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Comment by plasticchris | Hacker News Reader

It is simple: speeding tickets are a revenue stream.

People who break the law like to say this but I've never lived anywhere where, if that were true, the city wasn't inexplicably leaving tons of money on the table. Usually it's a token effort at addressing safety issues caused by poor road design and an excuse officers like to use to stop someone when they want to search their car.

EDIT: as a thought experiment, imagine that we went full cyberpunk hell-future and they started letting private equity companies put up cameras anywhere some MBA thought their cut of the ticket revenue would pay for the camera. How many speeding/stop sign/red light tickets do you think the average driver would get on their way to work? Now ask how different that is from the average driver's experience almost anywhere.

I don't think it's very common, but you can find places where you can plainly see that's the reason: mainly non-local tourist traffic, poor signage, no other warnings about a dangerous area or speed checks, hidden speed cameras but no police present.

This translates to: we don't care you're not going to drive here again, or that you didn't notice the sign. We don't even care if you slow down or not.

Not being sour here. I got caught at a well signed area in my local neighbourhood area - now I'm driving there slower.

In Russia this is already the thing, private parties are setting their own licensed and verified speed traps.I don't know their revenue numbers, though

In the UK it goes into central government coffers, not to police.

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