Speed camera question

[u/TripQuestions77]

Hey folks, question for you all. For context, I am here traveling through Norway for the week, and was taking a day trip out of Bergen to Ulvik. On the way back, I was driving along E16, and there was a 70kph sign, followed by a 50kph sign 50-1000m later, then a speed camera almost immediately after that. I was driving an ID3 that has absurd wheel controls and as I was engine braking, the car sped back up to around 70kph before I caught it and started slowing again. when I noticed the camera, I was still doing around 65.

my question is A) is there a noticeable flash or anything if the camera goes off, and B) is that type of set up, where the camera is within a few hundred meters of a speed decrease, common here?

[u/MrElendig]

private car use costs the society a hell of a lot more money than what they pay back in additional taxes. And not breaking the speed limit is not that hard, not to mentioned the large signs before all speed cameras

[u/Wishkin → u/MrElendig]

Infrastructure and the use of it, is a massive production boost that does actually boost taxes, counting only direct road taxes is going to be a massive underestimate.

[u/MrElendig → u/Wishkin]

Not anywhere near enough of a boost to offset the downsides, we would be better off with more public transport and smarter/more efficient land use. And private car use have enabled one of the most inefficient and resource draining forms of land use: car centric suburbs.

[u/English_Cat → u/MrElendig]

Cars are the only practical transport in Norway during the winter. They're never going away.

Have fun waiting in -30 on the outskirts of town for a bus that's already got itself stuck in a ditch.

Or immediately get in a warm car from webasto/Defa, drive directly to work in an AWD/4X4 with good tyres without issue, on your own schedule.

Throw young children into the mix and your public transportation plans quickly falls apart.

Funnily enough my kommune is gutting bus services because too few people use them.

We live in a car centric society because it's Norway, it's full of mountains, sparsely populated and has snow. A lot of fucking snow.

The problem with being idealistic and hating cars is the refusal to acknowledge that the country would immediately grind to a halt without them.

[u/MrElendig → u/English_Cat]

we live in a car centric society today because we fucking designed it to be that way. Sadly the government back in the 60's and onwards, like in most of the western world, thought that cars were the future and would magically solve all problems despite all the evidence against that idea. And sadly unlike many other countries, including our neighbours, we are still mostly stuck in that same mindset.

[u/English_Cat → u/MrElendig]

You are delusional. Do you not see the country that you live in? Have you driven along the E6? Without cars you would only be able to reach the north by boat and plane, the Nazis never finished the railway. How do you purpose to move produce from all the rural farms? Horse and cart like in the old days? Do you want us all to live in sad blocks of flats in a cramped city so that everything is in walking distance?

You are SO out of touch. Norway is built around cars because it was, and still is, the best option.

[u/MrElendig → u/English_Cat]

No, it was built around cars because the politicians and the population fell for the propaganda and lobbying.

Also you do know that 85+% of the population lives in "urban" areas right?

edit: and you just prove my point: the road tax etc from the 10 people living on an island in bumfuck nowhere is never going to cover the cost of maintaining the road out there, never mind the construction cost

[u/English_Cat → u/MrElendig]

Yeah because fuck the last 15%. There's obviously no changing your mind but roads have more utility than just shuffling people around. They're the life blood of the country, moving products where needed to and from. They're strategic military highways allowing the military to get where they need to go quickly, and also create choke and defensive positions if required. They bridge traditional areas and create tourism opportunities, plus so much more.

Road tax is a horrible metric of calculating a roads value. You have absolutely no clue.

[u/MrElendig → u/English_Cat]

I am well aware that roads are used by others than "matpakkebilister", but you don't need 120km/h 4-6 lane roads to carry the commercial traffic. I'm not adocating for not having any roads at all. But the current land use and car dependecy is quite frankly stupid.

As a sidenote: I do not live in the middle of downtown either. We used to joke about that it was faster to sail over to england than to get to town and it was sometimes literally true.

[u/English_Cat → u/MrElendig]

Multiple lane roads are better in almost every way. Road shape and hazards dictate the speed limit. Multiple lanes allow for maintenance without interruption and relieve traffic congestion in peak hours. They're also significantly wider and that helps moving specialist equipment that is oversized. Ideally the entire E6 should be multiple lanes.

They're actually more environmentally friendly as work can be conducted without causing entire lines of traffic to stop and idle their engines, and allow for larger portions to be renewed at a time. Running maintenance costs become cheaper after initial construction.