A New York City taxi driver is warning other drivers after he found out that speed cameras are not just sitting in one place anymore. The cameras have now gone mobile and are driving around city streets on regular cars.
In a TikTok video that has gotten over 328,500 views, the driver known as Frustrated Cabbie recorded a mobile speed camera sitting on top of a white Ford Escape. The video shows a white thing mounted on top of the car that the taxi driver says is a speed camera.
“So you see this vehicle here and that thing on top. That is the mobile speeding camera,” he says in the video. The white Ford Escape was driving through NYC streets with what looks like a camera flash on its roof. While mobile speed cameras have usually been put on white vans, the taxi driver says that the city is now using Ford Escapes too. He tells drivers to watch out for both types of cars.
The cameras are catching drivers off guard
The taxi driver says that these mobile units are city cars with city workers inside. He warns that the city will put these cameras in smart spots around town. “They will strategically place these vehicles on specific intersections especially near schools,” he says in the video. This smart way of placing the cameras makes it hard for drivers to know where they might run into these mobile units, kind of like how dashboard cameras have caught strange things happening on the road.
Speed cameras in New York City can give out tickets for breaking the speed limit, and the fines can get expensive fast if you get caught more than once. The cameras take a picture of your license plate when cars go over the speed limit in watched areas. Regular cameras that stay in one spot are usually found in school zones and construction areas, but the mobile units let the city watch more places.
People who watched the video were mostly upset about it. Many people said the mobile cameras are just a way for the city to make money and not really about keeping people safe. “It’s not about crime. It’s about what makes money,” one person wrote under the post. Another person just wrote “Money grab…Money grab…Money grab,” while someone else said “NYC wants to make sure driving becomes a luxury.”
Even with all the complaints, mobile speed cameras are still part of how the city deals with traffic rules. The taxi driver’s warning is a good reminder for drivers to keep to safe speeds all over the city, especially near schools and busy areas.
Since mobile units are now harder to see than cameras that stay in one place, following the speed limit signs has become more important than ever if you want to stay away from expensive tickets. While some drivers have become popular online for doing the wrong thing with their cars, knowing about mobile speed cameras can help drivers avoid paying big fines.
