By the way, more on-topic with Arizona, I have had reasonably good experiences with the cops there regarding speeding. Of course I have got speeding tickets in Arizona, but on other occasions I have got warnings instead from cops who were able to use discretion -- something those stupid cameras in Phoenix can't do.

Day Hiker wrote:The image below is linked from my profile. It is a bill from Switzerland for 625 Swiss francs, which is over $500 U.S. for going 26 km (16 mph) over the limit on a limited-access highway ...............

When I was in Switzerland, I recall somebody telling me that the fines for speeding tickets over there are based on a person's income. Guess they figure the more you can afford, the more you should have to pay.

brianhughes wrote:When I was in Switzerland, I recall somebody telling me that the fines for speeding tickets over there are based on a person's income. Guess they figure the more you can afford, the more you should have to pay.

Wow, that's different. But for my income, It would be a total guess on their part, unless they have access to U.S. IRS records.

jhodlof wrote:Oh, and I think what really sucks about AZ isn't the traffic issues, since I don't have to deal with them, but the monsoon season. The rain is good for the vegetation and all that, but the thunderstorm threat can be annoying and the humidity is oppressive when compared to the fantastic conditions from April to early July. In early July or late June there is nothing like 85 degrees with 2% humidity and then two weeks later its 80 with 50% humidity. The humidity is oppressive and horrible I tell you!

The monsoon season has an upside, though. The thunderstorms are absolutely beautiful, in my opinion.

And it's refreshing to see that it looks like I'm not the only one who knows that 90% humidity would mean that the dewpoint is only about three degrees Fahrenheit below the temperature. So 90% humidity at 100F would mean a dewpoint of about 97F -- something that can virtually never happen at any weather-recording station on this planet.

MoapaPk wrote:

drjohnso1182 wrote:What's the law there on radar jammers?

Aren't many speed detectors now based on laser Doppler?

I thought the laser guns measure the time for a pulse to return rather than measuring the frequency shift. There are jammers for the former type, at least. I have no idea how effective they are.

drjohnso1182 wrote:

MoapaPk wrote:

drjohnso1182 wrote:What's the law there on radar jammers?

Aren't many speed detectors now based on laser Doppler?

I thought the laser guns measure the time for a pulse to return rather than measuring the frequency shift. There are jammers for the former type, at least. I have no idea how effective they are.

You are right... but it's tough to jam a laser (without being really obvious).

What the ? There's actually some SPer's who have broken the law here

in the humble state of AZ ???


Hey, IF you like thunder and lightning and desert smells, central AZ's the

"place to be" in July/Aug.

What? You've never witnessed the melting of a butterfly's wing ???

When I was in Arizona, they had a few segments on local news where people would buy some type of aerosol spray and but it on their license plate. The spray was clear during daylight, but reflected the flash of the speed cameras at night, so that if you got a ticket at night, the license plate would be all washed out. I don't remember the name of the spray, but I'm sure a little google-action will produce many options...

"...Quiet and pensive,
My thoughts apprehensive,
The hours drift away -
Leaving my homeland,
Playing a lone hand,
My life begins today.

Fly by night, away from here!
Change my life again.
Fly by night, goodbye my dear...
My ship isn't coming and I just can't pretend.

Rush - Fly By Night - (1975)

MoapaPk wrote:

drjohnso1182 wrote:

MoapaPk wrote:

drjohnso1182 wrote:What's the law there on radar jammers?

Aren't many speed detectors now based on laser Doppler?

I thought the laser guns measure the time for a pulse to return rather than measuring the frequency shift. There are jammers for the former type, at least. I have no idea how effective they are.

You are right... but it's tough to jam a laser (without being really obvious).

Maybe it was implicit, but you guys forgot to mention that more than one pulse return time is measured. Just measuring the time for a pulse to return tells one the distance from the target, not the target's speed. The laser gun measures the changing distance multiple times and divides by time in order to get the change in distance with respect to time.

I found a short article for reference:
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question396.htm

Note that I specifically wrote change in distance with respect to time, not speed. Like with radar that uses the doppler effect, the laser method also only reads the component of the target's velocity in the direction toward (or away from) the measuring device. Fortunately, this effect can only cause the instrument to underestimate the speed, not overestimate.

An extreme example would be if the gun is aimed at the side of the vehicle as it passes. In this case, the speed would read approximately zero. A more typical example would be if there is a 20-degree angle between the vehicle's direction and the vehicle-to-device line, in which case the measured speed would be about 94% (cos{20}) of the vehicle's actual speed.

That still doesn't help me if I'm doing 130 mph, though.

Beautiful. I just got a second notice in the mail, for a second violation, 19 minutes after the first one. Same price. So now I'm indebted to the Great State of Arizona for $363. Generously they have provided postage-paid envelopes in which to enclose my remittance.

I like that they state I have three choices:
* Pay the sanction and surcharge
* Indicate I am not the driver
* Contest Responsibility

They seemed to have forgotten the fourth choice:
* Ignore this notice

Yeah, if you make them believe you weren't the driver, they can't ticket you. Ben did just that when a red light camera caught him

Maybe we all need to ride around with a "Crash Test Dummy" in the driver's seat ???

Or, in the year 2939, it will probably be a CLONE of ourselves? ??

Imagine the possibilities ...

McCannster wrote:Yeah, if you make them believe you weren't the driver, they can't ticket you. Ben did just that when a red light camera caught him

As part of that defense, they require you to send them in an enlarged copy of your driver's license. Mine has an uncanny resemblance to the guy they caught speeding on their freeways.

Dougb wrote:My hunch is that if you don't pay they'll send you a "second notice". You are probably okay though, but I'd "stay out of AZ!"

I think they are obliged by law to have the ticket served if they get no response back my mail, otherwise there's no proof I actually received it (other than this series of self-incriminating posts), so they will likely get dropped. But I don't think I can stay out of the state - too many good peaks to climb there. But I'll be sure to keep to the speed limits from now on, and if you believe the story from the proponents, that's their primary reason for the darn things in the first place - public safety.

We really don't need anymore folks comin' into AZ anyway!

Young man, what do you want to do with your life ?



"I WANNA ROCK!!!!"