Local teens claim pranks on county's Speed Cams






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As a prank, students from local high schools have been taking advantage of the county's Speed Camera Program in order to exact revenge on people who they believe have wronged them in the past, including other students and even teachers.
Students from Richard Montgomery High School dubbed the prank the Speed Camera "Pimping" game, according to a parent of a student enrolled at one of the high schools.
Originating from Wootton High School, the parent said, students duplicate the license plates by printing plate numbers on glossy photo paper, using fonts from certain websites that "mimic" those on Maryland license plates. They tape the duplicate plate over the existing plate on the back of their car and purposefully speed through a speed camera, the parent said. The victim then receives a citation in the mail days later.
Students are even obtaining vehicles from their friends that are similar or identical to the make and model of the car owned by the targeted victim, according to the parent.
"This game is very disturbing," the parent said. "Especially since unsuspecting parents will also be victimized through receipt of unwarranted photo speed tickets.
The parent said that "our civil rights are exploited," and the entire premise behind the Speed Camera Program is called into question as a result of the growing this fad among students.
The Speed Camera Program was implemented in March of this year and used for the purpose of reducing traffic and pedestrian collisions in the county. Cameras are located in residential areas and school zones where the posted speed limit is 35 miles per hour or lower. A $40 citation is mailed to the owner of the car for violating the speed limit in these areas.
The Montgomery County Police said they have not seen or heard of this prank occurring but said they will keep an eye out for people committing the crime.
"I hope the public at large will complain loudly enough that local Montgomery County government officials will change their policy of using these cameras for monetary gain," the parent said. "The practice of sending speeding tickets to faceless recipients without any type of verification is unwarranted and an exploitation of our rights."
Edward Owusu, Assistant Principal at Wootton High School, said that he heard of local students pulling the prank when the school received a call from a parent informing them of its occurrence. "I have not heard of this happening among students at Wootton," Osuwu said. "It is unfortunate that kids have a lot of time on their hands that they can think of doing such a thing."
Montgomery County Council President Phil Andrews said that the issue is troubling in several respects. "I am concerned that someone could get hurt, first of all, because they are speeding in areas where they know speeding is a problem," he said.
Andrews also said that this could hurt the integrity of the Speed Camera Program. "It will cause potential problems for the Speed Camera Program in terms of the confidence in it," he said.
He said he is glad someone caught it before it becomes more widespread and he said he hopes that the word get out to the people participating in this that there will be consequences.







Find an enemy. Get said enemy's license plate number. Make a color copy of the license plate. Speed through red light cameras. Fun for the whole family


This is a damn good idea....

Kudos to the student or students who brainstormed this idea.....
These kids just might have taken down the Red light ticket racket throughout the US and other countries!!!

LOL.....

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You know, fightin' in a basement offers a lot of difficulties.
Number one being, you're fightin' in a basement!

thats pretty smart!!!

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Maryland Whitetail
www.chesapeakebaybratwurst.com/

wow...that's some smart ass kids

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Chlorine is my perfume. ~Author Unknown

Genius.

New Bumper sticker...My Kid Ran Your Tag Through A Redlight Camera...What Has Your Honor Student Done?

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To Do It and Fail, Is Better Then To Never Try! Russell Swan-Survivor Samoa

dumb fukin kids..

I -for one- LOVE the red light cameras..

at several key intersections.. idiots used to run the lights CONSTANTLY...
but now that they have the cameras up.. the fukin idiots dont run them now..

I dont want to see the cameras get removed because of some stupid ass kids...

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This will start a precedent that won't stop. Now every kid in the country will be doing this. Eventually they may have to get rid of the cameras for the amount of complaints from pranksters.

I find it funny as hell! I don't like the cameras. I've seen rear end collisions due to the fear of getting a ticket. It seems that the yellow light is shorter where the cameras are. Especially at 4 & King.

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"Government isn't the solution to our problems. Government is the problem." - Ronald Reagan
"Time you can never get back but money you can always make." - My Wife

That is f'ing hilarious!

The camera light at 4th and King is a joke. That is the City of Wilmington's way of scamming money out of people. There is no way that light is yellow long enough for the amount of traffic that passes through there on a daily basis.

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I don't like them here but I think they are needed in Philly. Better if it is them and not us

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I've seen people that are behind trucks notice at the last second that the light is yellow turning red. Then are given the decision to either get a ticket or slam on brakes. Risking a collision...

I've never liked them, too much like Big Brother and too much room for mistakes. I'm glad these kids have done this stuff.

As for people running through lights etc, the cops need to drag their asses away from the coffee shops and do something about it instead of letting a camera do the job that our taxes pay THEM to do.

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The only way to bring about change is to actively strive to achieve it. - (7-24-09, Witchofthedogs)

You can buy those cameras, and have the city install them. Then you and the city will get profits from them. If i invested into five cameras at 5 key intersections. I'd be a rich dude...

I watched a funeral procession go through one of these camera equipped intersections..... was pretty hilarious watching the flash going off for every car. I wonder if they were actually ticketed though.

It's all fun and games until someone gets killed.

How could they get out of it? You would think they had them dead to rights

The only thing that annoys me is that I didn't think of it sooner.

GOOD, I hope it causes the entire country to have to remove every red light camera. They don't prevent accidents, they only change the type of accident it causes, and with a tidy profit to the Police dept.

When I was in high school they used to put up temporary devices that told you how fast you were going (no ticket. They hadn't got that advanced yet). They had them on PA Rt.1 in Chadds Ford.
So for fun we would drive by it over and over again and see who could get it to register the highest speed. I think we got them to around 115 mph.

"Osuwu said. "It is unfortunate that kids have a lot of time on their hands that they can think of doing such a thing.""

You're an assistant principal and you are surprised that kids have lots of time on their hands.....? WTF....? That's all kids do have. Time and lots of it.

WAKE THE F UP!

Roog I HATE those cameras.......
BUT....yes there is a but......
If you cannot see the light ahead of you.....
You're traveling too close to the vehicle ahead of you.....




and for the record.... If you look and see the orange hand on the crosswalk blinking...... It's getting ready to go to yellow.......

The cameras have a purpose and they have made the areas they watch over generally safer. Although there are plenty of arguments against them, there are a large number of arguments to back their useage!

Dont the redlight cameras take not only a pic of the plate but of the front of the car as well?? My friend got one and he actually saw the video of him going through the red light and you could clearly see him in the drivers seat in both the front pic and the video.

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Sometimes I feel just like Sharpay from High School Musical....
"Don't you see that bigger is better and better is bigger. A little bit is never enough!!! No! No! No! I want it all!"




Some people choose to remain in the past with life, love and happiness; never really exploring the opportunity of a new day. To those I say: Build a bridge, Get over it, and Move on. A new life awaits you just around the bend....

Some do and some don't.

I've always thought the red light cameras were a good idea for things like wrecks etc, but not for tickets. I knew someday someone would figure out a way to frame other people, just didn't think it would be kids, lol

I'm not a fan of red light cameras either... I agree they can be good when an accident happens.