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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.
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.
Speeding No Longer Enforced Via Aircraft in Virginia
Posted by:
Racer X
()
Date: February 21, 2012 12:40PM
Re: Speeding No Longer Enforced Via Aircraft in Virginia
Posted by:
More Complete
()
Date: February 21, 2012 12:50PM
Was it ever?
Re: Speeding No Longer Enforced Via Aircraft in Virginia
Posted by:
Big brother
()
Date: February 21, 2012 01:16PM
More Complete Wrote:
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> Was it ever?
Yes it was. Didnt you see the signs on highways saying "speed limit enforced by aircraft" ? I was pulled over by an aircraft once because I was speeding. He said he was pacing me the entire time that I was driving 32 in a 25 zone.
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> Was it ever?
Yes it was. Didnt you see the signs on highways saying "speed limit enforced by aircraft" ? I was pulled over by an aircraft once because I was speeding. He said he was pacing me the entire time that I was driving 32 in a 25 zone.
Re: Speeding No Longer Enforced Via Aircraft in Virginia
Posted by:
vgnlinfxn
()
Date: February 21, 2012 02:09PM
I thought they stopped a while ago because the fuel cost was more than the revenue. Which I found odd since they enforce traffic laws for safety.
Re: Speeding No Longer Enforced Via Aircraft in Virginia
Posted by:
I seen it...
()
Date: February 21, 2012 03:04PM
vgnlinfxn Wrote:
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> I thought they stopped a while ago because the
> fuel cost was more than the revenue. Which I
> found odd since they enforce traffic laws for
> safety.
It's not just the fuel cost, it's also the cost of the people involved. I reckon it was about 10 years ago when I saw VSP checking speeds via aircraft. It was July 4 weekend or something and they had a checkpoint set up on 295 or 95... don't remember exactly which. Anyhow, although there was only one plane flying overhead (pretty obviously too, airplanes don't typically fly slow low circles over the interstate), there were at least a dozen cop cars on the shoulders after the timing lines. Only three or four of the cops had people pulled over, the rest were waiting for instructions.
So all told, the operation required at least one pilot, one timing operator, and a dozen cops. Not to mention the fuel and maintenance costs for the plane and the cars. That's an awful lot of effort to put together on a weekend to pull over some speeding cars. They'd have been better off scattering those cars along the road instead of clustering them in one spot, beholden to the instructions of a dude overhead.
Looks like "Speed Limit Enforced By Aircraft" was one of those ideas that looked awesome on paper, but didn't work too well in the real world.
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> I thought they stopped a while ago because the
> fuel cost was more than the revenue. Which I
> found odd since they enforce traffic laws for
> safety.
It's not just the fuel cost, it's also the cost of the people involved. I reckon it was about 10 years ago when I saw VSP checking speeds via aircraft. It was July 4 weekend or something and they had a checkpoint set up on 295 or 95... don't remember exactly which. Anyhow, although there was only one plane flying overhead (pretty obviously too, airplanes don't typically fly slow low circles over the interstate), there were at least a dozen cop cars on the shoulders after the timing lines. Only three or four of the cops had people pulled over, the rest were waiting for instructions.
So all told, the operation required at least one pilot, one timing operator, and a dozen cops. Not to mention the fuel and maintenance costs for the plane and the cars. That's an awful lot of effort to put together on a weekend to pull over some speeding cars. They'd have been better off scattering those cars along the road instead of clustering them in one spot, beholden to the instructions of a dude overhead.
Looks like "Speed Limit Enforced By Aircraft" was one of those ideas that looked awesome on paper, but didn't work too well in the real world.
Re: Speeding No Longer Enforced Via Aircraft in Virginia
Posted by:
they do
()
Date: February 21, 2012 05:44PM
vgnlinfxn Wrote:
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> I thought they stopped a while ago because the
> fuel cost was more than the revenue. Which I
> found odd since they enforce traffic laws for
> safety.
They do but you could put out several extra troopers for the price of the plane. It wasnt a good use of money. Spreading the money around improves overal safety more than flying the plane
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> I thought they stopped a while ago because the
> fuel cost was more than the revenue. Which I
> found odd since they enforce traffic laws for
> safety.
They do but you could put out several extra troopers for the price of the plane. It wasnt a good use of money. Spreading the money around improves overal safety more than flying the plane
Re: Speeding No Longer Enforced Via Aircraft in Virginia
Posted by:
tomahawk
()
Date: February 21, 2012 05:49PM
That's okay, once the VSP and FCPD get their Predator drones they'll start doing a lot more surveillance by air.