can stand as a precedent.

Thanks for the tip, Dylan!

[Source: caradvice]

You want to be a photographer and herpetologist but haven't found the right camera and nest of vipers at the right price. You also happen to have a car worth about $3,500 Canadian that you want to get rid of. Well there's a man in London, Ontario who's got a deal for you. In return for that car he will give you a Canon Digital Rebel XT camera with accessories . . . and snakes -- with accessories. You can get a full list of hardware, serpentware (including "1.2 Jungle Corns"), and add-ons by following the 'Read' link below. This just bolsters our theories that Canadians actually are just as strange as Americans, and you can find absolutely anything on the Internet. When you see offers like this, it is always best to remember Lord Tennyson: Ours is not to question why. . . .

[Source: Jalopnik]

Bad guys beware, there is new technology that will hunt you down and have you singing the jailhouse blues faster than ever before. Harnessing the power of computers, the ALPR (Automatic License Plate Recognition System) allows police to be far more efficient, by no longer relying on just their sharp set of human eyes to spot suspect vehicles.

There are three cameras fitted to a police vehicle -- marked or unmarked. In the video after the jump, the vehicle is unmarked, and by just driving down the road, every plate from oncoming traffic, and cars on the side of the road (or the next lane), is logged and analyzed. There's also a side-facing camera which comes into play when cruising parking lots. The system can handle up to 3,000 plates a day, and by making it a passive activity, it turns nabbing bad guys into something akin to playing the lottery.

The system can be anywhere and everywhere, from stationary systems to car-mounted mobile units, there is no hiding from the long arm of the law. All an officer needs to do is drive around. With the system keeping an ever-vigilant watch on all the plates and comparing them with a database of suspect plate numbers, police time is freed up, so they can go about protecting and serving. Heck, while on their way to another call, they may just get lucky and pass a vehicle that "hits", turning it into a bonus score for the day.

Thanks for the tip, Dave!

Video after the jump

[Source: mobilemag]

Though the isle of Britain isn't that large in terms of square miles, it still contains 24,000 potential speed traps (about the same number in Ohio, we think). The Rossini Navigator and Camera Spotter is a satellite navigation unit that has each one of those traps plotted on its digital topography and will audibly warn a driver if one is fast approaching. The unit also does the whole door-to-door, turn-by-turn navigation thing, but the addition of such comprehensive camera spotting technology moves it to the head of the class. The distributer of the Rossini Navigator, Car Parts Direct, has also decided to guarantee the device will keep you ticket free in the UK by offering £60 cashback if the device offers no warning of a speed trap and a ticket is issued. Those purchasing the Rossini Nav system will also get free camera updates emailed to them through January of 2009, since most people don't bother to go get updates on thier own when they're made available. The unit costs £399 and is ready to use right out of the box.

[Source: Car Parts Direct]

Researchers in Germany are developing a vehicle safety system that sounds like something straight out of science-fiction.

The door and frame connection of a car is a weak spot in side collisions. After detecting an impending impact via mounted cameras and radar sensors, the experimental German safety system sends out an electric charge to the shape-memory alloy on the door. The alloy expands from the heat, which serves to reinforce the door-frame bond. The researchers are currently testing prototypes and plan to start full test crashes with vehicles in 2008.

[Source: New Scientist Tech via Cars!Cars!Cars!]

You have the opportunity of a lifetime to drive a 400-horsepower CTS-V on a major track at full speed. Or you've rented a Mazda RX-8 for the weekend and have to tackle the twistiest mountain roads to visit your parents in an adjacent state. Ultimately you know, as you start that M5, all you'll have to share with friends and family is just a memory of the driving experience.

Not if Randy Chase has anything to say about it. A former engineering manager for a company that developed security video equipment, he now offers the 'Chase camera', an on-board video recording system hooked to a camera on the hood of a car.

Chase developed the equipment to withstand being within a missile as it flies towards its target. As an amateur sports car driver he adapted the technology to his cars so he could replay his journeys. Other racers saw his videos and clamored for their own.

The Chase camera costs between $500 to $1,200 depending upon the level of recording sophistication desired by the customer. Many buyers simply purchase the camera and cables and hook to their camcorders.

Further information on the camera and order information can be found at the link.

[Source: Detroit News]