Natter 65: Speed Limit Enforced by Aircraft

Sorry for threadjacking, but I saw this sign the other day, and thought, "they don't do that." Because, come on, right? It's gotta be just an empty threat.

I like Speed Limit.

They have those signs all over the place here, and yet, I have never seen an aircraft that could conceivably be doing speed checking, nor ever received a ticket from a plane.

However, this year they installed roughly eight billion (eta: okay, five, but it's a small town. We drove past four of the five on the way home from the restaurant yesterday.) massive huge speed cameras and apparently those are working just fine because we did get a ticket from one of them.

Answer Man explains:

The secret of airborne traffic enforcement is a little device called the VASCAR. No, not NASCAR. VASCAR.

VASCAR stands for "Visual Average Speed Computer And Recorder." It's a box about the size of a clock radio. You can mount it in a patrol car or inside an airplane. Heck, you could mount it on the side of a Fire Magic Regal II gas grill, though why you would want to do that, we couldn't say.

VASCAR, said Lt. Nick Saunders of the Virginia State Police aviation unit, "is just a fancy stopwatch."

It's a fancy stopwatch that can estimate the speed of a vehicle by performing a quick time-distance calculation. Here's what happens: A light airplane circles above the interstate at an altitude of about 2,000 feet. Inside are a pilot and a state trooper who is a certified VASCAR operator. Below, painted from shoulder to shoulder at regular intervals on the highway, are wide, white lines. To check if someone is speeding, the trooper pushes a button on the VASCAR unit when a vehicle crosses the first white line, then hits the button again when it reaches the second line. The unit then displays the vehicle's speed. Both Maryland and Virginia use the system.

"Compared to radar, [VASCAR] is actually a more fair system to the motorist," said Lt. Saunders. While radar gives an instantaneous reading -- how fast you're going the exact moment you're hit by the invisible beam -- VASCAR gives you the average speed. You might get a bit of credit for decelerating, he said.

He doesn't say how they ticket you, though - I assume they take a picture of your license plate and use the DMV records to send you a bill.

And this blog seems to indicate that the airplane just calls a regular patrol car to chase you down. But it also says there aren't many planes actually in the air monitoring speeders because it's cheaper to just put up the signs and hope people are intimidated into slowing down!

But it also says there aren't many planes actually in the air monitoring speeders because it's cheaper to just put up the signs and hope people are intimidated into slowing down!

This is what I figure. Putting up a plane just can't be justified, cost-wise, compared to the warning itself.

I like Speed Limit

And this blog seems to indicate that the airplane just calls a regular patrol car to chase you down.

I can actually say I know someone who got a ticket this way. He too laughed at the sign as he passed it and about a mile later got pulled over. He wasn't laughing anymore.

I like Speed Limit, too.

Speed Limit makes me laugh.

Sorry for threadjacking, but I saw this sign the other day, and thought, "they don't do that." Because, come on, right? It's gotta be just an empty threat.

They regularly use planes on intersate 5 in the middle of California and on interstate 15 between LA and Vegas.