Fake "Speed Enforced By Drones" Signs On California Freeways 218
NF6X writes "CBS station KPIX reports that somebody has been installing counterfeit traffic signs on California bay area freeways, warning motorists of drone-based speed enforcement. They are professionally-made reflective metal signs of comparable style and quality to official traffic signs, and in some cases are even mounted with tamper-resistant hardware. The signs show the familiar silhouette of an MQ-1 Predator drone launching a weapon. According to KPIX, California Highway Patrol denies that they operate any drones, and states that the signs are fake."
"FAKE" (Score:2)
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uh huh....fake...
That's what they WANT you to think.
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uh huh....fake...
That's what they WANT you to think.
The real question is who is behind this? The CIA or the NSA? And why did they post signs? were they hoping to distract us from the other domestic spying?
Re:"FAKE" (Score:5, Interesting)
The real question is who is behind this?
Well it's California, so it could be anything from people who support the idea, to people who don't support the idea. To environmentalists who want to scare people into slowing down, to the other end of the spectrum of people who just want traffic to move slower.
My bet rests with someone inside the DOT who knows someone at a plant that turns out the signs. And got them to do up a bunch.
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My bet rests with someone inside the DOT who knows someone at a plant that turns out the signs. And got them to do up a bunch.
It's actually simple to go out to any company that does signage for the state and get them to make signs to state standards for you. I once worked on a software project codenamed "Freeway" and thought it would be cute to have a couple Freeway Entrance signs made to put up in the halls on our floor of the building. The only question the company asked me was to confirm they were for private use.
Re:"FAKE" (Score:4, Insightful)
Sir... the drones you see flying over your head do not monitor if you're speeding. They are merely ensuring you're not a terrorist by adding your license plate, name, and the current speed you're going into our ultra secure database. Nothing to see here, move along.
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The real question is who is behind this?
I'm betting it's this guy. [ankrom.org]
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uh huh....fake...
That's what they WANT you to think.
The real question is who is behind this? The CIA or the NSA? And why did they post signs? were they hoping to distract us from the other domestic spying?
Pissed locals. I'd bet on it.
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Re:"FAKE" (Score:5, Funny)
"We don't have drones, and we certainly don't have drones that can fire weaponry."
Seems legit.
Re:"FAKE" (Score:5, Funny)
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If you can't trust the authenticity of the signs.. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:If you can't trust the authenticity of the sign (Score:5, Insightful)
If there was actual speed enforcement on the road, they wouldn't jeopardize the revenue stream by putting up signs.
Re:If you can't trust the authenticity of the sign (Score:5, Insightful)
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That is what you think until you get pulled over by a cop that is already waiting for you and that cop tells you that the plane clocked you at a certain speed. Trust me, those "by aircraft" signs are real.
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While the signs are real, how often do they actually patrol with the aircraft?
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They don't even need aircraft, I have seen officers noting license plates and the time they pass on a stretch of highway. They relay it to another officer much further down (in this case about 40 miles) and if you get there under a certain time they pull you over for speeding.
Someone tried to challenge this in court and lost.
Re:If you can't trust the authenticity of the sign (Score:5, Informative)
I don't think so (from California Vehicle Code Section 40802 -- Speed Traps)
Speed traps are illegal in California.
Re:If you can't trust the authenticity of the sign (Score:4, Funny)
Speed traps are illegal in California.
As they should be. The problem with any automated system is they treat middle class white people the same as the blacks and teenagers that the cops are supposed to be focusing on. We can't allow that.
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Troll, really? I took this tongue in cheek and laughed out loud. This is a sad comment on the times, to little humor and to much political correctness.
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It is (or should be) well known that signs like these are a lie. All my life I have seen these "speed limit enforced by aircraft" signs, which tells me that there is no speed enforcement on that road at all.
I've been on highways that not only have the signs, but also silhouettes of aircraft painted on the road, presumably at known intervals for purposes of clocking vehicles. However, I've never been pulled over there by any cop claiming to have "clocked me by aircraft".
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I was once driving north on it late at night. All of a sudden, my car lit up with a bright spotlight from above surrounding it. I about shit myself.
The spotlight then moved to the car and front of me, and so on.
It was either aliens or the VSP. I'd say, the VSP.
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because the speed limits are codified in law? in the driver handbooks as well?
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"How can you be expected to obey the speed limit?"
In a neighboring state, they have a long-standing law that says the policeman who catches you at a traffic infraction is the one who must issue you the ticket.
Some years ago, they tried painting lines across the highways and timing cars from the planes. Then they'd radio to a car nearby who would pull over speeders and issue them a ticket. Before long, some enterprising speeder pointed out to the courts that the tickets were not legally issued, because the officer observing the speeding was not the one i
Spread Awareness (Score:4, Funny)
Good way to spread awareness and possible outcomes of drone oversight....
YOU'RE GOING 2 MPH OVER THE SPEED LIMIT! YOU HAVE 3 SECONDS TO DECELERATE!
*1 sec later*
DID I SAY 3? TOO LATE!
*fires hellfire missile*
Re:Spread Awareness (Score:5, Funny)
Okay, that's a pretty horrible potential future, but I think I could live with it if they also targeted tailgaters and people who don't use their turn signals.
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No, I'm the one in the right lane, going ten over the speed limit, and ticked off immensely by people who *still* tailgate you in the slow lane.
Re:Spread Awareness (Score:5, Insightful)
You must be that asshole in the left lane. MOVE OVER, and stop worrying about wtf is behind you!
I will not move over to let your sorry ass take my spot, no matter how impatient you are or how close you ride my bumper, if the car(s) in front of ME is what's actually holding up the left lane.
Don't tailgate, period.
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the car(s) in front of ME is what's actually holding up the left lane.
Sometimes, it's not. Sometimes, people are in the left lane (or the middle lane) because they're too scared of merging traffic to stay in the right lane (they're comfortable in the left lane), or they're trying to stop people from traveling faster than them (yes, there's tons of those out there who drive at the speed limit and insist the rest of the world do the same). I've seen people recklessly switch two lanes into the left the moment they merge into a three-lane highway, and then proceed to camp there a
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Regardless, in the scenario I'm speaking of it's not me that's holding up traffic in the left lane, but the cars in front of me, so the AC has no grounds for his all-encompassing demand that anyone in his way should move right.
I've not driven too many places, but the worst for synchronized (and slow) highway traffic was on the Florida turnpikes between Orlando and Tallahassee. There and back (rental car), even in sections with 3 or 4 lanes each direction, was a uniform speed, and that was exactly the speed
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You do realize that YOU are breaking the law by not moving over when you are driving in the left lane? Yes, even if you are speeding. YOU should learn to read the damn traffic laws, forfeit your license, or both.
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You do realize that YOU are breaking the law by not moving over when you are driving in the left lane? Yes, even if you are speeding. YOU should learn to read the damn traffic laws, forfeit your license, or both.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't that only apply in two situations:
1) You are travelling less than the speed limit AND slower than the flow of traffic. (Vehicle Code Section 21654.)
2) You are on a two-lane road, and there are more than five vehicles lined up behind you. (Vehicle Code Section 21656.)
Re:Spread Awareness (Score:5, Informative)
You do realize that YOU are breaking the law by not moving over when you are driving in the left lane? Yes, even if you are speeding. YOU should learn to read the damn traffic laws, forfeit your license, or both.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't that only apply in two situations:
1) You are travelling less than the speed limit AND slower than the flow of traffic. (Vehicle Code Section 21654.) 2) You are on a two-lane road, and there are more than five vehicles lined up behind you. (Vehicle Code Section 21656.)
You may consider yourself corrected (emphasis mine):
21654. (a) Notwithstanding the prima facie speed limits, any vehicle proceeding upon a highway at a speed less than the normal speed of traffic moving in the same direction at such time shall be driven in the right-hand lane for traffic or as close as practicable to the right-hand edge or curb, except when overtaking and passing another vehicle proceeding in the same direction or when preparing for a left turn at an intersection or into a private road or driveway.
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I've always though California's split speed limit was insanity and a recipe for road rage, sudden braking and congestion, and accidents. Do you have any idea what the rationale is for it?
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I'd like them to enforce the laws on impeding traffic. You're supposed to merge at speed not get onto a freeway at 35mph then take 30s-2m to hit 55mph.
Re:Spread Awareness (Score:5, Insightful)
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If you're blocking the left lane, move over, I don't care what the speed limit is. Forcing people to pass on the right is far worse.
As I said elsewhere, I get tailgated in the *slow lane* where I live. Usually while going 5-10 over. If you don't run into that, then I'd like to live there. I miss my short stint in another state where people drove the freaking speed limit and gave each other space. If only I could have gotten a job there...
The minute you try and control others by blocking the left lane, and forcing them to pass on the right, what happens? You create a more dangerous situation by making others pass on the right, and road rage.
Isn't it the aggressor's fault for spreading the rage around? The tailgater is the one creating a potential accident. Nothing requires that person to follow at an unsafe distance until one of us d
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There would be no warning other than the Red Dot appearing on your wind shield!
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Nah, missiles are millions of bucks each.
IT'S NOT FAKE! (Score:5, Funny)
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Oh yeah you must be referring to that same model as those drones that wear the custom-made t-shirts broadcasting to the world that they consider it a very light matter to oppress the citizenry and steal their lives over misunderstandings. Those same model drones that love killing dogs, apparently. I love that model! Wow, what a great model of drone we have enforcing our traffic concerns.
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On the article... I've always thought these aircraft enforcement signs were usually baloney anyways. There's one of these signs on Interstate 8 outside of San Diego up in the mountains. The road is windy, in a deep ca
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Perhaps that's the point - instead of handing out tickets, they could park conspicuously and therefore force everyone to slow down so everyone's doing the limit on that stretch of road.
Some people have gotten just as creative
Re:IT'S NOT FAKE! (Score:4, Interesting)
Instead of handing out tickets, they could park conspicuously and therefore force everyone to slow down so everyone's doing the limit on that stretch of road.
I grew up in a nice bit of farmland, and for a while a nearby town had a single officer, on duty 9am-5pm. From earlier and busier times, the town had a whopping three patrol cars - the nice big Crown Vics with the full-size light bar that any driver with enough vision to drive could see from several miles down the town's one main road. During a particularly bad summer tourist season, that one cop started moving the cars to good locations just inside the town limits. They'd be parked on dirveways (with permission) or lots where they wouldn't be in the way, with just enough cover to look like they were trying to hide, but not enough cover to do so effectively.
It worked. Traffic usually slowed down, and the one officer could spend his limited time watching from the one stoplight in the town center.
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Me too. I see cops all the time by abandoned roadside gas stations in the desert. Do they really think they are incospicuous there? I don't intentionally speed, but I know if I see a car a mile up the road at the deserted gas station that it is a cop, and I double-check my speedometer.
Here's how it works: if you can see the cop well ahead of time with enough distance to slow down before you reach him, then the placement of that cop is intended to cause you to check your speed and slow down. If the cops want to write tickets to generate revenue, they park where you don't see them until it's too late.
Prominent cop easily seen = everyone drives carefully, safety is increased
Hidden cop not seen until last second = some people slam on their brakes, revenue generator
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Prominent cop easily seen = everyone drives carefully, safety is increased
When idiots slow down to 50mph on a section of road with a 65mph speed limit just because there is a cop visible somewhere (the other side of the freeway, parked in a rest area, etc.), I don't see how safety is increased.
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I've seen the cops leave a car with no-one in it on the side of the road so people will pay a little more attention around that area. Of course when people realise that it's just a fake they replace it with a real policeman for the second effect.
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In mountains, it's much cheaper to put a man on a high point with a radar and radio, and have several cars lurk just round the next bend. The Georgetown Grade west of Denver gets endless homeward-bound skiers that way.
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The Georgetown Grade west of Denver gets endless homeward-bound skiers that way.
Ha! You are so full of shit! When was the last time you drove back to Denver on 70 after skiing and were able to even come close to doing the speed limit?
Of course, if you're talking about the frontage road, well then you have a case.
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Approximately 1990, back when my knees were still working.
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It is illegal. Calfornia Vehicle Code Section 40802 defines this as a "Speed Trap" and speed traps are illegal in California.
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Those kind of drones are not as sleek or as fast as the one on the sign.
What no Zombie Crossing Signs?
The most annoying would be the "Dead End" sign posted a block to late to be useful in letting me know to turn off.
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Yea, I saw my neighbor yesterday and he said he had to speed most of the way home. This morning his house was hit by a drone strike and cratered his entire property. It didn't even touch my property, so the accuracy of these things is really good.
clever parking jobs (Score:3)
parked in a way that they think nobody can see them
Psht. Some cops have hiding down to an art form. I remember driving along the highway and thinking "Why does that snowbank have a police light bar...."
As I drove by, I saw he'd precisely trimmed the snowbank with a shovel, flat-topping it just enough to see over and for his radar unit.
That said, we don't need speed enforcement. We need illegal/improper/unsafe operation enforcement, proper crash investigation, and criminal penalties for negligence tha
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If you can't see far enough ahead to spot the cop before he tags you, you can't see far enough ahead to safely go that fast.
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Missile gave it away (Score:3)
I would have taken that seriously if not for the missile.
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some one released the signs early. they are not getting drones until 2015
Re:Missile gave it away (Score:5, Funny)
I would have taken that seriously if not for the missile.
You have a strange outlook on life.
I can stand to pay a speeding ticket, but a missle I take seriously!
Re:Missile gave it away (Score:5, Funny)
I think he meant he would assume the signs were real except for the missile.
Did you hear that WHOOSH? No it was not a missile, it was a joke going over your head...
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My fav road sign (Score:5, Funny)
While not a fake sign, a long time ago (as indicated by the message) there was a sign warning "Police Aerial Speed Checks" that was tagged with "Pigs in Spaaaaaace"
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I remember seeing that on the F3 north of Sydney, back in the 80s.
They're put the aerial speed check signs and road markings back now, but I don't think they actually do any flying. The 'aerial speed check' location just happens to be right next to Warervale Airport - so motorists see a cessna coming in to land, and slow down.
If you're going to troll, troll in style. (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd like to shake the hand of whoever is behind this. I have to respect anyone who's willing to put serious effort and bucks into this kind of culture-jamming [wikipedia.org].
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Re:If you're going to troll, troll in style. (Score:5, Informative)
Here's his website: http://stephenwhisler.net/Stephen_Whisler.html [stephenwhisler.net]. And a direct link to the page on this prank / performance art: http://stephenwhisler.net/Sculpture/Pages/Speed_Enforced_by_Drones.html [stephenwhisler.net].
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CHiP is still "looking into it".
Meanwhile, Slashdot found the perp within 53 minutes. I wish I had mod points to give to you, good sir!
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Meanwhile, Slashdot found the perp within 53 minutes.
Found? Even when the perp did a news interview long before this was even posted on Slashdot?
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/video/9112799-artist-behind-fake-drone-signs-explains-head-turning-project/
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no such thing as bad publicity! (Score:2)
So not only did some idiot do this with his own money as a "guerilla art project", but he posts it on a public website, that was located by the /. reading public in no time at all? So this guy wants to go to jail, pay likely some enormous fines, plus be required to pay (no doubt exhorbitant) State costs for removal of said signs? How is it that someone with obviously less than an IQ of 50 can operate a website, take pictures, formulate a plan like this, etc?
Regardless of IQ, the fact is still that all publicity is good, especially for a relatively unknown artist.
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I didn't do it. Too illegal and easy to get caught.
I'm the dude that flies an electric RC predator drone over groups with large paranoid populations (Occutards, Deadheads, any protest, Tea Party, gun shows, Code Pink etc etc).
If anybody else takes this up, my advice: put a person into the crowd to see the drone and point it out on schedule.
in an un-related story... (Score:2)
Jerry Brown is quoted: "These aren't the drones you're looking for."
Should pack 'em up... (Score:3)
Should pack 'em up and send them to Afghanistan or Iraq or Pakistan or anywhere else that POTUS wants to enforce, ahem, speed limits.
On the other hand, whoever did this doesn't merely have a sick sense of humour. They're highly insightful to the way the government is heading.
Obviously Fake but... (Score:2)
Why is CHiPS(*) actually posing with the sign like it is theirs? That just seems like an odd thing to do.
* Cue exploding cars in the background
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Assume for a moment that you had his job. Wouldn't you?
In my experience, most cops have more of a sense of humor, especially black humor, than the public realizes. Comes the territory of any kind of difficult, unappreciated job.
Might save taxpayers money... (Score:5, Insightful)
Fake Missile (Score:2)
Speed checked by aircraft (Score:3)
"Speed enforced by drones" is just as true as "speed enforced by aircraft".
Poe's Law (Score:2)
Sign artist has now been ID'd (Score:5, Informative)
According to NBC News [nbcnews.com], the fake drone signs were a bit of performance art by a local guy named Stephen Whisler. He described his motivation as " partially political and partially a prank".
Speed _limit_ (Score:2)
Maybe the signs were made by someone whose first language isn't English, and/or someone who is not that good at it.
The way it's written, I'd think a minimum speed was enforced by drones - as in; drive too slowly and get blown to bits with a missile.
I am partial to that kind of enforcement. Some people just like to take their sweet time getting somewhere.
- I'm just kidding
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That should have been "Speed limit enforced by drones". Maybe the signs were made by someone whose first language isn't English, and/or someone who is not that good at it.
The fake signs closely mimic legitimate "speed enforced by aircraft" signs commonly found on California freeways. For example, see the picture in this SF Examiner article [sfexaminer.com] about declining use of aerial speed limit enforcement in CA. I agree that the wording is ambiguous, but that's not the fault of the creator(s) of these fake drone signs.
Toe lies are less convincing than one lie! (Score:2)
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That's absurd. Toes never lie.
Hmm (Score:2, Funny)
In a few years you won't be able to speed in California, it will be too hard to speed having to weave and dodge around all the stalled Tesla's on the highways.
I wonder if any real drones ... (Score:2)
... captured him in the act of placing these signs in public.
My guess would be HELL YES!!!
Obviously fake (Score:2)
The signs use Arial, and I'm pretty sure that legitimate signs have specific legal standards for the fonts they use, and that Arial is not included.
So...if these are fake... (Score:2)
Then the CHP shouldn't have any problem with me tearing them down and hauling them away as trash right?
Any idea where to order these? (Score:2)
I need some for my street.
This is the kind of stuff I'd do if I had money (Score:2)
Bay area wealthy prankster, I salute you!
The More You Drive... (Score:2)
I'm so glad I live in a place where I don't have to drive to get everywhere. Based on the posts here, this [youtube.com] is definitely true.
Police is investigating ... (Score:2)