A few years ago, a woman I knew who lived and worked in Sydney, Australia, said something about getting a ticket and losing her license. She said she'd had too many tickets and was now in trouble for it. So they took her license to drive away for some period of time.
I remember at the time wondering if she just drove fast a lot or was frequently distracted while she drove or just what was going on that she had enough tickets to lose her license. But she was a highly intelligent person and I thought well of her, so I didn't push the subject. I would periodically joke with her that I was going to have my big-assed 4x4 shipped over and drive her wherever she wanted to go as a special favor, but I never asked her any specifics about what it was like to drive in Sydney or why someone might be likely to lose their license in the first place.
Tony Blair is watching you
A few years later, Electro-Kevin blogged about the CCTV cameras all over the UK that make life miserable for the citizens who are perpetually monitored by a giant Big Brother government that seems more afraid of its citizens than of terrorists or enemy nations. I remember thinking how horrible it would feel to live in a nation like that, where every move you make is monitored by your fat, corrupt politically-correct politicians and you have no freedom. Any time I considered leaving the United States to visit another country, I always eliminated the UK from my list based partly on the damn cameras everywhere. To me, cameras mean a corrupt tyrannical government and I want nothing to do with that.
More and more American cities are putting up cameras at every red light, or along highways, and randomly ticketing people, many of whom don't even know they've done anything wrong until the postman arrives with a citation for them to pay or appear in court to explain to a judge. We have more cops than ever before in our nation's history, yet we feel less safe, partly because of the cops themselves. And in addition to the army of armed government agents swarming us in traffic each day, we now have these fucking cameras popping up everywhere.
And then, just last week, I learned that Australian cities all have the cameras, too, and that this is almost certainly how my old friend lost her license while simply driving to work each day on the busy streets of Sydney.
Let's be honest here, if you had a fucking government camera following you down every single street, every single day, as you drove to and from work, to and from the store, to and from anywhere and everywhere you went, how many tickets would you accumulate?
I'd get 50 within the first month, most of them for taking photos of other idiot drivers while behind the wheel of my own moving vehicle. But many of them would be for driving 1 or 2 miles per hour over the posted limit. I do occasionally fail to see the nearest speed limit sign and thus pick my own speed at random based on how heavy my foot feels on that particular day. And there would be more than a few for going 10 or 20 mph over the limit. I'd probably get a few for tailgating. And throw in a couple for passing in a no passing zone. A few more for driving in the passing lane without passing anyone. Before long I'd be a wanted felon.
What about you? How would you feel living in a city surrounded by fucking government cameras invading your privacy and tracking your every move?
Do you already live in a city like that? How does it feel?
Do you think constant monitoring of innocent people makes them more or less likely to grow resentful and wish to commit actual crimes? I mean, how good would it feel to whip out a big gun and start shooting at the cameras, do you think? Or to toss grenades and blow them up? Or to ram them with a big truck? Don't you think you would be bothered by them if they followed you everywhere you went?
Do you think this trend of Big Government micromanaging our daily lives is going to get worse, or fade away as The People grow tired of it and demand more freedom and less Government intrusion?
Land of the free?
18 comments:
We've got a couple of red-light cameras in Winnipeg. They flash when they take a picture, so you generally have an idea if you've been caught by one or not. Usually they're installed in bus lanes and in merging lanes on bridges and stuff.
People look at them more as a cash-grab by the City rather than a Big Brother-type thing, though. Must be a Canadian thing, because I don't know anyone who does?
Gonna get MUCH WORSE in my opinion.
I am dreading the inevitable day at the airport with the electronic strip search x-ray thingy.
"Probable cause" is that I have an airplane ticket. Fuck.
You're still here! I'm back! Bella
I don't want to put you off Australia at all, but here they introduced the red light cameras first which meant that everyone accelerated even more than before when the light turned orange. Once they had that firmly embedded into behaviour, they brough a combination camera that measures red light runners and speed. I went through one last year and knew that it went off, but not whether it was for speed lateness (unlikely I tohught) or maybe even both. Voila instant tax revenue hike!
I live in Australia and those damn cameras are everywhere. Just on my way to work I pass 4 of the new combined red light/speed cameras and and uncountable amount of surveillance cameras sometimes 2 or more at an intersection!
Seriously, this is fixing nothing.
Take this morning for instance, I slowed down to stop at a light that had turned orange (heaven forbid I don't want run a red light - one I know there is a triple set of cameras at!) and some maniac in a massive 4x4 got impatient and nearly collected me getting into a nearby turning lane... its insane here!
I bet if that moron had hit me those cameras wouldn't be a bit helpful either! I'm sure those are 'government only use'
*sigh* Talk about nanny state.....
It's pretty simple !!!
Don't speed or run red lights on your way to work and you won't get your photo taken.
I don't give a fuck about the cameras; better than wasting taxes having cops manning radar guns everywhere.
Gives them more time to do proper cop stuff...like booking me for parking my scooter on the footpath OUTSIDE MY OWN FUCKING HOUSE...
Last time I got done apparently going through a red light camera, I wrote to the nice Mr Policemen, and said I wanted proof.
They sent me a nice B&W photo of me flooring it through the intersection.
Yep. Fucking cameras.
Alyson, a lot of the cameras started off as a cash-grab, with cities just using them to make money from ticketing people all day, but in many places it has evolved into a big intrusive nightmare with cameras all over the place.
Heff, that's what I think, too. It's an expansion of the power and reach of Government and unless the People push back and demand that they come down this will continue to spread.
XL, I dread that, too. They have no right to do that simply because you need to fly from one place to another. Talk about invasion of privacy!
GratefulBella, I am indeed still here. I have defied all odds and several attempts at retirement and am still producing mindless crap for the internet. Glad to see you back again.
Mikelaide, I still want to come to Australia, but the camera thing does bother me. I think perhaps when I do visit I probably won't rent a car or drive anywhere if I can possibly manage to avoid it. Either that or I'll rent a motorcycle and ride it on the sidewalks.
Missy, they solve nothing, but their perpetual existence does indicate that The Nanny State has done nothing to resolve whatever problem presumably existed to warrant the installation of the cameras in the first place. I think the citizens should demand a time limit on how long a camera can be up and if whatever problem existed hasn't been resolved then The State needs to answer for it and remove the camera. No government camera should ever be permanent outside of a prison or secure government building. You're probably right about them refusing to give you access to the footage in the event of an accident, too. Governments are notoriously unhelpful and uncooperative.
Fingers, I just always find it shocking that you truly do ride a Vespa to work every day. I suppose if I lived in Sydney I might understand better, seeing how crowded it is firsthand and all. I think you need to trade it in on that Harley you wanted. It's more in keeping with your international internet image of a lone wolf who crashes cars into police vans. Also, you need a tattoo of an eagle somewhere on your person, like a bicep or your chest or something. Any man who calls a cop a "cunt" right to their face should own a Harley and wear at least one tattoo. At least, that's my opinion.
Ute, have you posted that photo on your blog? That would be an awesome blog post! So far all of my tickets have come by way of personal delivery, with one particularly opinionated officer even questioning whether my vehicle at the time was safe to drive at the speed I was doing. I assured him that it was as I had tested it at far higher speeds on many previous occasions and it performed well.
Amen. I'm gonna be "pushing back" in 2012, that's for damn sure.
Landed on your blog, via Bella... very entertaining.
Memphis- nah, I don't know what I did with that photo, but I think it was back when I had my other blog...the one that accidently got deleted.
I'll have a look, but doubt I've kept the evidence! ;o)
I live in a city like that. We have cameras everywhere. On each streetlight. At my job, at the store, at the gym. Everywhere.
To be honest, I don't give a shit. Nothing exciting to see, so far no one is after me, and I don't plan on committing any heinous crimes. So yeah, I chose not to give a fuck. Because if I did, I would be one pissed of chick. We have a lot of cameras, and I don't want to move so I just deal.
I live in a city like that. We have cameras everywhere. On each streetlight. At my job, at the store, at the gym. Everywhere.
To be honest, I don't give a shit. Nothing exciting to see, so far no one is after me, and I don't plan on committing any heinous crimes. So yeah, I chose not to give a fuck. Because if I did, I would be one pissed of chick. We have a lot of cameras, and I don't want to move so I just deal.
What can I say: I talk loudly and ride a gay bike...
Heff, I'm pushing back every chance I get. I hope this steadily building organized push-back they call a Tea Party keeps going for awhile. It's long overdue. Both political parties need a kick in the ass.
TraceyA, I'm glad to have entertained you. You should see how entertaining I can be naked.
Uterus, I think I might blow a mental gasket if my blog accidentally got deleted, especially since the harddrive with all my backups died a few months ago and I haven't gotten around to making new ones.
Senorita, San Fran has a LOT of policies and political things going on that I don't care for, not the least of which is their cameras all over the place. It doesn't surprise me in the least that they have already installed them. If the Europeans are doing it, they have to do it, too.
Fingers, just please don't ever wear any pink shirts while riding that thing. Or if you already do, don't tell me. Lie and say you wear a black leather jacket and heavy boots or something. Or else tell me you're an avid reader of GQ Magazine and always wear an expensive suit and proper sunglasses so that you look like an Italian mobster on a mission to 'hit' someone. That could potentially make the Vespa almost cool.
Big Government micromanagement /intrusion will get progressively worse. Don't you remember Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World"? Scary stuff.
TraceyX, I do, and I am concerned as I watch it becoming a reality right before my eyes.
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