other than removing the cameras of course
The only serious hack on the list is one of the best ones in life: avoid car use. Find ways to walk, bike or use public transport.
The most simplest secret hack: stay in the speed limit
How about just not speeding? Why do car people think they have the right to make streets more unsafe because of convenience?
When I was driving in Australia, mobile speed cameras were operated by private contractors. They had rules to where they could set up and it always annoyed me. I asked people why not, and the answer was because you’re naturally going faster at the bottom of the hill, so it’s not fair. People don’t know about braking.
The police uses mobile cameras where I live. They have to ask permission to set up in front of somebody’s home, and this has unfortunately resulted in the people living there getting hate from random assholes.
I don’t understand how someone can be so busy that they need to drive faster than allowed while also having plenty of time to go out of their way to harass people living in the places where they drive too fast. The car brain works in mysterious ways.
I have some sympathy for that argument. I consciously drive at or below the speed limit most of the time, but do catch myself breaking the speed limit going down hill and choose to apply the brake.
That said, I think I only pick up about 5-10 MPH at most, and that’s usually not enough for cops to care; most speed cameras don’t ticket until you get to 10 above, so I imagine most people were speeding when they started going downhill.
Also, having drivers looking at their speedometer instead of the road is kind of a bad idea. In my ideal world, traffic calming takes care of most of the mindless speeding, but we live in a world designed for fire trucks to respond to emergencies.
- brake earlier!
- get a head-up-display so you can see your speed while looking at the road,
- learn how to judge constant speed by sight better,
- if someone really can’t hold a steady speed downhill, maybe it’s time to surrender their driving licence because they don’t meet the standard.
If you can tell the difference between 25 and 27mph an hour, that’s pretty cool.
Also, you’re being an asshole.
Also, also, a HUD on a car? Is that something i can get?
It’s not pretty cool. Hglding a speed is a basic driving skill we have to learn to meet the UK National Standard for Driving Cars and it’s shocking if it’s not elsewhere.
Maybe I’m being an asshole, but not as much as someone speeding and massively increasing the probability of killing anyone they may hit.
Others have answered about HUD in detail.
Yes, but I think we should all hate driving because the actual attention required to drive a vehicle safely is literally superhumanly impossible, so coming at me like this just seems wrongheaded. Get good is not a solution.
What is the +/- on the KPH for the national standard? What’s the variance, and does it include hills?
HUDs have been built into a lot of cars from the past maybe 10 years. There’s usually a small screen buried in the top of the dashboard, and a semi-reflective area on the glass (you can often see this reflective spot from the outside of the car). The better kind will be angled such that it appears to be floating much further from your eyes than the glass; often almost at the nose of the car.
Will show speed, likely lane position if the car has sensors for that, and next-turn information if you’re using the onboard navigation (no love for Carplay/Android Auto here, sadly).
(And before anyone says “sure, if you’re driving a $100,000 Mercedes”, I rented a 2023 Mazda that had a basic speed/navigation HUD, it’s definitely showing up even in mass-market vehicles)
Low-cost aftermarket options are available though, usually in the form of a small LED/LCD display you stick to the dashboard (similarly reflecting, which may or may not require a sticker applied to the glass), and either reading speed from the car’s OBD2 port, or with its own internal GPS. Ones that use OBD2 may include other information like RPM, etc.
top tip:
Here’s a graphic I produced to show the relationship between speed, drive time reduction and fatality risk when driving.
The solipsistic need to drive fast is one of the top reasons why cars are so lethal. Reckless driving habits like speeding and tailgating should be stigmatized as the same way drunk driving was in the 70s-80s. And for the same reason; people shouldn’t die because of your stupid selfish decisions.
We need a version of MADD for street safety.
Not sure I love #1 but #5 is a banger.
first flock cameras and ALPR readers, now these? police state.
