Charlie Crist was a Republican.  Who let this happen?

Pensacola News Journal 9-6-10

Beginning in early 2011, the Florida Department of Transportation will be watching.




The FDOT will install 40 closed-circuit television cameras along Interstates 10 and 110 in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties as part of what is being called the Regional Transportation Management Center.
The cameras will be linked to a monitoring center in the 500 block of East Burgess Road, where workers will monitor some 34 miles of interstate highways.
FDOT spokesman Tommie Speights said the $34 million funded by the Florida Legislature is meant to allow information about road closures, crashes and weather evacuations to law enforcement and the general public to relieve congestion along the roadways.
"It's not Big Brother watching you," Speights said. "This is strictly for safety and trying to relieve the congestion in the area."
Twelve electronic message boards pepper the highway from the Alabama/Florida boarder to the Santa Rosa/Okaloosa County border and from the I-10/I-110 interchange in Escambia County.
The message boards are tied into the monitoring center and will provide updated information on road conditions and closers so motorists can seek out alternate routes.
The public also will be able to tap into a yet-to-be-launched FDOT website that will allow people to see traffic conditions before leaving the house.
Pensacola Police Chief Chip Simmons said cameras installed along the exits in downtown Pensacola and at the base of the Pensacola Bay bridge will be helpful to his agency, which, in addition to the Florida Highway Patrol, is responsible for responding to traffic crashes
"I'm not sure yet what kind of access we will have to this information," Simmons said. "But for us, any time you have a real-time view of traffic patterns and traffic flows, one of our primary responsibilities is to make sure traffic flows in and out of the city as smooth as possible."
FDOT awarded the $34 million to TransCorp, a Harrisburg, Pa., company that specializes in traffic and toll management projects.
The price tag includes the construction and installation of the signs and cameras as well as the operation of the monitoring center for the next decade, Speights said.

Anyone can view them http://www.fl511.com/Cameras.aspx and I don't think I have a problem with them.  Here in central florida, i-4 and other toll roads are a real traffic problem.  This isn't like red light cameras because there's no penalty implied.

No pics and the resolution isn't CSI quality, so what is the issue?

Constantly Improving Technology will solve the resolution issue, once they get the infrastructure in place. You are so trusting.

I work in govt. so I know how incompetent they are!!

They've already got some up, I think 4 just on the Bay Bridge. If it is like you think, you're about 10 years too late anyway.
Or maybe it's just your overactive imagination.
Edit: Have you SEEN the traffic in Escambia County? They need all the help they can get.

They had those cameras for about 20 years here. They use them to regulate traffic during rush hour by letting greens go on longer, or shorten up the wait.

They've been all over the I-4 corridor and the major Orlando expressways for at least a decade.

It's not a police state thing. The cameras are monitored by non-police personnel to monitor traffic flow and are aimed at highways.
Big brother cameras are, for the most part, placed in city streets to monitor sidewalks and people, not traffic flow. They are in London, England.

One step at a time.  Tick toc tick toc.   Report back in 10 years about how they are only "traffic monitoring only" cameras.

Guess you missed the part where they've been around for 20 years in other places and are still used only for traffic.

Those are called "video loops". They don't record video, they are just used to help adjust the light timing. The cameras are usually mounted next to the lights an don't record any video.
...At least the ones I am familiar with.

The cameras you see mounted on most freeways used for viewing traffic are of excellent resolution. They allow the opperator to pan tilt and zoom to see an accident, yad yada...

There are also cameras used for ALPR (automated license plate recognition)...these match license plates to a wants and warrants database,,,,,if a match is confirmed in a dispatch center, officer friendly is dispatched to investigate.

Our cameras do all that, too. The tinfoil is waaaay to tight on this website. Again, Central FL has those for decades and no ill will ever came out. It's easier and more efficient. We try not to waste tax money here.



 

Did you read your own post?

This!

Next thing you know, they'll want cameras inside of homes to protect your neighbors from fire and other hazards that might create inside your home. It's for the good.

Now he's another RINO, like Schwarzenneger.

You need to look up more!

Traffic cameras are a way of life in Florida and have been for years!

That doesn't make them right. Camel's nose under the tent etc.

I've heard that so many times before about so many things, and the vast majority of the time it's wrong.

Not even a RINO anymore.....

You didn't even fucking READ your own article! You have NO room to speak!



 

Comforting news strangely.

I tend to like them. They help everyone check the roads and can really pinpoint where rescuers need to go if there is a serious accident.

Is it "Big Brother" if anyone from the public can click into it online and watch for themselves?

How in the world does knowledge of traffic conditions make Florida a police state?  People see what they want to see, I suppose.

Yep.

OP, you clearly haven't lived in a Metro area before have you?  Without these things I'd spend an hour and a half in traffic each way every day.

Even in flyover country we have DOT cameras. Most states have them around here.





South Dakota: http://www.safetravelusa.com/sd/cameras/





No big deal. Lo-res, some of them don't work or even update for months.
 

Just a day ago someone in GD wanted hundreds of thousands of police officers to wear cameras, recording their entire shift. Now we have someone bitching about some traffic cameras equaling a police state. Sheez, you guys make up your mind already. I have trouble staying offended if I don't know the gripe of the day.

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Crist is a Republican?  I thought he was a Democratic plant into the Republican party!

If you want to make your tin foil hat out of heavier material, how long before Pre-Pass is used to monitor truck drivers speed, mileage and hours, not cargo. "A green light on your dash..." and then you get a fine in the mail for going from point A to B a little faster than the law allows.

Nothing to do with a 'police state'





How do you think FM traffic data for GPSes and such works?





They use those cameras to watch traffic flow, and then contracted companies broadcast it out so folks with the right equipment can know which routes are congested...




For those who don't have a traffic-reciever, you can check the web before you leave (or on your smart-phone, afterwards) to see what's congested and what's not...




Around here, in WA, they also have message-boards over the freeway that tell you if there's bad traffic ahead, and why....





Once again, 'people tracking' conspiracies are absurd - the government has no reason to try and follow every single citizen - it's too expensive & difficult compared to 'following' only those suspected of crimes & such....





 

What does Charlie being a Republican have to do with anything? Most of them have proved they are just as untrustworthy as the rest of the parasites they work with.

Florida is like Detroit only with palm trees and no snow..they hide the crime well to keep the tourists and old folks coming and keeping them in trailer parks

News to me.



I like it when people take pot shots at places, but have their location set as USA.



 

Traffic Cameras have been along the major highways for awhile. The entire length of the FL Turnpike from Orlando to Miami is covered. I'm sure the other stretches are too. Not really earth shattering news.

Crime in FL is actually been down for a few years. To compare the state to Detroit is ridiculous.

Thread not going the way the OP intended...

You really have no idea what the fuck you're talking about.  Not that I am a big fan of Florida, I hate the Snowbirds, the tourists and the old retired fucks who can't drive.  But you're really full of shit.

+1

+2

We do have red light cameras in some areas of South Florida.  If you're ever driving in Aventura, you had better come to a full stop if your making a Right turn on red.

Intersection cameras, probably OK in high traffic areas and NW Florida on I-10 is a short section for 40 cameras. Cameras at random places, I just don't like. Traffic Light enforcement cameras, NO Way!  Black Boxes in cars, probably don't like them.

Old man Jefferson said something about giving up a little liberty for security.

Traffic cams, no big deal. If they turn into speeding cams or whatever, then unleash the dogs of Operation Chaos.

Ummm. no, that would be old man Franklin.

All very fine and dandy, if it does what it supposed to do, and I am sure that it is necessary.  Florida pulls a full scale evacuation at least five times a month, and the swamp people are clogging up the roads with school/church bus and semi-trailer wrecks constantly.  Question is:  whose brother/sister-in-law got the contract?