Well, I still have a huge chip on my shoulder from a "gift" I had received a few weeks ago. That gift was in a form of two traffic tickets. For one, I was 100% guilty, but the other one came as a result of me mouthing off.
Basically what happened with the first one was that I was passing cars on the right side. Every car in a 500m+ line-up was waiting at the set of lights to make a left-hand turn. I was amongst a few of cars who were trying to make a right hand turn. So, I decided to pass the cars on the right side (it was a single-lane road), and there was an unmarked car who had been hunting the drivers for this particular violation. Why? Because a mere 100m from the lights there was a police station, and the cops didn't like something like that happening in their back-yard. Another possible reason is that they knew that this was an easy way to collect an awful lot of money (btw, it is a strictly business area and not the urban one)
So, after getting pulled over, I started off by sucking-up, but since the cop was a thoroughbred moron, I got a "little" aggitated...Few minutes later, he came back with an aditional ticket - for an expired insurance...CARD! I lost it. The stupid no-neck, doughnut eating, ball-headed moron with his macho sunglasses gave me a ticket for carrying an expired insurance card. The worst thing is that it was only a few weeks past the expiration date.
Did he have legal grounds to give me those 2 tickets? Yes! But I cannot imagine how somebody can be that cold-hearted that he would not overlook the simple mistake that I'd made by not replacing my expired insurance card. He managed to ruin my perfect driving record.
I felt guilty for saying it, but after giving me a ticket, I told him off (that is putting it mildly, btw).
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A few weeks later, I had my mini-revenge. Some other cop cut me off at an intersection, and proceeded towards his police station, where he had broke yet another traffic law (two, actually), by not signaling a lane change, and by not coming to a full stop at the stop sign. I followed him to the parking, and I asked him whether he was aware that the had broken 3 laws in less than 700m. He looked at me, speechless, and then I had asked for his badge number and the name of his immideate supervisor...he hesitated a little, but he gave it up. I told him that I will be filing an official complaint in the coming days, but I never did. Just the look on his face was enough of a revenge for me.
(btw, he was just coming off shift)
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Going back to topic, if everybody does the same speed, THERE IS NO WAY AN ACCIDENT CAN HAPPEN. Newton says it can't! And I believe him.
Most of those speed traps are nothing more than, as some of you had said it, revenue booster. It is designed to put some additional funds into the municipality.
Scuderia_Russ, in Canada we did have the cameras, but they are now banned. Too many cases were getting thrown out of court because there was no way to prove that the owner of the car was the one behind the wheel. Now they only have the red-light cameras, and that's it.