Crazy things you've found in Google StreetView

[jakeroot]

Just posted this in another thread and figured I might as well throw it in here as well:
Who needs red light cameras when you've got Street View?

Judging by how quickly that Escape is blowing by the GSV car, I'm thinking he only snuck in barely after the yellow (maybe like a quarter second or something).

Though I know you're only joking, I would be cautious to assume guilt entirely through Street View, as there typically isn't enough imagery to tell whether someone entered on yellow or not (even in states where you are required to stop on yellow, it's still not illegal per se to enter on yellow).

The light turned red at about 2-3 car lengths.

yellow
red

Right, I saw that (barely after the yellow = after it turned red). 45 feet (about three car lengths) at 40mph (speed limit is 40) means he would have entered about 0.76 seconds after the red light came on. This seems fairly reasonable. Even less time if you consider the possibility that they were travelling in excess of 40mph, although not significantly (0.6 seconds at 50mph).

[jeffandnicole]

Just posted this in another thread and figured I might as well throw it in here as well:
Who needs red light cameras when you've got Street View?

Judging by how quickly that Escape is blowing by the GSV car, I'm thinking he only snuck in barely after the yellow (maybe like a quarter second or something).

Though I know you're only joking, I would be cautious to assume guilt entirely through Street View, as there typically isn't enough imagery to tell whether someone entered on yellow or not (even in states where you are required to stop on yellow, it's still not illegal per se to enter on yellow).

The light turned red at about 2-3 car lengths.

yellow
red

Right, I saw that (barely after the yellow = after it turned red). 45 feet (about three car lengths) at 40mph (speed limit is 40) means he would have entered about 0.76 seconds after the red light came on. This seems fairly reasonable. Even less time if you consider the possibility that they were travelling in excess of 40mph, although not significantly (0.6 seconds at 50mph).

If the yellow is timed properly, he had enough time to stop.

After all, the GSV vehicle managed to do so.

[webny99]

Yeah, I was only joking about using GSV as an alternate to red light cameras, but I mean, that light turned yellow all the way back here. It was just too egregious not to throw in here.

The timing is interesting too.. this happened to be captured in July 2019, right when this very interchange was the epicenter of one of the area's biggest construction nightmares in a decade, as evidenced by the detour signs and the traffic waiting to turn backed up all the way on to the freeway.

[GenExpwy]

↑
And especially when you can plainly see a whole line of vehicles in the other direction turning left in front of them. Lucky it wasn't a trailing green left arrow.

[webny99]

↑
And especially when you can plainly see a whole line of vehicles in the other direction turning left in front of them. Lucky it wasn't a trailing green left arrow.

Actually, there is a trailing (lagging) green arrow at this location. After the street view car turned onto the freeway ramp, you can see those left-turning cars proceeding as the Escape continues under the overpass, shown here. I might even venture that the Escape blowing the red light is the reason the street view car turned instead of yielding to the left-turning traffic!

[jakeroot]

Just posted this in another thread and figured I might as well throw it in here as well:
Who needs red light cameras when you've got Street View?

Judging by how quickly that Escape is blowing by the GSV car, I'm thinking he only snuck in barely after the yellow (maybe like a quarter second or something).

Though I know you're only joking, I would be cautious to assume guilt entirely through Street View, as there typically isn't enough imagery to tell whether someone entered on yellow or not (even in states where you are required to stop on yellow, it's still not illegal per se to enter on yellow).

The light turned red at about 2-3 car lengths.

yellow
red

Right, I saw that (barely after the yellow = after it turned red). 45 feet (about three car lengths) at 40mph (speed limit is 40) means he would have entered about 0.76 seconds after the red light came on. This seems fairly reasonable. Even less time if you consider the possibility that they were travelling in excess of 40mph, although not significantly (0.6 seconds at 50mph).

If the yellow is timed properly, he had enough time to stop.

After all, the GSV vehicle managed to do so.

There's almost always enough time to stop. You're not asking the right question, which is, "if you're going to enter on red, how red will it be by the time you enter?"

There's a big difference between blowing through a stale red light (10+ seconds of red, give or take), and a red light that turned red less half a second before you entered. In the eyes of the law, it's the same thing. Practically speaking, totally different.

[mrsman]

I would surmise to guess that part of the reason the SUV ran the red light was to get away from the GSV car.  There are many people out there who are afraid of being tracked down by "big tech" or government, so this guy knew that he would be captured and decided that this was his opportunity to escape.

[webny99]

... this guy knew that he would be captured and decided that this was his opportunity to escape.

I see what you did there! 

[ErmineNotyours]

I haven't seen any Google Maps coverage showing how life has changed in the past seven months.  It may exist, but I haven't found it.  I did see this theater marquee in WSDOT SRweb:

[jakeroot]

I haven't seen any Google Maps coverage showing how life has changed in the past seven months.  It may exist, but I haven't found it.  I did see this theater marquee in WSDOT SRweb:

Glove Actually sounds like a great movie!

[jakeroot]

Car on its side. Eastbound 105 Freeway in Los Angeles just before the 110: https://goo.gl/maps/CXPRqhQYxwrnbPV88

[CNGL-Leudimin]

One of the first crazy things, if not the first, I noticed on Street View was this towering crane on, of all numbered routes, I-238! I found it soon after that Interstate was added to Street View, thus back when I was a teenager, and before my own country (Spain) had even a single picture.

[STLmapboy]

Anyone seen a rural intersection lit quite like this?

Edit: Apparently there are more like this in Texas.

[US71]

Anyone seen a rural intersection lit quite like this?

Edit: Apparently there are more like this in Texas.

Solar powered Flashing Reds on a STOP sign

Then you have solar powered LED's on the sign itself:

[STLmapboy]

Anyone seen a rural intersection lit quite like this?

Edit: Apparently there are more like this in Texas.

Solar powered Flashing Reds on a STOP sign

Then you have solar powered LED's on the sign itself:

I was actually talking about the overhead lighting.

[ErmineNotyours]

Here's a pickup truck towing a pickup truck towing a pickup truck.

I haven't found a Street View of it, but trucks towing trucks are a daily occurrence right outside the Kenworth factory in Renton, Washington.

[frankenroad]

Not Google Streetview - but....

Sometime about 15 years ago, I was exploring a website with satellite views - not Google or Google Earth, but something similar that was popular at the time.  (Maybe MapQuest ??)

Anyhow, the driveway of our house had all these large colored rectangles on it - as if we had been drying out a bunch of blankets, or someone had gotten carried away with sidewalk chalk.  We never could figure out what it was.   We did occasionally spread camping gear out to dry, but this array was much more colorful than our camping gear. At the time, our kids were too old for sidewalk chalk, and this covered 2/3 of a driveway that was probably 12 feet wide by 25 feet long.

To this day, I can't figure out what it was.

[STLmapboy]

Oh man, you need to check out this GSV from Palos Verdes, CA. Unblurred license plates galore.

[empirestate]

Good, I have written those all down and stolen all of their identities already. I will be vacationing at an undisclosed tropical location without an extradition treaty to the U.S. for the forseeable future.

[jakeroot]

Good, I have written those all down and stolen all of their identities already. I will be vacationing at an undisclosed tropical location without an extradition treaty to the U.S. for the forseeable future.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees the humour in "hiding" plate numbers

[ErmineNotyours]

Stitching error.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Clouds spilling over the mountains.

[ErmineNotyours]

If you're in the Seattle SR 99 tunnel and you look up, you will see those annoying business and destination symbols that Google imposes on Street View, only you can't get there from here.

[TheGrassGuy]

slater road lol

[kphoger]

slater road lol

So...  a sign replacement in progress?