Fairfax County General :
Fairfax Underground
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
We've all seen these signs posted on 66, 81 and who knows where else. Does anyone know and/or have met a person who has actually been caught speeding by an aircraft? I've always thought the signs were just idle threats.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/14/2009 06:37PM by FurfaxTownie.
I don't know anyone personally that has been caught, but the aircraft catches you by using white lines painted across certain segments of the interstate. The person observing the traffic can gauge the speed of a car by how fast it traverses the white lines.
Never stopped in VA, but I got a speeding ticket in MD on I-70 West between Frederick and Hagerstown from an aircraft enforcement. That was back around 1992 though.
The aircraft timed me, then radioed ahead to a state trooper on the side of the road (not in a cruiser, but on foot wearing his glow-in-the-dark vest) who walked out into the highway and flagged me down. I actually heard the officer verify with the aircraft that he had stopped the right car.
-,SBS- Wrote:
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> The aircraft timed me, then radioed ahead to a
> state trooper on the side of the road (not in a
> cruiser, but on foot wearing his glow-in-the-dark
> vest) who walked out into the highway and flagged
> me down. I actually heard the officer verify with
> the aircraft that he had stopped the right car.
>
> I just paid the ticket.
When was this?
We had a presentation one time by a State Trooper when I was in high school in my Criminal Justice class, and it was explained to us that the "Speed Limit Enforced by Aircraft" signs were just left up because it would take too much time/money to remove them all, but that they do not use aircraft to enforce speed limits. It cost more than it brought it as the trooper put it, and it hasn't been done for about 10 years and counting. Just what he told us, doesn't mean it's true but logically it makes no sense to use aircraft for this purpose.
RESton Peace Wrote:
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> he said it was 1992 above. I agree they probably
> don't bother anymore.
Ah, thanks. Didn't notice his previous post, as it also points out he was in Maryland.
As far as I've heard from the trooper I mentioned earlier, Virginia officially doesn't use the aircraft anymore for such activities. However, it does scare those who do not know this into abiding the speed limit (sometimes).
Eastsider Wrote:
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> One of the most useful applications of Rolle's
> theorem from calculus.
>
> oops...meant Mean Value Theorem.
Ah, Mean Value Theorem, or as my calc prof called it, "Why You Shouldn't Speed On The PA Turnpike."
A helicopter or an airplane is crazy expensive to operate, plus you have to pay the aircrew. Compare that with the tiny money they make on a ticket and it's got to be a total waste. Something they might do once in a while to scare people maybe.
tomahawk Wrote:
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> A helicopter or an airplane is crazy expensive to
> operate, plus you have to pay the aircrew. Compare
> that with the tiny money they make on a ticket and
> it's got to be a total waste. Something they might
> do once in a while to scare people maybe.
I think this actually proves that speed enforcement is more about revenue than it is about safety.
If it was purely a safety issue, the use of aircraft would be justified by more than just the cost of revenue equation. It would also be measured by how much it reduces speeding.
Unfortunately, I don't think anyone cares if speeding is reduced. I think that many people in county and local government would like to see speeding stay the same or increase because it's such a boon to their treasuries.
Lawman Wrote:
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> We had a presentation one time by a State Trooper
> when I was in high school in my Criminal Justice
> class, and it was explained to us that the "Speed
> Limit Enforced by Aircraft" signs were just left
> up because it would take too much time/money to
> remove them all, but that they do not use aircraft
> to enforce speed limits. It cost more than it
> brought it as the trooper put it, and it hasn't
> been done for about 10 years and counting. Just
> what he told us, doesn't mean it's true but
> logically it makes no sense to use aircraft for
> this purpose.
Agreed, I believe in VA the officer that clocks you must also write the ticket otherwise the chain of evidence is broken. That's why in VA you don't speed traps where one car radios ahead to another car.
jason Wrote:
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> i swear you're lying, the "speed limit enforced by
> aircraft" started july, 2000
Nope...I am certain one of those black signs was on the inner loop of the Beltway near Braddock in 1997.
Eastsider Wrote:
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> One of the most useful applications of Rolle's
> theorem from calculus.
>
> oops...meant Mean Value Theorem.
For any function (here: distance vs. time) over an interval where the function is continuous and differentiable (here: two painted lines on the highway), there must be a point where the instantaneous rate of change of the function (here: speed, dx/dt) is equal to the average change over the interval.
So, if it took you 5 minutes to traverse two lines separated by 5 miles, there must have been at least one instant along the trip where you went 60 m.p.h. Thus, the police can give you a ticket although they never clocked you going 60 mph at any point in your journey.
The concept works even better for toll booths, where no airplane is needed. On the NJ turnpike, you take a ticket that clocks your time entering the highway, and you have to pay the toll at a booth when you exit. If it took you one hour to travel 75 miles, you had to have been going 75 mph (and hence, speeding) at some point during your journey, and you could (in theory) be ticketed by a cop who never saw you going more than 5 mph through the toll booth.
That's why I always stop for food when driving to NYC...just in case.
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2010 12:00AM by Eastsider.
Eastsider Wrote:
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> jason Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > i swear you're lying, the "speed limit enforced
> by
> > aircraft" started july, 2000
>
>
> Nope...I am certain one of those black signs was
> on the inner loop of the Beltway near Braddock in
> 1997.
There was and I've been driving here since the '80's
what the hell kind of overbearing police state uses planes in the sky for something as spurious as speeding cars? Even if theyre not used anymore, the signs still have an ominous, big brother "we are watching you from the sky and will fuck you" tone to it.
jason Wrote:
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> i swear you're lying, the "speed limit enforced by
> aircraft" started july, 2000
I went to VA Tech from 92-97, and I remember seeing those signs even back then when I'd go out 66 and 81. Granted, I did a shitload of drugs back then, but not enough to make me forget what year it was. And even so, I just double checked my diploma to make sure it was 1997, and not 2007.
Just spoke to a VA Trooper at the Aviation Unit and the state still owns the four fix wing aircraft and still conducts enforcement using fixed wing aircraft.
Well i just got stopped today for doing 94 in a 55 because im an asshole. And it was an empty long bridge so i said screw it. I thought i was good because well, "how can they shoot laser or radar if theres no where to pull over? The states broke, its the winter, its a saturday, no ones is going to enforce this parkway that is mainly used to access beaches."
Well i was wrong! I see the trooper 5 miles down the road. Actually rather far. Now this parkway, the ocean parkway on long island in ny, has very few exits. Soo the cop was sitting at the exit to the closest connecting parkway. I passed that one and went to go to the next parkway, 3 more miles away. The cop didnt move, i thought i was good. I saw a plane, a small single prop plane going over the south side of the beach and i figured "ehhh just an airplane" nope. wrong. That was the guy clocking me. The trooper pulls me over like 5 miles from where i saw him. I knew i was screwed when i saw him behind me. I had been glancing back. Nothing for miles. I was almost where i had to be when i seen him behind me. I knew it was me. I pull over, he follows. He told me i was paced at 94mph. I said "what? I was going how fast?!?!?!" He said would u like to come back and see? I said no. I figured i wouldnt second guess this man or he would bend me over and fuck me with the biggest ticket he could write.
Long story short. They do use planes. They radio in to a ground trooper. And they pull you over when you think you're in the clear.
So dont speed. I usually dont. I happened to be in a bad mood, took the relaxing drive down by the beach houses and across the great south bay. Excellent view. Big tickets. No bullshit cops.