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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."
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.
I would have taken that seriously if not for the missile.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
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.
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
uh huh....fake...
That's what they WANT you to think.
uh huh....fake...
That's what they WANT you to think.
The real question is who is behind this? The CIA or the NSA? And why did they post signs? were they hoping to distract us from the other domestic spying?
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".
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.
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".
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
Senator Vreenak is outraged.
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.
The real question is who is behind this?
Well it's California, so it could be anything from people who support the idea, to people who don't support the idea. To environmentalists who want to scare people into slowing down, to the other end of the spectrum of people who just want traffic to move slower.
My bet rests with someone inside the DOT who knows someone at a plant that turns out the signs. And got them to do up a bunch.
Om, nomnomnom...
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!
Sir... the drones you see flying over your head do not monitor if you're speeding. They are merely ensuring you're not a terrorist by adding your license plate, name, and the current speed you're going into our ultra secure database. Nothing to see here, move along.
The real question is who is behind this?
I'm betting it's this guy.
Free Martian Whores!
"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.
The reverse vampires.
"We don't have drones, and we certainly don't have drones that can fire weaponry."
Seems legit.
---
ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
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.
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.
My bet rests with someone inside the DOT who knows someone at a plant that turns out the signs. And got them to do up a bunch.
It's actually simple to go out to any company that does signage for the state and get them to make signs to state standards for you. I once worked on a software project codenamed "Freeway" and thought it would be cute to have a couple Freeway Entrance signs made to put up in the halls on our floor of the building. The only question the company asked me was to confirm they were for private use.
-J
There's nothing special about the places official signs come from. In fact, the DOT doesn't necessarily purchase signs, local municipalities (and businesses) do. Nearly every sign manufacturer capable of making MUTCD-compliant signs will do custom signs. They're not even that expensive (although obviously non-refundable).
Just do a google search. You can have a street name sign with whatever you want on it to hang in your house for like 150 bucks. Standard items like Stop signs can go for as little as 30 bucks in sufficient quantity.
So it could be anyone who pays attention to detail and a little disposable income who made this happen.
to little humor and to much political correctness.
That sounds like a toast.