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Man moons speed camera, fine won’t be so funny

Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 by admin

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There are times in everyone’s life when you have an idea that sounds brilliant when explained in the audience of friends, but in practice is “exposed” as pure idiocy. The passenger of a BMW X5 gave a Cramlington, UK speed camera an uncensored view of his backside in an obvious attempt at humor, but in the end (no pun intended) the stunt could result in some hefty fines. Since local authorities weren’t amused by the Braveheart salute, the passenger could receive tickets for public indecency and for not wearing a seat belt. Well, that is if the driver is willing to rat on his or her offending comrade.

While we admit this is kind of funny at first blush, mostly because we never before noticed that a BMW grille looks a little like a human butt, mooning a speed camera is stupid for a couple reasons. First, it’s not cool to expose yourself in public. That’s the kind of thing that will get you on a sex offender list if you’re not careful. Second, speed cameras are really good at taking pictures of cars, giving authorities the plates of the vehicle as they pass through intersections. Third, and perhaps most important, why would the owner of a Bimmer want someone to press their bare ass up against their windshield? Lets just hope someone remembered to sanitize the soiled glass. Thanks for the tip, everyone!

Pittsburgh police refunding speeding fines given by mistake

Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 by admin

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A pair of Pittsburgh Revenue Officers misunderstood the rules surrounding the use of some LIDAR gear loaned to the department for testing and issued a raft of tickets that the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police now has to retract. Apparently LIDAR is only approved for use when teamed with other systems like VASCAR and ENRADD, which measure speed in different ways, and these boys in blue were using it solo. Their mistake instantly invalidates about 650 speeding fines that were issued on account of the loaned LIDAR equipment.

Pittsburgh police chief Nate Harper has apologized for the erroneous tickets, and motorists with LIDAR-only tickets were encouraged to request a court hearing. If the citation has already been paid, the unlawfully caught speeders will be reimbursed. A full refund for a speeding ticket is novel, but our sarcastic side wants to make a crack about the payouts being funded by shortening yellow lights at intersections with camera-bots. Thanks for the tip, Eddy!

[Source: WTAE, Photo: nist.gov]