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Waldo, FL Speed Enforcement
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Who hasn't had the frustrating experience of speeding by a
police car, parked by the side of the road, and noticing that
a notorious bit of technology, the radar gun, has been pointed
directly at your speeding vehicle? Sometimes, it's a small
town policeman claiming you exceeded an excruciatingly low
speed limit by an exceedingly narrow margin. Or maybe it's
a major speed trap on I-95, seemingly designed to boost the
highway patrol's "ticket quota"... In any case,
"speed traps" are as American as driving (and just
as old).
The race to build a better "fuzzbuster," radar
and laser detectors, has spawned a multi-million dollar
industry that uses space age technology to build devices
to detect the spurious emissions of police speed detecting
devices. Some technology mavens have even attempted to build
devices that actually neutralize the radar and laser guns
employed by the police. While their legality is in question,
from state to state, their effectiveness has also been called
into question. The police, on the other hand, continue their
quest to build more efficient and sophisticated speed detecting
devices, some of which prove costlier than the entire budget
of a small town police department.
With all this in mind, Pacific Street Films produced Speed
Traps, an engrossing one-hour documentary that explores
the on-going battle between police and drivers. The program
explores the new technologies available to both police and
drivers, as well as investigating the ins and outs of avoiding
tickets and keeping those costly points off your license.
PSF's cameras ride with both sides in this show and the
result is an informative and sometimes humorous look at
our nation's obsession with speed.
Our approach to this one-hour special is multi-layered,
capturing the often comedic battle between speed detection
and "stealthy" speed detection avoidance. We take
to the road with members of both AAA and RADAR, touring
areas they claim provide examples of the most egregious
perpetrators of the so-called "speed traps." On
the flip side, our cameras also prowl alongside the highway
patrolmen who take "aim" at the worst of the vehicular
maniacs, who hurl thousands of pounds of metal carelessly
down the nation's roadways. Also highlighted is the development
(and history) of speed detection: from the purely "eyeball"
approach, to primitive VASCAR, "bears in the air"
(aerial patrolling), to the most advanced "instant
on" radar and laser guns. Conversely, we'll look at
the history of radar detection, from the original "fuzzbuster,"
to the super-sophisticated technology of the Valentine One,
considered to be the best detector on the market today.
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