The speed camera vans in Howard County

After red light cameras these speed camera vans seem to be the most talked about topic I see when I Google the Howard County Police speed traps.  There was quite a fuss a few years ago when Maryland State Senator Jim Robey proposed letting the Maryland Counties set up their own speed camera programs.  Jim Robey has a long history in Howard County.

State Senator Jim Robey was the Howard County police chief from 1991-98 and then County Executive of Howard County from 1999 to 2006.  I thought he was a great police chief but as the County Executive  he oversaw and allowed more like promoted massive housing development expansion in Howard County turning what was green everywhere to streets and buildings which caused many of the traffic and speeding problems we see today in Howard county.   That is probably why he has been on a mission in the State Senate to have the police be our driving mommies:  to outlaw phone calls, texting while driving and allowing speed cameras in the state.  Those were his initiatives.

As I recall in 2010 Howard County took their time after the state bill passed to decide what to do as they studied the problem.  In 2011 they finally decided to put up signs a few miles around every school and church warning that they were 'photo enforced' and to have a few (rotating ) speed camera vans sitting on the side of the roads.

Here is a commonly posted picture of a speed camera sitting along the side of the road waiting for drivers to drive past it so it can detect their speed while driving away from it.   The laser detector shoots through the front windshield detecting your speed as you drive way from them, and it makes a big flash so everyone knows what they did.

This means that you can see them miles away even in the dark long before they can get you.

And from what I can tell they dont regularly try to catch those driving in the opposite direction from them only those driving away from them after they have been passed.   I have sited them dozens of times while driving in daylight and darkness and you can speed right up to them and then slow down as you drive away from them and they will only detect you driving slowly away from them.

The Howard County Times posted a photo of one of the vans that they claim was taken on Saint John's lane, The van was hiding behind a bush on the grass on the opposite side of the way traffic goes so they could catch those speeding towards them, because as I said they only speed detect and photo through the front windshield.

I personally have never seen them try this and it sounds dangerous and possibly illegal (parking pointing toward on-coming traffic),   Every speed photo van trap I have seen has been pointing the camera ahead to capture those driving away on the same side. 

The Howard County police (real police) speed traps are different.  Their cars are jet black and designed stealthy and they hide and even can detect your cars speed through their side passenger window while nosing out of a side street.   Their tickets can give you points on your drivers license increasing your insurance premiums and you can lose your drivers licence from them..

They are the real threat to us gettiing fines and points., The little white vans are just toys,
More on the police car traps later.

Welcome to Howard County (Maryland) Police Speed Trap Watch blog

Welcome!

The main purpose of me creating this blog is to share the things I learned with you about how the (Maryland) Howard County Police try to trap us drivers to give us fines and points against our licenses to meet their job quota.  I also want to explain how to avoid their traps and have lots fun in the process. 

This blog is not about me hating the (Maryland) Howard County police or accusing them of any misdeeds or abuse of citizens beyond what the county law legally demands of them.  The Howard county police have always been very polite and very professional to me any time I have been pulled over by them,  even the rare times that they caught me in a driving offense; like me not wearing my seatbelt which was a $25 fine.  The female officer who caught me on it was a real sweetheart who told me she was ordered to stake out an intersection near my neighborhood on seatbelt duty during the Howard County Seatbelt Awareness month. You know that must be very demeaning for her to do this and for the others of those police who grew up watching cop TV shows which was what inspired them to be police in the first place.

So this blog is not about hating them, instead it’s about us beating them when they are ordered to trap us with fines and points while we are just trying to get from point A to point B in a reasonable period of time. This blog is about sharing the details of the Howard County police predatory behavior in trying to trap us with speeding offenses. You must understand that we the drivers are their prey.

They are the predator hiding behind trees or in the shadows or dark and waiting for us in their stealthy jet black Dodge chargers with the recessed top roof (‘please pull over’)  lights and we are the lone prey that they are looking for when we are not paying attention by watching out for them while we are driving alone from the pack.  We are trying to get to work and school and maybe a social even or two, to get there on time while we are running late without seeing those flashing lights appear behind us giving us those points and a fine resulting in our insurance rates being jacked up. 

I will also explain why red light cameras and those county mobile speed cameras in Howard County Maryland are the least of our driving problems, in spite of all the negative attention paid to them on the internet and editorials.  As I will explain these threats are very simple to detect and avoid, unlike the stealthy designed black jet back dodge chargers police cars with flat roof lights with their radars and lasers, or those police sneaking around with unmarked cars tailgating us to get us to speed to then trap us and their other sleazy tricks.

Detecting Howard County police can be FUN and warning other drivers about them can be even better FUN.  So let’s have some real fun together neighbors and work together.  'Promote Civility' is the  Howard County government motto so lets do it together HA-HA.