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Fake "Speed Enforced By Drones" Signs On California Freeways
NF6X writes "CBS station KPIX reports that somebody has been installing counterfeit traffic signs on California bay area freeways, warning motorists of drone-based speed enforcement. They are professionally-made reflective metal signs of comparable style and quality to official traffic signs, and in some cases are even mounted with tamper-resistant hardware. The signs show the familiar silhouette of an MQ-1 Predator drone launching a weapon. According to KPIX, California Highway Patrol denies that they operate any drones, and states that the signs are fake."
uh huh....fake...
-------
1. Enjoy your job
2. Make lots of money
3. Work within the law
Choose any two.
How can you be expected to obey the speed limit?
Good way to spread awareness and possible outcomes of drone oversight....
YOU'RE GOING 2 MPH OVER THE SPEED LIMIT! YOU HAVE 3 SECONDS TO DECELERATE!
*1 sec later*
DID I SAY 3? TOO LATE!
*fires hellfire missile*
I have definitely seem some of these drones sitting in their car, parked in a way that they think nobody can see them, eating donuts and using their radar gun.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
Of course they deny it.
Pedal to the metal.
I would have taken that seriously if not for the missile.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
I type "LOL" occasionally, but this time I ACTUALLY DID.
___ I don't respond to Anonymous Cowards, and I Never Mod them UP.
While not a fake sign, a long time ago (as indicated by the message) there was a sign warning "Police Aerial Speed Checks" that was tagged with "Pigs in Spaaaaaace"
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
I'd like to shake the hand of whoever is behind this. I have to respect anyone who's willing to put serious effort and bucks into this kind of culture-jamming.
Jerry Brown is quoted: "These aren't the drones you're looking for."
I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer Jim!
Should pack 'em up and send them to Afghanistan or Iraq or Pakistan or anywhere else that POTUS wants to enforce, ahem, speed limits.
On the other hand, whoever did this doesn't merely have a sick sense of humour. They're highly insightful to the way the government is heading.
Why is CHiPS(*) actually posing with the sign like it is theirs? That just seems like an odd thing to do.
* Cue exploding cars in the background
Have the police take them down and keep them. I'm sure they will be useful again in about 2 years at the rate privacy is going over here.
It is (or should be) well known that signs like these are a lie. All my life I have seen these "speed limit enforced by aircraft" signs, which tells me that there is no speed enforcement on that road at all.
If there was actual speed enforcement on the road, they wouldn't jeopardize the revenue stream by putting up signs.
"His name was James Damore."
To make the video complete, we need a car driving by the sign with one of those fake missiles chasing it....
"Just as there is nothing so unreal as reality TV, there is nothing as unsocial as social media." - Alistair Dabbs
I think the fake signs are a completely on-point commentary of the time.
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
That is what you think until you get pulled over by a cop that is already waiting for you and that cop tells you that the plane clocked you at a certain speed. Trust me, those "by aircraft" signs are real.
"Speed enforced by drones" is just as true as "speed enforced by aircraft".
because the speed limits are codified in law? in the driver handbooks as well?
I want the same sign (or t-shirt) with a silhouette of a Borg drone.
parked in a way that they think nobody can see them
Psht. Some cops have hiding down to an art form. I remember driving along the highway and thinking "Why does that snowbank have a police light bar...."
As I drove by, I saw he'd precisely trimmed the snowbank with a shovel, flat-topping it just enough to see over and for his radar unit.
That said, we don't need speed enforcement. We need illegal/improper/unsafe operation enforcement, proper crash investigation, and criminal penalties for negligence that results in property damage or injury.
Please help metamoderate.
In full effect
This signature is false.
According to NBC News, the fake drone signs were a bit of performance art by a local guy named Stephen Whisler. He described his motivation as " partially political and partially a prank".
While the signs are real, how often do they actually patrol with the aircraft?
Fuck Beta
It was all about making you feel like you'll never be able to challenge.
There was no plane. You're one of the lucky winners in this month's "Fill our Quota" challenge.
Over here in the east side of montreal they wait on the corner of a particularly packed boulevard; you literally, physically cannot turn onto the street without at least going a few meters through the Bus/Taxi-Only lane for about half a block in several areas, so in the first and last week of every month cops just wait there and hand out tickets to car after car after car.
Your only hope is to be one of the four or five [it's a gauntlet] that gets through at a time while all of them are occupied.
That should have been "Speed limit enforced by drones".
..maybe >:-]
Maybe the signs were made by someone whose first language isn't English, and/or someone who is not that good at it.
The way it's written, I'd think a minimum speed was enforced by drones - as in; drive too slowly and get blown to bits with a missile.
I am partial to that kind of enforcement. Some people just like to take their sweet time getting somewhere.
- I'm just kidding
Privacy begins with
They don't even need aircraft, I have seen officers noting license plates and the time they pass on a stretch of highway. They relay it to another officer much further down (in this case about 40 miles) and if you get there under a certain time they pull you over for speeding.
Someone tried to challenge this in court and lost.
"Along with not having drones we definitely do not have any drones that would fire any type of weaponry."
There's no reason these have to be flying drones. You have 15 seconds to comply.
The road on my way home has that sign, and cops hide out and write tickets occasionally. They are not necessarily exclusive.
Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
In a few years you won't be able to speed in California, it will be too hard to speed having to weave and dodge around all the stalled Tesla's on the highways.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
http://www.smart-trucking-jobs.com/images/speed.jpg
Note: if you challenge the ticket in court, make sure the aircraft officer shows up.
If only the ground officer who pulled you over shows up, he can't testify that you were breaking the speed limit, because all he has is hearsay from the aircraft. You can get a dismissal this way.
Also, the aircraft measure your speed by clocking you between two horizontal lines painted on the roadway -- these are usually pretty obvious to spot if you're looking for them, just slow down between the lines.
put down the sun visor and there's no way for the drone to get a picture of your face
... captured him in the act of placing these signs in public.
My guess would be HELL YES!!!
Prof. Farnsworth - "Oh a lesson in not changing history from Mr I'm-My-Own-Grandpa!"
I don't think so (from California Vehicle Code Section 40802 -- Speed Traps)
Speed traps are illegal in California.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
That's okay, I'm protected by the Zimmernado
Table-ized A.I.
Absolutely. They only thing they can with aircraft in California is spot cars that appear to be moving faster than other cars. In order to get "clocked," a patrol car needs to pace or radar the suspect vehicle.
(Of course, this is a technicality - who is the civilian to argue with about whether the aircraft or the patrol car determined his/her speed?)
The signs use Arial, and I'm pretty sure that legitimate signs have specific legal standards for the fonts they use, and that Arial is not included.
FC Closer
I can only speak for my state. But, the speed limits in our drivers guide are for when there is no posted limit. In fact, most of the roads I regularly travel on deviate from the speeds posted in the drivers guide.
Then the CHP shouldn't have any problem with me tearing them down and hauling them away as trash right?
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Didn't Clarkson say exactly this on the news?
It will be better to purchase from an owner who is a good farmer and a good builder.
I need some for my street.
Bay area wealthy prankster, I salute you!
They're referring to California however. Here in California speed limits are more like guidelines.
I consistently drive 10 miles over the speed limit, which generally keeps me with the flow of traffic and you'll be ignored by the CHiPs. 15+ and you're risking it. 20+ and the law will be enforced.
"How can you be expected to obey the speed limit?"
In a neighboring state, they have a long-standing law that says the policeman who catches you at a traffic infraction is the one who must issue you the ticket.
Some years ago, they tried painting lines across the highways and timing cars from the planes. Then they'd radio to a car nearby who would pull over speeders and issue them a ticket. Before long, some enterprising speeder pointed out to the courts that the tickets were not legally issued, because the officer observing the speeding was not the one issuing the ticket. They had to stop the practice statewide.
Then they tried timing from an airplane and radioing ahead to a car equipped with radar. The officer would attempt to radar the offending vehicle and then the same officer would issue the ticket. What they did not account for is that drivers saw the lines and would slow down; by the time they went by the radar they were again doing the speed limit.
So much for traffic drones. At least in that state. It is now widely known that aerial "speed traps" are illegal.
This is also causing them big problems with red light cameras, and they are almost certainly going to have to stop that, too. Because the person doing the "catching" is not even a police officer, but an employee of a private company. (An officer then rubber-stamped the citation.) That runs afoul not only of the aforementioned law, but also potentially other laws, as it requires a private party, not an officer at all, to determine if an infraction might have taken place. And they don't want to pay an officer to review every single photo, because one of the major reasons for having the damned things in the first place was to avoid having to hire more officers.
It is (or should be) well known that signs like these are a lie. All my life I have seen these "speed limit enforced by aircraft" signs, which tells me that there is no speed enforcement on that road at all.
I've been on highways that not only have the signs, but also silhouettes of aircraft painted on the road, presumably at known intervals for purposes of clocking vehicles. However, I've never been pulled over there by any cop claiming to have "clocked me by aircraft".
I am not a crackpot.
Article about there artist who posted them here.
http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/speed-enforced-armed-drones-nope-artist-installs-fake-traffic-signs-6C10707431
Ryan
www.awesome-beers.com
So not only did some idiot do this with his own money as a "guerilla art project", but he posts it on a public website, that was located by the /. reading public in no time at all? So this guy wants to go to jail, pay likely some enormous fines, plus be required to pay (no doubt exhorbitant) State costs for removal of said signs? How is it that someone with obviously less than an IQ of 50 can operate a website, take pictures, formulate a plan like this, etc?
Regardless of IQ, the fact is still that all publicity is good, especially for a relatively unknown artist.
I'm so glad I live in a place where I don't have to drive to get everywhere. Based on the posts here, this is definitely true.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
... the signs may be fake, but they DO have drones.
From TFA: "The Highway Patrol is investigating and checking in with sign makers to see if they filled the unique order.". So if they find someone, throw 42 totally ridiculous charges at suspect and put in prison for next 64 years. This is american way of dealing with pranksters (since 1980, with twice power since 2001).
posting anonymously for obvious reasons....
If you've been pulled over in the east bay: round white helmets, dark uniforms... need i say more?
Not true at all. I-81 in Virginia has these signs.
I was once driving north on it late at night. All of a sudden, my car lit up with a bright spotlight from above surrounding it. I about shit myself.
The spotlight then moved to the car and front of me, and so on.
It was either aliens or the VSP. I'd say, the VSP.
So if they have the drone write the ticket it's all good?
Classic guerrilla theater! Kewl!
Sometimes, real fast is almost as good as real-time.
It's a good thing that California law applies the world over where they use "Speed is enforced by Aircraft" signs!
You'll like this one.
What if you have the Radar (or camera) on the drone, and the drone relays the footage (and or speed information) to the police officer that has the joystick for the drone.
Now, there isn't a pilot, the drone relays the information to the police officer that "saw" you speed.
Your claims about "the officer that issues the ticket must be the officer that caught you speeding" indicates that drones are exactly the solution to checking both checkboxes and the law even supports it.
Boston Dynamics finally get their bipeds off their leashes: http://youtu.be/A9l9wxGFl4k?t=1m15s
Buy your next Linux PC at eightvirtues.com
Speed traps are illegal in California.
As they should be. The problem with any automated system is they treat middle class white people the same as the blacks and teenagers that the cops are supposed to be focusing on. We can't allow that.
"What if you have the Radar (or camera) on the drone, and the drone relays the footage (and or speed information) to the police officer that has the joystick for the drone."
Nope. Doesn't work. This has been all over the courts. THE OFFICER issuing the ticket has to "observe" the infraction directly. They have stretched the meaning of "directly" to mean he can look at his own radar gun, but they've never been able to get speed cameras of any kind through the courts.
Don't worry about it if it's raining.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
Half-way through the first paragraph, I recognised your writing and eagerly started scanning for references to "sheeple". Three counts. You didn't disappoint.
"The true measure of a person is how they act when they know they won't get caught." - DSRilk
I consistently drive 10 miles over the speed limit, which generally keeps me with the flow of traffic and you'll be ignored by the CHiPs. 15+ and you're risking it. 20+ and the law will be enforced.
I've had 1 ticket in the three years I've been in California, and on the highway I'm consistently over the speed limit as well. That one ticket was for 83 on I-280 and the cop even gave me a break as I was going well over 90 when I passed him. I guess it pays to be courteous and honest about it.
In fact, outside of rush hour it's just dangerous to go 65mph on the Bay Area as just about everyone will go 70+.
My rule of thumb: no more than 15 over the limit.
I'm not a complete idiot... Some parts are missing.
In my town there's a red background white text sign which says:
Think
Bike
Except someone has sprayed red paint over the "ke".
Troll, really? I took this tongue in cheek and laughed out loud. This is a sad comment on the times, to little humor and to much political correctness.
Troll, really? I took this tongue in cheek and laughed out loud. This is a sad comment on the times, to little humor and to much political correctness.
This, I wish I had mod points for the GP.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
“At CHP we definitely do not have drones. We use radar, lidar, pace, we have planes and we have helicopters, but we do not have drones,” he said. “Along with not having drones we definitely do not have any drones that would fire any type of weaponry.”
If we did, they would be classified secret. Really though, pinky swear for real, we have no drones that we can speak of.
Yes, police never lie.
You know why these signs get put up? Because someone living in the area has a hard-on about the speeding on the road, but the police are not willing to enforce the speed limit there. This person petitions the local city council, mayor, etc and as a compromise and to shut the person up, they put up the sign.
"His name was James Damore."
Why is there never any wolfle?
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
becuase drones cost too much
You can put a radar on a plane.
During my exile in Pennsylvania, I had to deal with their summer road construction method: shut down all of the lanes that you hope to work on over the summer at the very beginning, then work on them sparingly.
Anyway, they had signs with what was supposed to look like a child's handwriting saying, "Please slow down. My Daddy works here."
I wanted to load the van with signs to put next to these in the empty construction zones saying, "Please work. My Daddy drives here."
hawk, who didn't at the time think of the Mommy variant [the state had both], I supposed I'd need a "Please hold a sign. My daddy drives here."
Not to mention that if they actually are using aircraft you should reverse-decimate the police funding since they clearly have way too much money if they're using aircraft for speed enforcement instead of you know, tailing dangerous suspects or resolving hostage situations.
to little humor and to much political correctness.
That sounds like a toast.
If you're watching from the air you could just paint white lines one the road which are ten seconds apart at whatever the speed limit is. Take less than 10 seconds between them, you're speeding and they have it on video.
Before the slashdot pedants chime in: No, you wouldn't pull somebody over for 9.9 seconds. You'd only pull people over if they were clearly less than 10 seconds or braked sharply after crossing the first line. The first case for speeding, the second for driving without due care and attention (or whatever they call it over there).
No sig today...
What they did not account for is that drivers saw the lines and would slow down; by the time they went by the radar they were again doing the speed limit.
So much for traffic drones.
Ummmm, that's a success. The point is to get people to slow down, not to write tickets.
No sig today...
"And along with not having any such drones, we definitely have never used them; particularly not on seventeen occasions to date."
I don't know about California, but in Texas I have seen exactly these kind of setups. The road has white markers on the ground and based on these markers they can determine your speed. But I never got into the situation to actually test who pulls you over.
+1
Many places the police have a few helicopters patrolling and dangers suspects and hostage situations are not occurring 24/7. It makes sense to put the rather expensive helicopters and crews to work on more mundane tasks when not needed elsewhere. Traffic patrol is one of the simple things to do from the air. You can quickly spot cars that are significantly speeding and dispatch ground crews to intercept. Additionally spotting trouble situations, such as bad accidents can also help and reduce the response time of early responders (they can better pinpoint the location than somebody calling 911 on the ground). I think they should be put to work on the most relevant task at the time and avoid down time. When something really bad happens, they easily can abort the traffic patrol and go support the SWAT team.
The 'speed enforced by aircraft' signs USED to be accurate. The California highway patrol used to have small aircraft that would time motorists, and radio the results to waiting patrol cars. I've seen the aircraft (15 years ago) at Napa airport, where they used to fuel.
Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company -- Mark Twain
I recall a poster that read Speed Monitored By Aircraft. The picture was an F-4 Phantom-II with a CHP logo on the side of the fuselage. Seen in an aircraft accessory store on Watt Ave in North Highlands.
Common site when driving to Gilroy from San Jose, the pilot/passenger (not sure if they're flown solo), looks for an obvious speeder cutting through traffic and gives the approximate speed and location to a CHiP on the ground who catches them on radar then proceeds to chase them down and ticket them. Quite effective when working with a team of 3-5 highway patrol officers on the ground. That's how they usually work to is they designate an area to focus enforcement on, they vary where they go as well so there's no discernible pattern. There is usually a week's notice in the newspaper though, but you would only know if you read the paper. LOL!
Wrong. Aircraft, and more specifically helicopters, are a finite resource that are quickly used up through usage. Fuel is burned by the hour at a crazy rate, and the engine hour meter counts the number of hours remaining until the next major overhaul, which must take place every few thousand hours according to the manufacturer's schedule, and can easily cost half the price of a brand new aircraft.
Cheap helicopters can cost anywhere from $300-$600 an hour to operate. The turbine engine helicopters used by the police probably cost a good deal more. I don't want my police department burning up their limited air support budget on writing up a few speeders.
John