I love speed camera discourse. Here's my take: -reducing police interactions: huge, huge good -calm traffic: huge good -possible strategic placement to exploit bad road design: bad, infuriating *boo, hiss* -racist/classist placement in poorer areas: straight-up perpetuation of exploitation, evil - ThreadSky

kjephd.bsky.social • 5 days ago

I love speed camera discourse. Here's my take:
-reducing police interactions: huge, huge good
-calm traffic: huge good

-possible strategic placement to exploit bad road design: bad, infuriating *boo, hiss*
-racist/classist placement in poorer areas: straight-up perpetuation of exploitation, evil

Reposted from George Pearkes

"Speeding cameras are for revenue generation"

Oh so they nab people when they're below the speed limit?

"Well, no."

Hmm okay so....?

Comments

reuning.bsky.social•5 days ago

- use them to track movement of undocumented individuals https://www.404media.co/ice-taps-into-nationwide-ai-enabled-camera-network-data-shows/

kjephd.bsky.social•5 days ago

-big advance in capacity of surveillance state/capitalism: very bad, especially right now
-incentivizes flagrant illegality in shielding license plates: small bad, but adds to powerful trend toward impunity & lawlessness among key groups

e1b.bsky.social•5 days ago

too reasonable, not allowed on this app

kjephd.bsky.social•5 days ago

I'm a rebel

nighthawkdanger.bsky.social•5 days ago

Also good if combined with additions to road design that encourage slower driving and protection of pedestrians and bicyclists

kjephd.bsky.social•5 days ago

Takeaway: speed cameras are a great idea, strictly conditional on not being placed in ways that reproduce existing patterns of social exploitation nor that take unfair advantage of longstanding fixtures of road design that encourage speeds in excess of the posted limit.

jarekfa.bsky.social•5 days ago

Sure but what's unsaid is that if there isn't political will to design a road to be slower; then you necessarily need to lean in on cams. The cam placement in Chicago caught more low-income residents in part bc the affluent North Side had more political ability to advocate for redesigns.

jarekfa.bsky.social•5 days ago

I received a half dozen speeding cam ticket from driving on the A2 in NL. They only have a 10kmh buffer! I was speeding. But the roads are super smooth and wide. I could've drive 90 mph safely. But everyone [else!] adhered to the speed limit on the road except my ignorant ass.

kjephd.bsky.social•5 days ago

Great point

joi-itos-jibo.bsky.social•5 days ago

I might be over or under thinking here: if you *tried* to reproduce existing patterns of social exploitation using speed cameras, isn’t the only actual end result fewer people speeding? Like the bad thing has not been eliminated, but now people drive safer.

kjephd.bsky.social•5 days ago

If the cameras are only in poor areas, you might get slower speeds and more road safety there, but also there *will* be speeders and they *will* be ticketed, whereas drivers in more affluent areas would be spared that effective tax, at the cost of status quo levels of road safety.

joi-itos-jibo.bsky.social•5 days ago

Isn’t that still, on balance, a positive? What’s the negative (except lack of a positive in affluent areas)?

kjephd.bsky.social•5 days ago

A financial hit to residents of poorer areas, particularly ones that get you caught up with the state, might be a distributionally worse outcome than status quo road safety conditions, I suppose. Are you thinking overall gains to the community from safer streets outweigh the financial hit?

joi-itos-jibo.bsky.social•5 days ago

Yeah exactly, if you can save one kid from breaking one leg, I think you need the other side of the scale to be pretty heavy with financial* and administrative burden.

And if we’re talking death instead of a leg then the balance is pretty one-sided.

lysandervino.bsky.social•5 days ago

Spot on. People leaping to self-righteous takes whilst ignoring reality of bad/improper use do no service to safer roads advocacy

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