Read an interesting little article in the latest Economist about home-grown efforts to slow down drivers. After the police in Cardiff moved a mobile camera van to a new location, a local resident bought a used police van and used silver tape to emulate the camera port. He said pedestrians aren't fooled but it 'works a treat' on speeding drivers. In the US, one fellow mounted a camera (real or fake, unknown) which convinced drivers to slow. And then there's the old joke about the guy who comes upon the local cop standing by the road, holding a hair dryer. "Radar gun's getting repaired", he said, laconically. "For some reason, all these people think this is a real one."
The cops, ever willing to accept the assistance of the population, respond by telling a guy who used his own camera to catch a speeding policeman that it could be considered a violation of anti-stalking laws; others, with dummy cameras, have been told that they had to stop because it might make drivers brake unsafely.
Personally, I think it's like the old joke: Don't steal from the government. They hate the competition.
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