any tricks to avoid pictures from the licence plate?

I don't know how it is in the rest of the world but where I live if you head into town between 7:00 am and 9:00 am on the way to work EVERYBODY goes 70 kmh per hr and it's a 50 zone. It's 3 lanes each way with a big wide boulevard between. Quite safe actually. A lot of times you're safer going at a speed that's comfortable to you because you attention is all on your driving. Start going slower (ie: the speed limit) and your mind wanders onto other things and you can become distracted. Sometimes I wonder if the theory of speed limits isn't that everybody can be driving along in a semi distracted state and when all of a sudden they realize they're out of focus and getting sloppy it doesn't matter because everyone else is usually going too slow to cause a problem.

I live 3 blocks from an elementary school and one evening I left home and came upon an accident scene. A 13 yr. old girl was unconscious on the road, she'd been struck at the crosswalk. There was a special event on and it was dark. I read later that she died and every time I go by there ( several time a day 8 years later) I think of her. One morning I was approaching the crosswalk and from 100 yards away I saw some adults at the crosswalk. I kept scanning the school parking lot, the entrance and exit to it, the crosswalk ahead, the sidewalks, my mirrors etc and noticed the adults were seeming to be looking at me but they were still too far away to focus on so I kept scanning around. As I always think of the girl who died and her family I'm not siting back in my seat, I'm sitting up and just constantly scanning things. I eventually noticed the adults were police officers in rain gear so I looked at the speedo and I was going 25kmh in a 20kmh school zone so now I took my foot off the gas but I didn't want to stare at my speedo to make sure I was only going 20 kmh I wanted to keep scanning for kids. When I got really close I could see the female cop was pissed and wanted to stop me. The older male cop who'd locked eyes with me a few times now was not watching my truck going 25 kmh but was looking through my windshield watching what I was doing all the while since I'd come into view, put his arm on the female cop and they let me go by. I figure because he was experienced enough to see I was driving very attentively paying very close attention to everything that really mattered. I always knew that for the speed I was going I could stop fast enough for anything that might come into my path within my clear line of vision. Had I been sitting back in my seat lost in thought and gyrating to the music on the radio I would have gotten a ticket for sure. I think we've all been let off the hook once or twice by a good traffic cop who through his experience and observations realized that although we may have been going over the limit we were still driving quite safely.

It's a fine line and it's easy to cross.
 
DogT
Bad news from OZ, we have lots of cameras fixed and mobile. Victoria would be the worst. NSW put up a sign just after you past the mobile ones. Fixed ones have a large warning before so you can not say you wern't warned. Our Northern Territory was the best as out of main towns there was no limit but has been change to 130KM/H about two years ago.
Ian
 
I've just discovered a new respect for Belgians!

I wish we Brits were more like that - unfortunately we've been totally beaten down by the rules :cry:

At least the roads near me are so twisty and dodgy as to make speeding virtually impossible, although the Devil's Bridge road (NW England's No. 1 Biker's meeting place) is so mercilessly monitored by the Plod I don't even bother going any more
 
Ludwig, reading your post, one could think that you can get away with anything in Belgium. Well, I don't think so. As far as I know, it is impossible to get away with speeding fines (unless you are a parliamentarian who "can't do wrong").
Parking tickets in Brussels are a different story.
What drivers in Belgium hate is that many of the speed cameras are put in places that are not justified, well hidden (if safety would be the goal, they would paint them in fluo colours wouldn't they ?) and that the fines are excessively high. Moreover, there is no relation between the height of the fine and the traffic conditions, weather, etc. (Speed controls in 30 Km/u school zones in the middle of the night... )

As civilian, you can never beat them. Road safety, environmental protection, smoking, CO2, you name it. Everything is an excuse to increasing taxes without calling it "taxes".
 
Speeding is generally not a problem on most roads, even in traffic, it is the speed differential that can be dangerous. As long as everyone is going at the same speed or close to it, there is no consequence to going fast, but take one driver who is not at ease at the wheel and if he changes lanes or slows down because a cat crosses the road, then there is a high risk of a collision. Even the pros get bitten, just look at NASCAR races, a sudden change of speed due to engine faiure is many times the cause of a major pileup.

I am always looking at what can go wrong on the road, I anticipate the actions of others and for some strange reason, I feel safer in a car or on a bicycle. The car just because it is basicaly steel body armor and a bicycle only because I can hear and see much better what is going on around me not to mention I am many times on my own private road, even if it is only the paved shoulder. On a motorcycle I feel very vulnerable because I am travelling at the same speed as cars and I am sharing the same road space without any protection or recognition by car drivers, somehow, they don't think a motrobike can hurt them and many times they just don't see a motorcycle.

I am not saying I don't go fast, because I do, but I don't do it all the time and finding out how fast any vehicule can go in a straight line is not something worth doing day in and day out unless it is at Bonneville. Taking that special corner a bit faster on the other hand is always satisfying keeping in mind it can be dangerous because somone dropped oil on the road or some idiot dragged dirt and sand onto the road not to mention the slippery wet leaves at this time of the year.

The good thing about a old machine like a Commando is that it just won't go that fast, there is no need to try and push it past 300Km/h. Ridden within its limits, it can be faster than 99% of cars on the road which is good enough for me.

Jean
 
Hi all
A little while ago a number plate was sold in the UK with a reflective finish that broke up the plate when caught in the flash of the camera.
Sound idea. Looks normal in everyday use. Sold as the way to avoid speeding tickets.
However my friend in the police informed me that one of their boffins in his lunchbreak designed a computer program that can re jig the plate in seconds & you now get done for the number plate as well as your speeding.
Its to easy now to loose your licence. One long trip at areasonable pace & you could blow it in a day.
Real excess can only be sought on the track & its best to do it on a Commando. Biased me?
all the best Chris
 
You could deck your commando out like an Interpol and activate the lights when you come through a town.
Locals may think your in hot persuit. :p
Marshal
 
For those of us in the UK, please remember that although it may be regarded as a bit of harmless 'tax dodging', if you knowingly attempt to avoid detection from cameras etc. by using something to mask the plate or otherwise make the plate number unreadable, then you could find yourself being prosecuted for ATTEMPTING TO PERVERT THE COURSE OF JUSTICE, which could result in a criminal conviction.



http://www.whitedalton.co.uk/Road-Traff ... lates.html
 
Just curious, are radar detectors available and used in Europe? I don't recall hearing people talk about that. A lot of riders in the US mount them. It would seem to solve your problem of being aware when you're being monitored and allow you to grab some brake before it's too late.
 
sidreilley said:
Just curious, are radar detectors available and used in Europe? I don't recall hearing people talk about that. A lot of riders in the US mount them. It would seem to solve your problem of being aware when you're being monitored and allow you to grab some brake before it's too late.
Click to expand...

Very few UK drivers (except Scotland?) use radar 'detectors' as far as I know? Although many drivers have sat-nav systems that give advance warnings of speed camera sites.

http://www.radardetectors.co.uk/radar_detector_law.htm
 
L.A.B. said:
sidreilley said:
Just curious, are radar detectors available and used in Europe? I don't recall hearing people talk about that. A lot of riders in the US mount them. It would seem to solve your problem of being aware when you're being monitored and allow you to grab some brake before it's too late.
Click to expand...

Very few UK drivers (except Scotland?) use radar 'detectors' as far as I know? Although many drivers have sat-nav systems that give advance warnings of speed camera sites.

http://www.radardetectors.co.uk/radar_detector_law.htm
Click to expand...

I thought radar detectors are as illegal in Europe (cue blanket statement) as they are somewhere like Virginia.
 
swooshdave said:
I thought radar detectors are as illegal in Europe (cue blanket statement) as they are somewhere like Virginia.
Click to expand...

There's a list of countries at the bottom of the page in the link I posted above, that shows which European countries allow posession and/or use of radar detectors and which countries do not.
 
When I lived in Pennsylvania, they seemed to have the most effective speed-reduction plan in place: just quit maintaining the roads! You'd think twice about going 20 over too when it's hard enough to even walk slow enough to dodge all the potholes deep enough to be considered Chinese border crossings.
 
Yeah, you can get radar dectectors, laser detectors ( just so you know you've been caught ) and laser confusers ( sold as garage door openers ) hear in the UK it is classed as an offence to use them as you could be charged with interfering with police business, but ongoing prosecution cases have failed to lay down case law I believe. Laser confusers allegedly work but the Laser detectors work up and over 300m most confusers don't. Number plate spray is the other option and have been stopped on my way to Poole Quay on a tuesday night with other rides who plates can't be read by ANPR result is £60 on the spot fine, £1000 if they prove you are using spray. I believe France have taken speeding heart lately and will come down hard on anyone speeding and if caught with a speed detection device they have the option of seizing and crushing your vehicle. For those wondering, the laser dectector fits inside your helmet and flasehes LEDs and is also auto-dimming for use at night.
 
Hi all
Some years ago I worked in Andover and one of our drivers had a number plate on his ZZR1100 that hinged horizontally half way up so as to expose two other surfaces on which was written a very rude message. This was manually controlled by a switch on the left grip.
 
Radar gun's in vans will not catch you [no front plate to read] Gatso ...a couple of coats of Spray...and it works! What Spray :?: It's a Tenner from most bike show's...Doe's it work...Yes! It's a micro cristal base that scatters light.... AND BEFORE ALL YOU GET ALL RIGHT AND LAWFULL! a 80 quid fine for doing 35.. .well its just tax revenue...Nothing but robbery!!!!!
 
john robert bould said:
Radar gun's in vans will not catch you [no front plate to read] Gatso ...a couple of coats of Spray...and it works! What Spray :?: It's a Tenner from most bike show's...Doe's it work...Yes! It's a micro cristal base that scatters light.... AND BEFORE ALL YOU GET ALL RIGHT AND LAWFULL! a 80 quid fine for doing 35.. .well its just tax revenue...Nothing but robbery!!!!!
Click to expand...

Mythbusters did a whole show on this very subject, nothing short of going over 200 miles per hour or flipping the plate worked, sprays, films... all garbage. There is however a very legal way NOT to get tickets, just obey the traffic laws :wink:

Jean
 
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