Chance of Dying in Georgia Increased
I think I need to subscribe to USA Today. It’s a really good newspaper, but I only read it when I’m staying in hotels as I am this week in Miami – while my Chicago brethren are freezing their butts in the Arctic North.
Yesterday and today there were stories about security on the front page of the paper. One story reported the dramatic increase in compliance to laws and the corresponding decrease in traffic accidents in intersections monitored by so-called red light cameras.
That story also relayed that Georgia’s citizens are lobbying to do away with the cameras for fear that the photos violate privacy. Silly. Of course we willingly surrender our privacy whenever we believe it is in the best interest of society. We license the drivers of cars, gun owners register with the state, even grocery customers sign up for loyalty cards for some lower prices – knowing full well that there is a huge database in the sky collecting all of my purchasing preferences.
Dirving a car with clear windows through a crowded city is hardly a private matter. Keep the cameras and avoid driving in Georgia
The other story was about the failures of certain inspection technologies being tested in some train or subway stations. The reporter does not detail which technologies were tested but I imagine it was puffers, or perhaps those scanners, like Brijot, that create an image of the body beneath the clothes, picking up pacemakers and semtex.
Dogs are effective, but expensive, too. In fact all the technologies are expensive. If the riders have to pay an extra $3 or even $1, they’ll likely revolt and prefer to bear the risk.
Keep the cameras; avoid driving in Georgia. LOL. I actually used the article in a emerging technologies seminar yesterday. I believe there will be a convergence of sorts with the growing Megapixel Surveillance Technology and selective enforcement. Why will you need expensive Digital Red Light cams when Urban Centers deploy large numbers of HD cameras. All you would need to do is run a analytic recognizing vehicle, vehicle loop detector, red light status and Extreme’s nifty License tag recognition. We’ll see if the Integrators decide to capture some of that market back.
Yeah, to sell that article the writer had to come up with some alarming statistic to get the public fired up to fight back. Write to your constituent! Stop the Red Light Cameras or you’ll be getting a ticket for doing other things in your car!
The writer kind of forgot that so many countermeasures exist that nullify their technology, including some high sheen hairsprays or just something to remove that 3M Reflective Coating off the license plate. In fact, Cobra just came out with a GPS device that just links to an online red light camera database like http://www.photoenforced.com
If even the sign prevents red light runners, I’m going out, buying a few and putting them around my neighborhood!
Nope, you don’t need to subscribe to USA Today, Steve, most people leave it on the seat next to you at the airport…
Always enjoy your comments Mr. Surfaro.
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
– Benjamin Franklin
They that can give up essential privacy to obtain a little temporary convenience deserve neither privacy nor convenience.
– Dan Geer
Atlanta Georgia Home Security
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