Put Speed Cameras to Good Use

Montgomery County, Maryland, launched the Safe Speed automated enforcement program last year. The goal was to save lives (yeah, right) by using cameras to catch speeders in residential areas and send them a ticket through the mail.

It seemed to be working...until a bunch of kids began exploiting the inherent flaw in the system. From the Montgomery County Sentinel:

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.

Simple. Ingenious. But a complete waste of time.

Imagine, however, those who voted to authorize these cameras getting two or three speeding tickets per week. Now that is what I would call poetic justice.