Damn I didnt know that, I didnt think there were speed cameras on the highway, usually when you see signs, speed checked by aircraft, you'll see the 3 white lines that are approximately 500 ft apart, thats how aircraft calculates your average speed, from point a (1st line) to point b (2nd line) to point c (3rd line).

I know that for a fact.

Yeah, but the one that Tony posted is not the one I am talking about. I'm talking about a current-generation 335i sedan, black, that is unmarked. It's a Fairfax County car and I bet you it's not a seized vehicle. They've started buying random unmarked for patrols. I've seen it with people pulled over on Rt. 50 from time to time.

I had a funny encounter with an unmarked 2010 Camaro SS. Again, black. We were side-by-side at a light that was going to funnel into a one lane on ramp to 495. I thought about taking off hard to beat him to the lane consolidation point but decided just to let him go.

Well, there was a fender bender on the ramp ahead of us. What does this guy do? Turn on his fricking lights and pull over to assist. Good thing I let him go. :bowrofl:

There's nothing that I know of that limits PD's to buying only American cars. I think 99% of the time they do simply because they are reliable, robust, and easy to maintain. Not to mention cheap.

But when you make it into more affluent areas you're more likely to see the use of other "special" vehicles. The 335i is a good choice because literally every other car in NOVA is a BMW 3 series.

The cameras have gotten me twice in the past 6 months, both at the minimum speed to get the ticket. Now I have learned where they are on my daily commute so I should be fine. I've started cruising at 75 instead of 80 to avoid trouble.

Yeah I have never seen an unmarked car that wasn't American. I do remember my sister telling me that she saw some Altima police cars in NY.

You can convert any car to an unmarked police car.

There was a member here a few months ago who was an LEO, and he was considering converting his black Nismo Z into an unmarked car.

The speed cameras on 95 were mostly there for the ICC construction. 295 now has road construction with photo enforcement.

I actually agree with this use of the cameras. Road workers get killed all the time by speeders.

Where'd you see those speed cameras on 495?

I have never seen an unmarked car that wasnt a domestic.. i think i would lose my damn mind if I did, it would eff me up.

The only speed camera that I knew about it was down in South Carolina. I don't travel North so I would not know and don't want to know.

Is enough with the cameras in town here in VA.

Dude, maryland is a war zone man, theres speed and red light cameras EVERYWHERE.. and I've noticed, they've added some in the district. which is crazy with all that damn traffic during rush hours. can you imagine being stuck in traffic at an intersection, and the redlight camera is just flashing away..haha.You got about 8 tickets in the mail.

MD's not bad. You just have to know what you're dealing with. Most counties have placed cameras near road construction and in school zones. These are the counties who maintain the pretense that they care about safety. Then you have places like Baltimore City and Montgomery County, who strategically placed their cameras to maximize income. They care about the cameras as a money grab. They are the war zones.

And thats where I live, Montgomery County, Gaithersburg is a prime example, its considered a rich area, and theres cameras all over that city.. its kinda funny.

You know what really bothers me the most about Maryland, they make sooo much money off of bullsh*t, where does all that money go, the roads ARE still horrible. That irritates the heck outta me.

There are a lot of them in that construction area on 95, but I have noticed them all around 95 on my way to and from school. They are further apart outside of the construction area, but there are more and more popping up all the time. I've seen some that are attached to the side of the frames that hold up the electronic signs. I go all the way down to Rt 100 on 95.

Md gov't is incredibly wasteful and/or corrupt. I love my state, but you won't hear me defending the crooked a$$holes we put into office.

As I understand it the only places speed cameras can currently exist in MD are in construction zones (which are always labeled with a huge sign saying they are using speed cameras) and school zones (which I've seen both labeled and not). These are places where you clearly shouldn't be speeding anyway. The magic number is 12mph too as previously stated, speed limit 55, your speed 67, ticket!

I honestly don't mind the speed cameras, what I do mind is that its a third party issuing the tickets. I see major issues in a system where a private company is authorized to issue traffic tickets. Tickets should only come from the appropriate district's police force.

From what I've heard, that holds true everywhere except in Montgomery County and Baltimore City. And I agree that those are places you shouldn't be speeding, although I'd argue that police presence would be more effective as a deterrent than a love letter however many weeks later.
I agree. This is more the issue for me as well. It's a cash grab that benefits a private enterprise through a sweetheart deal with the gov't. The police should be operating these cameras and the system should benefit directly.

I agree with you brother, but let me tell you, speed cameras are NOT only in construction and school zones, they are everywhere. For example, Connecticut Ave, in chevy chase village. right before the round about coming into the district theres 2 just on that little stretch on both sides of the road. I see people get picked off all day, its kinda funny, I slow down below the 30mph zone, just so they definitely get the ticket, and I have no part of it.. hehe

VA....the Nazi state.

Montgomery County is the worst place to drive on Earth. There are speed cameras EVERYWHERE. The worst one ever is on Connecticut Ave. This is a six lane wide road that is one of the only major roads heading into DC and they put a 25mph speed limit on it. Are you kidding me?

Here's a good article about it:

http://www.gazette.net/stories/06110...54_32355.shtml

There are a number of other terrible things about driving in Montgomery County. All the jobs with the NIH and other biotech companies along 270 attract lots of people from overseas. I'm guessing that many of these people didn't drive in their home countries, because they're just unbelievably bad.

In some sort of retarded effort to try to control all these terrible drivers (my take on it), they take control of traffic to the nth degree. Every intersection has a red left turn arrow regardless of your visibility of oncoming traffic. This arrow is green for roughly 10 seconds and is basically always red when you get there. Next, most of the streets have medians with limited places to turn left. For some unknown reason, when you finally come to a break in the median, there is a sign saying no left turn and no u-turn. WTF?

I've never found DC drivers to be really bad, just absurdly slow. None of them ever seem to be paying attention when the light goes green and God forbid you should come to a 4-way stop sign. Everybody just stops and then eventually starts trying to wave other cars through the intersection. Do they not teach people about the right of way in an intersection in driver's ed here?

Another thing that absolutely sets me off is when people refuse to pull forward into the intersection when waiting to turn left. They just sit there and ultimately just wait for the next green arrow. In IL, everyone pulls forward into the intersection. I feel like I'm the only person who does it here.

Jessobear, I would have to agree with you sir.

What do you mean by a 3rd party? Rental cops?

Kind of but not really, they're contractors.

theres a lot of good info at this site Maryland Speed Cameras

Here is one bullet I pulled from the faqs

•The speed cameras are NOT operated by sworn police officers. Instead this is outsourced to a private company. For example, under Montgomery county's contract ACS receives a $16.25 per ticket commission from these cameras, despite the fact that this violates a provision of state law intended to forbid paying contractors based on the number of citations issued or paid. For a long time the county refused requests to release the full details of their contract with ACS to the public. Now almost all the other speed camera programs starting up in the state use similar arrangements, turning over almost total control of the cameras and the ticket program to contractors who get paid a cut of every ticket. Per ticket commissions could encourage the contractor to cheat in order to maximize the number of tickets rather than safety, operate inaccurate cameras, or create barriers to legitimate ticket challenges. Essentially the contractor which generates the evidence used in court cases gets paid only if the defendant is found guilty, a clear conflict of interest. Moreover, the fact that local governments have circumvented this part of the law simply to guarantee a revenue stream brings into question whether ANY limitations will be respected.

Very nice information, sir.