Fired for speeding

I may have exagerated by a lot when I made that post, LOL. I definitely wasn't driving dangerously, and I was going the speed limit, slightly over it when i was in the boonies, but anywhere near the lights was the speed limit. That day, it was only a couple of lights that I completely ran, but every single light seemed to turn red for me while i was very near it. I stopped at all but a couple, but was very annoyed at the awfully convenient timing. I usually AM dispatched on a very short fuse, and I am looking for a new job because of that and the very poor service of road breakdown.

As for the robocops, I really wonder about those red light cameras. Theres a LOT of them where i live, most notably Westnedge Avenue in Kalamazoo. Lots and lots and lots lights right in a row, all with cameras. What im wondering though:

1) On Westnedge Ave in rush hour, idiots block intersections to keep from missing lights. What happens if you're stoppd in the middle of an intersection in traffic when its red?

2) Exactly how bad do you have to run the light to get a picture taken? Is there something about my car that keeps me from getting them? I remember one time I ran a very late yellow light, forgetting about the cameras (thers always a lot of traffic so i was trying to make good time, in my CAR), and they are fairly fast yellow lights so it turned red when my car was just crossing the stop line. I never got a ticket. So now I run early yellows just like I normally do over there, and I never get tickets.

3) I remember a while back I was being towed, gross weight was around 100,000lb, and we were coming down a hill with a light at the bottom, probably at an excessive speed, and the light turned red while we were at the top of the hill, but it was obvious that theres no way in heck the tow truck would've stopped, so the driver ran it without even touching the brake pedal. Not the way i wouldve handled it, but...there was a camera, and it took pictures, I saw the flashes. What happens with the ticket if a tow truck owned by a company runs the light? Oh and the driver was the owner of the company, so its not like the company would turn him in. LOL. Are the cameras even aimed in a way that can take a mugshot of the driver of a big truck?

 

The OP post 1 time.......most likely B.S........

 

Phroziac you are unemployed now?

 

I think you should be worried about ur license. If the posted speed limit is under 45mph. They will show up on your mvr, and you may lose your license for six months. That's why they let you go. Go file for unemployment.

 

That's the right answer! Unfortunately the only way to get through those burgs is about 30 to 35-mph in those 45-mph zones, and take your lumps with the lights. Cost of doing business without tickets and accidents. We're the professionals out there and have to act accordingly.

A Colorado state bear once told me that... "when you're in the intersection on a red, you have control of the intersection." My thought is that if you're not encroaching too far into the intersection to impede traffic, sit tight. If you're way out into the intersection - say enough to keep any traffic from getting through on one side, I'd come to a complete stop, put on my 4-ways and then very slowly proceed through the intersection. That's assuming the stinkin' four-wheelers let you get by!

I don't have a good answer to that. I think when the things are first installed, the locals see $$$ and make it pretty tight. When the citizens start complaining, they loosen it up. I know Joplin MO got in trouble for having very short yellow lights on the photo-red-light intersections when they first put those infernal things in.

I got a "flash" one night in Joplin earlier this year. Had a tailgaiter, hesitated for a moment, proceeded through the light. Probably less than one second passed after it turned red before I broke the intersection. Haven't heard a thing about it from my dispatcher, contacted motor vehicles in my state, and there's nothing on my MVR. I'm assuming I got away with that one.

Good freakin' question!!! Most of the "mug shots" I've seen from robocop photo-radar in Denver are low-angle and narrow-field. I don't think that it would even catch the driver of a semi.

OTOH, even if it was a squishware cop (a real one!) the answer is that we have to drive in a manner that is "safe." Blowing through a light with a massive load could certainly get one a ticket for negligent driving or wreckless driving if the cop was in the right mood. But yeah, I certainly understand the situation... been there myself, but not with that much weight. Get enough speed going on a wet night, and a red light at the bottom of a steep grade after you've started down - just freakin' great! I'll bet the tow truck driver was on a first-name basis with the local cops - probably wasn't too worried about it if there wasn't opposing traffic.

 

Here in Kansas City they are starting to put up the red light cameras, but they also have a sign approaching the intersection that there is a camera up ahead. There also was a big issue on the news about not having short yellow, which is the way it should be. Cutting the yellow lite short just to issue more tickets is just plain not safe.

Oh, did the original thread starter ever come back with any more info on the situation? Seems he left a lot of info out, or was he just trying to crank up some BS?

 

I would say not since 1 post and last seen on same day.

Last Seen: 3 Weeks Ago 05.33 PM

 

Denver started that BS with mobile photo-radar units about 15 years ago. An attorney took them to court over constitutional issues... can't confront your accuser - and won. Put the thing on ice for a year until they came up with the "Photo Radar In Use Ahead" sign, and a live cop in the robocop wagon. Part of the news coverage was the cops whining about how it wouldn't be cost effective if they had to put a man in the automatic robocop machine.

Tacit admission it was all about the dead presidents, and nothing else.

 

can't you hear my reefer right next to me? Its louder than my drive engine, does it even have a muffler?!

I was talking about moron 4 wheelers that block an intersection intentionally so that they dont miss their light because theyre back behind another red light. Not peopel that matter.

The tailgater probably blocked your license plate from the camera

I remember one time in Indianapolis, it was raining, i was bobtailing, and not going very fast, but a light turned yellow while i was pretty near it, and i probably could have gotten under it before it turned yellow, but i decided to stop, my abs kicked in and the alarm started going off BEEP BEEEP BEEEP BEEEP lol. i stopped right on the stop line though.

As for the tow truck driver, that guy was NUTS. First of all, he was chewing tobacco and texting and driving all at the same time. He was going all over the highway, but we were the only ones on the highway (it was the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere), so it really didnt matter. LOL. By the way, sure looks weird to see your tractor and trailer in the mirror. Hell, he tried to sell me the tow truck! He was really cool though and I kept his card

 

Okay here's my (On the Job) red light camera story.

I was out in some suburb of Chigago, empty and taking my ten. I got my next assignment in the inner city of chicago for the next morning. So I figured that at about 2am I had a 45 minute window to get to the customer and take ANOTHER 10 hour break before my schedualed p/u.

All I had to do was average 45 miles an hour though the streets of Chicago for 30 miles. (impossible in traffic, at night? I had a chance.)

Well all I remember was I was reading my map at a light and the light turned green, by the time I upshifted 2-3, the light was yellow. Da heck? At 2 in the morning you can only get 2 car lenghts though a green light?

Now I should admit that my original intent was to "ghost" this trip, to cover 30 miles in the dark of night and not log it. But I knew this light had a redlight camera on it (it was marked so)

Sure enough, there was a flash in the rear view.

Thing is, I never got a ticket. (or the company either AFAIK)

I think the thing was so sensitive, (flash almost immediately) and the light was so ludicrisly short (about 30 seconds on the green) that there was no way they could have gotten a pic of the truck's plate. My tandems were probably just crossing the stop line as the opposing light was turning green. So I rekon all they got was a massive white broadside of the trailer. Even if the tandems set off the camera, they were set in a far forward position so the trailer was probably still hanging over the stopline when the last camera shot went off.

Running a light at a blistering 4.7mph,,, yeah I'm glad I did that route at night.

(and for the record, since I was worried the camera had caught me, I did log that 45 minute trip. Which I made in under 63 minutes.)