Vehicle questions and answers

[dmi]

As many of you may know, Maryland has started their "SPEED SAFE" program which involves minivans on the side of the road which snaps pics of you and fines you in the mail.

I have seen grey ones and white ones.. I snapped pics.. They are probably run by TMC and they have the standard stainless steel looking coiled 800Mhz county trunked antenna on the top. They are in uniform. By the way, that safe-speed van that i took is usually on the Walter Johnson HS side just prior to Rockledge. And, on the other side headed towards Old Georgetown Rd (both on Democracy Blvd.)

Also I saw 2 assumed to be federal vehicles on 2 occasions with the same antenna configuration...

Both crown vics, with a 800 or 900 mhz on the trunk left side facing the back of the vehicle and a VHF black whip on the right side..The UHF stainless whip is flush against the trunk sitting between the trunk and the rear glass pain. I saw 2 rectanglular concealed flashers on the back interrior.. any ideas.. The right VHF whip is hard to make out.. but if you follow the passenger sight tail light along the seam towards the front you will see.. I didn't wanna stick around ... ;p

pics are..

Fed:

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/4319/fedidmelowkz8.jpg

Speed-Safe:

http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/3894/safespeed1px1.jpg

http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/585/safespeed2tf7.jpg

jay

 

[Llwellyn]

Didn't the additional photo radar deployment package get shot down by the legislature in session? I thought they voted it out at the last minute... that van must be part of a county program or something.

 

[Grog]

Love the spotlight :lol:

 

[dmi]

Didn't the additional photo radar deployment package get shot down by the legislature in session? I thought they voted it out at the last minute... that van must be part of a county program or something.

Actually no. They agreed to have this program near school zones in 35 mph areas. They even have a website on the moco site. It is in a sense a speed trap. 40 $ fine.

Looking at a sample citation, It captures the license after you pass the van. But, I wonder if they have the radar in the rear and snap the pics after the pass, OR they have the radar in front which it looks like they do looking at those pics I took.
Plus I think those tints are illegal in Maryland.

Example citation http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/content/Pol/districts/FSB/sod/speed/pdfs/Citation.pdf

Funny, when I first saw the van on the side of the road I wasn't speeding but saw the speed safe sign. From then on I slowed down when I saw them down the road. I even slowed waayy down and waved to them. heh check the links..

And they are on the County website so it's not like I'm giving anything away.

It's called the speed safe program.. they come in two flavors .. those vans.. I've seen white and that gray one in the pic..

I'll just throw out some urls for you.

http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/poltmpl.asp?url=/content/pol/index.asp

http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/poltmpl.asp?url=/content/POL/districts/FSB/sod/speed/Speed.asp

http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/poltmpl.asp?url=/content/POL/districts/FSB/sod/speed/about.asp

Locations

http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/poltmpl.asp?url=/content/POL/districts/FSB/sod/speed/locations.asp

I've also seen the speed safe vans collecting the data for the red light cameras.
so I guess it's some subdivision. I don't know if its TMC or what..

Read up on those read light cameras.. amazing technologeeee
http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/p...l/districts/FSB/sod/speed/redlightCameras.asp


jay

 

[Dewey]

As many of you may know, Maryland has started their "SPEED SAFE" program which involves minivans on the side of the road which snaps pics of you and fines you in the mail.

I have seen grey ones and white ones.. I snapped pics.. They are probably run by TMC and they have the standard stainless steel looking coiled 800Mhz county trunked antenna on the top. They are in uniform. By the way, that safe-speed van that i took is usually on the Walter Johnson HS side just prior to Rockledge. And, on the other side headed towards Old Georgetown Rd (both on Democracy Blvd.)

Also I saw 2 assumed to be federal vehicles on 2 occasions with the same antenna configuration...

Both crown vics, with a 800 or 900 mhz on the trunk left side facing the back of the vehicle and a VHF black whip on the right side..The UHF stainless whip is flush against the trunk sitting between the trunk and the rear glass pain. I saw 2 rectanglular concealed flashers on the back interrior.. any ideas.. The right VHF whip is hard to make out.. but if you follow the passenger sight tail light along the seam towards the front you will see.. I didn't wanna stick around ... ;p

pics are..

Fed:

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/4319/fedidmelowkz8.jpg

Speed-Safe:

http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/3894/safespeed1px1.jpg

http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/585/safespeed2tf7.jpg

jay

Looking at the tag, your pic of the "Fed" Crown Vic is really a DC Gov't cruiser.

 

[dmi]

Looking at the tag, your pic of the "Fed" Crown Vic is really a DC Gov't cruiser.

He lives near me... It's a 4 digit number I whited out and the background cause he lives there..

My question, why does he need a UHF and VHF whip.. i'm wondering what agency

I'm not gonna knock on his door heh
I do have a high quality pic that's 16 or so MB that is 9 megapix heh

I obviously knew it was fed..

As for the Safe Speed van if you use the right filters which I was too lazy to do, you can clearly make out the tags, although it's kind of pointless. It's just a normal tag.

Looking at the example citation, they line the camera up with the front most cone such that it's just on the right side edge of the snap shot. Looking at the level and angle of the camera it appears to be inside on the dash with the radar and flash well looking at the pic that would be obvious..

Here's an example from the citation which gives you a perspective of how the cam shots are done...

http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/5839/gotchyalu0.png

I wonder what would happen if I was walking down the side walk and asked what they were doing.. I wouldn't but they couldn't really do anything. I mean, it's posted on MoCo's site!

jay

 

[Dewey]

He lives near me... It's a 4 digit number I whited out and the background cause he lives there..

...
jay

[D] over [C] is DC Gov't. Fed tags are usually the US Gov't tags, or ordinary DC, MD, or VA tags. While a lot of DC agencies use the D over C tags there are going to be all kinds of possibilities to the different radio frequencies. Most cases where MPD use a VHF antenna is for Capitol PD, and second place to Park PD as a secondary radio. Also most cases where you see the curley curl 800 antenna on MPD is a Nextel mobile kit or the antenna used for the MDT instead of the hockey puck.

EDIT: Looking closer at the pic, this is just the standard/typical/normal UHF quarter wave MPD installation.

 

[dmi]

[D] over [C] is DC Gov't. Fed tags are usually the US Gov't tags, or ordinary DC, MD, or VA tags. While a lot of DC agencies use the D over C tags there are going to be all kinds of possibilities to the different radio frequencies. Most cases where MPD use a VHF antenna is for Capitol PD, and second place to Park PD as a secondary radio. Also most cases where you see the curley curl 800 antenna on MPD is a Nextel mobile kit or the antenna used for the MDT instead of the hockey puck.

EDIT: Looking closer at the pic, this is just the standard/typical/normal UHF quarter wave MPD installation.

Maybe if I get more daring I'll get a close-up... stealth style at night with a flash-er-oo

heh