Colorado, Italy: Speed Camera Operators Caught Disregarding Law

Posted: 06 Mar 2010 11:44 AM PST

Fort Collins speed camera signThe private company that operates speed cameras in Denver, Colorado is ignoring the provisions of state law designed to protect the public. Motorist Bill O’Neil used his cell phone camera to document the lack of warning signs around a photo radar van issuing tickets on First Avenue in January, KMGH-TV reported. City officials entrust Redflex Traffic Systems, an Australian company compensated based on the number of tickets it is able to issue, with the responsibility of placing the signs. A police spokesman told KMGH that signs were out, just on the other side of the road.

Similar tactics are used in the city of Fort Collins, where a speed camera van was hidden behind a bridge abutment on Tuesday. The warning sign was placed on the ground, partially obscured by a planter, the Coloradoan newspaper reported.

In Genoa, Italy a local judge has ruled that average speed cameras are illegal. Justice of the Peace Elena Paolicchi canceled a ticket issued on the A7 between Genoa and Milan after motorists organized by the website strademulte.it challenged the reading of the system known as Tutor. A written ruling has not been issued in the case, but the challenge was filed questioning the system’s accuracy and the integrity of the evidence. Red light camera systems known as T-Red caused such a controversy with the shortening of yellow lights and corrupt, backroom deals that Italy’s Ministry of Interior last year banned private companies from operating photo enforcement devices. Source

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/30/3070.asp

March 9, 2010  Tags: , ,   Posted in: Constitutional Rights, Court Cases, Evidence Requirments, Government Revenue Scam, Police State, Speed Camera Vans  No Comments

3rd Party Analysis Shows Cameras to be a Scam

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/25/2551.asp
 
http://www.thenewspaper.com/rlc/docs/2008/fl-orbanreply.pdf

March 9, 2010  Tags: , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Government Revenue Scam, Red Light Cameras, Ticket Cameras  No Comments

No more care searches for mere possession of arms

Indiana Appeals Court: Concealed Carry Not A License To Be Searched

Posted: 08 Mar 2010 12:04 PM PST

Judge James S. KirschPolice may not search a vehicle merely because its driver has been issued a valid concealed carry permit, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday. A three-judge appellate panel weighed the actions of Indianapolis Police Officer Danny Reynolds who pulled over Melvin Washington for driving with a burned-out headlight on September 17, 2008 at 12:30am.

On that morning, Reynolds first asked Washington whether he had a gun, and Washington said he had one under his seat. Washington also carried a valid concealed carry permit. At this point, Reynolds ordered Washington out of the car and handcuffed him so that he could conduct a search under the seat of Washington’s vehicle. Reynolds spotted a small bag of marijuana and issued Washington a court summons and a ticket for the defective headlight. Washington was then released with his handgun placed in the trunk of his vehicle, unloaded.

Washington moved to have the evidence against him suppressed because the warrantless search, he argued, violated the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches. A lower court disagreed, insisting that “officer safety” justified the search. The court of appeals did not buy the safety argument.

“In the present case, prior to the search for the handgun, Officer Reynolds did not express any concerns for officer safety,” Judge James S. Kirsch wrote for the majority. “Although Washington admitted that a handgun was present inside of the car, he was at all times totally cooperative with Officer Reynolds The testimony at the suppression hearing indicated that, during the traffic stop, Washington made no furtive movements, answered the officer’s questions, and showed no disrespect to the officer. At the time he searched for the handgun, Officer Reynolds had no information that any crime or violation of law had been or was about to be committed, except for the inoperable headlight infraction. Further, at the suppression hearing, Officer Reynolds did not testify that he had any specific concern for officer safety during his traffic stop of Washington.”

Because no legitimate safety exception to the Fourth Amendment applied in this case, the court ruled the search was improper. Judge Melissa S. May added in a concurring opinion that the majority’s ruling created a subjective element — cooperation — that could serve as a loophole allowing searches. To solve this problem, May cited the US Supreme Court case Arizona v. Gant where a warrantless vehicle search was overturned because the suspect had no access to his car (view decision).

“While we are dealing here with a traffic stop, rather than an arrest, the fact remains that Washington, like Gant, was removed from his car and handcuffed,” May wrote. “Accordingly, Washington’s statement there was a gun under his seat simply could not justify a search of his car based on concern for officer safety.”

A copy of the decision is available in a PDF file at the source link below. Source

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/30/3072.asp
————————————————————————————
Folks,
It’s ridiculous that cops think that a tail light being out warrants having hand cuffs applied to you.  This police state nonsense needs to stop.

March 8, 2010  Tags: , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Traffic Stop, Vehicle Search  No Comments

Traffic Cameras in Chattanooga: Guilty until Proven Innocent?

I (Joe Dumas) recently appeared on a local Chattanooga TV show “Point of View” to discuss this issue. Two Chattanooga police officers went on first to present the “pro” argument, and then I went on to explain the “cons”. I don’t think they have the streaming video on-line, but the audio podcast is available here: http://aec.podbean.com/2010/02/19/traffic-cameras-in-chattanooga-guilty-until-proven-innocent/ That might be even better than video, since you don’t have to look at my mug to hear me speak :) If you don’t want to listen through the police arguing in favor of the SCAMeras, fast forward to 14:28 where my segment begins. Any comments/feedback welcome….

http://aec.podbean.com/2010/02/19/traffic-cameras-in-chattanooga-guilty-until-proven-innocent/

March 6, 2010  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Constitutional Rights, Court Cases, Government Revenue Scam, Legislation, Police State, Red Light Cameras, Ticket Cameras, Traffic Lights  No Comments

EDITORIAL: Alexandria’s dangerous yellow-light game

Only Gov. McDonnell’s veto can put a stop to it

By THE WASHINGTON TIMES

The city of Alexandria has shortened the duration of the yellow light at a busy intersection. This scheme risks lives in a shameless attempt to increase profits from red-light cameras. Gov. Robert F. McDonnell alone can put a stop to the city’s deadly policy with the stroke of his pen.
On Monday, the General Assembly enrolled House Bill 1292, preparing it for Mr. McDonnell’s signature. The measure makes what appear to be minor technical changes to an existing law authorizing photo enforcement. Specifically, it gives the companies behind traffic cameras direct access to the private information contained in Department of Motor Vehicles records. The idea is to make it cheaper for cities and counties to outsource their law enforcement to these companies, which frequently are based in foreign countries.
So far, Virginia Beach has been the only city willing to implement cameras without this change, but not from lack of desire on the part of the others. Alexandria, for example, issued a press release on June 16, claiming that it had begun a “30-day warning period” for an “active” red-light camera program. Indeed, the cameras are installed and even flash motorists, but the system isn’t issuing tickets yet.
City officials reluctantly admitted to The Washington Times that it would be “very labor-intensive” to operate the program themselves, as required under current law, and that they have been waiting for the legislative fix. In other words, the more “safety” costs, the less Alexandria is interested. Other jurisdictions in the Old Dominion appear to feel the same way.
Mr. McDonnell should intervene and stop them from allowing their lust for revenue to endanger lives.
Consider what Alexandria is doing. In its first dalliance with robotic ticketing in November 1997, Alexandria placed cameras at the intersection of South Patrick and Gibbon streets with the yellow time set at three seconds, the shortest time allowed under federal regulations. Tickets piled up, with about 80 percent of the violations taking place less than a second after the light turned red. By March 1999, there had been no increase in safety, and the yellow timing at this location was quietly increased to four seconds. That extra second gave drivers the time needed to clear the intersection, and violations immediately plunged 80 percent.
The Washington Times verified that Alexandria officials have now shortened the yellow time at the intersection back down to just three seconds – the timing that produced so many violations in 1997. Worse, the Virginia Department of Transportation, under Gov. Tim Kaine’s administration, certified this reduced timing as appropriate.
Alexandria cannot pretend this action had anything to do with safety. The Virginia Transportation Research Council exploded the red-light-camera safety myth by documenting a 29 percent increase in collisions following Alexandria’s original camera experiment. The results can only be worse if Alexandria is allowed to transform an artificially induced increase in violations into cold, hard cash.
The governor must make a choice. He can side with the municipal and photo-enforcement lobbyists, or he can side with the people who put him in office by denying cities the cash cow they so desperately desire. We hope Mr. McDonnell makes the right choice, the safe choice, and vetoes HB 1292. 

By THE WASHINGTON TIMES

The city of Alexandria has shortened the duration of the yellow light at a busy intersection. This scheme risks lives in a shameless attempt to increase profits from red-light cameras. Gov. Robert F. McDonnell alone can put a stop to the city’s deadly policy with the stroke of his pen.
On Monday, the General Assembly enrolled House Bill 1292, preparing it for Mr. McDonnell’s signature. The measure makes what appear to be minor technical changes to an existing law authorizing photo enforcement. Specifically, it gives the companies behind traffic cameras direct access to the private information contained in Department of Motor Vehicles records. The idea is to make it cheaper for cities and counties to outsource their law enforcement to these companies, which frequently are based in foreign countries.
So far, Virginia Beach has been the only city willing to implement cameras without this change, but not from lack of desire on the part of the others. Alexandria, for example, issued a press release on June 16, claiming that it had begun a “30-day warning period” for an “active” red-light camera program. Indeed, the cameras are installed and even flash motorists, but the system isn’t issuing tickets yet.
City officials reluctantly admitted to The Washington Times that it would be “very labor-intensive” to operate the program themselves, as required under current law, and that they have been waiting for the legislative fix. In other words, the more “safety” costs, the less Alexandria is interested. Other jurisdictions in the Old Dominion appear to feel the same way.
Mr. McDonnell should intervene and stop them from allowing their lust for revenue to endanger lives.
Consider what Alexandria is doing. In its first dalliance with robotic ticketing in November 1997, Alexandria placed cameras at the intersection of South Patrick and Gibbon streets with the yellow time set at three seconds, the shortest time allowed under federal regulations. Tickets piled up, with about 80 percent of the violations taking place less than a second after the light turned red. By March 1999, there had been no increase in safety, and the yellow timing at this location was quietly increased to four seconds. That extra second gave drivers the time needed to clear the intersection, and violations immediately plunged 80 percent.
The Washington Times verified that Alexandria officials have now shortened the yellow time at the intersection back down to just three seconds – the timing that produced so many violations in 1997. Worse, the Virginia Department of Transportation, under Gov. Tim Kaine’s administration, certified this reduced timing as appropriate.
Alexandria cannot pretend this action had anything to do with safety. The Virginia Transportation Research Council exploded the red-light-camera safety myth by documenting a 29 percent increase in collisions following Alexandria’s original camera experiment. The results can only be worse if Alexandria is allowed to transform an artificially induced increase in violations into cold, hard cash.
The governor must make a choice. He can side with the municipal and photo-enforcement lobbyists, or he can side with the people who put him in office by denying cities the cash cow they so desperately desire. We hope Mr. McDonnell makes the right choice, the safe choice, and vetoes HB 1292.

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2010/mar/04/alexandrias-dangerous-yellow-light-game/

March 5, 2010  Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Government Revenue Scam, Legislation, Ticket Cameras, Yellow-Light Timing  No Comments

Attorney Takes On Orleans Parish Red Light Cameras

Attorney Joe McMahon Filed Lawsuits To Have Tickets Thrown Out

POSTED: 10:40 pm CST March 4, 2010
UPDATED: 12:41 am CST March 5, 2010

NEW ORLEANS — A local attorney who has waged war on red light cameras in Jefferson and Lafayette parishes is now taking on Orleans Parish. Joe McMahon won a battle in court on Thursday that he hopes will help put the brakes on the red light camera program. McMahon said he knows it’s just one victory but one that will set a precedent, as he and his attorney continue to fight for what they think is right. In October 2008 attorney Joe McMahon got a ticket for turning right on red at the corner of Earhart Boulevard and Carrollton Avenue. “We had a hearing in front of a hearing officer and found that I was liable and assessed a fine,” said McMahon. But McMahon’s attorney, Anthony Maska, argued the city could not prove who was driving his vehicle. McMahon then appealed to civil district court. In that case, the judge ruled on McMahon’s side, agreeing the city had no one to authenticate the photographed and videotaped evidence against him. What Should Happen To Red Light Cameras In Orleans And Jefferson Parishes? “The law requires that evidence be introduced at trials,” McMahon said. “In a certain way, those requirements are to make sure the evidence is authentic and reliable. By not having a witness there to authenticate these pictures, there is no reliability. I think that’s why the judge ruled the way he did.” Thursday’s ruling prompted the two to file a class action lawsuit against the city of New Orleans over the red light cameras. It’s similar to the class action lawsuits already filed in Jefferson and Lafayette parishes, but in each case the arguments are a bit different. “We’ve got a lot of different arguments, because we feel it violates so many different laws: state laws in Louisiana and, of course, due process and constitutional law,” said McMahon. McMahon said he hopes Orleans Parish throws his ticket out. “I’m sure the city will consider whether or not to take an appeal of this ruling, and the fight will continue,” he said. New Orleans City Attorney Penya Moses-Fields replied by saying, “The city attorney’s office will review this ruling with the Department of Public Works, which handles the red light camera enforcement, and consider all legal options.” In the meantime, the class action suit in Jefferson Parish is scheduled for an appeal before the Fifth Circuit Court.

http://www.wdsu.com/news/22748641/detail.html#

March 5, 2010  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Constitutional Rights, Court Cases, Evidence Requirments, Government Revenue Scam, Police State, Red Light Cameras, Ticket Cameras  No Comments

Missouri Supreme Court Strikes Down Red Light Cameras

Posted: 03 Mar 2010 12:00 AM PST

The supreme court of Missouri sent photo enforcement companies scrambling on Monday after it declared the red light camera administrative hearing process in the city of Springfield to be void. The high court moved with unusual speed, handing down a strongly worded, unanimous decision about one month after hearing oral arguments in the case.

“This is a $100 case,” Judge Michael A. Wolff wrote for the court. “But sometimes, it’s not the money — it’s the principle.”

At first glance, the court’s decision appeared to be limited to a technical legal issue regarding Springfield’s authority to adjudicate a photo ticket against motorist Adolph Belt in an administrative hearing. The court indicated that this was plainly not permitted under state law. Section 479.010 of the Missouri Code requires ordinance violations of this type to be heard in a circuit or municipal court. Springfield had argued that its administrative hearing officer was the first and last word on all judgments, with no appellate courts — not even the supreme court itself — having any jurisdiction over the matter.

A closer look at the ruling shows that the high court judges expressed a dim view toward the legal arguments often cited by municipalities to justify their red light cameras programs. For example, the court made it clear that no city had any authority to treat red light violations in the same manner as a parking ticket.

“The administrative system at issue here is created for a violation of a red light ordinance, which typically is considered a moving violation,” Wolff wrote.

That means no city in Missouri, including Kansas City and St. Louis, has the authority to issue civil violations that carry no points. A footnote explained further that charter cities have no power to act in areas limited by state law. Both premises are key rebuttals to the argument that municipalities in the state have the authority to create red light camera programs without the sanction of state law. The high court also called into question Springfield’s use of short yellows.

“Undeniably a traffic expert, Belt timed the yellow caution light at the intersection and found that it was rather quick,” Wolff wrote. “He also concluded that the stoplight and the cameras needed to be synchronized.”

Another footnote cited three articles by TheNewspaper that Belt had brought to the court’s attention.

“Another article he found stated that a study in Texas had found that adding an additional second to yellow lights corresponded to a 40-percent reduction in crashes [view study],” Wolff wrote. “Even so, the city of Springfield had chosen to reduce its yellow-light timing at more than 100 intersections prior to starting red light camera ticketing [view article].”

State supreme courts are now evenly split on the issue of photo enforcement. Missouri’s supreme court joined the Minnesota high court which struck down red light cameras as illegal in 2007, explaining that cities may not water down the due process protections of motorists simply for the ease of issuing tickets (view ruling). On the other hand, the Ohio Supreme Court (read opinion) and Iowa Supreme Court (read opinion) declared camera use consistent with state laws.

The Missouri Supreme Court judges voided Belt’s citation without remanding proceedings to a lower court. A copy of the decision is available in a 50k PDF file at the source link below.  Source

March 3, 2010  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Cameras Removed, Constitutional Rights, Court Cases, Government Revenue Scam, Police State, Red Light Cameras, Ticket Cameras, Traffic Lights  No Comments

Oak Ridge:Please Hire a Qualified Accident Statistician!

March 1, 2010

Letter to the Editor

by Dale Gedcke, B.Eng., M.Sc., Ph.D.

The following open letter was sent to the Oak Ridge City Council

The 1/23/10 news report by Beverly Majors in The Oak Ridger (Crashes drop, cameras cited) quotes excerpts from the 1/21/10 Memo to the City Manager, No. 10-01 regarding December 2009 Traffic Camera Statistics.  There are a lot of details that are worth analyzing in that report, and in the previous reports for October and November.  A copy can be obtained from the City of Oak Ridge.

For simplicity, this letter addresses only two issues.  First, the report implies that the installation of Red Light and Speeding Cameras in June 2009 is responsible for reducing the number of accidents in ALL of Oak Ridge by 13% compared to 2008.  That conclusion is fallacious, as can be easily demonstrated by combining the accident numbers from the December report with numbers previously published by the City of Oak Ridge on 6/2/08.  In 2005, there were 1,945 reported accidents in Oak Ridge. In 2006 that number decreased by 3.6% to 1875 accidents.  That rate of decrease accelerated to 22.7% for 2007 with 1,450 accidents.  Even more dramatically, the accidents decreased by 30.3% to 1.011 in 2008.  Then, the rate of decrease shrank to only 12.4% in 2009, with 886 accidents.

Why was the rate of decline in accidents accelerating from 2005 through 2008, but shrinking in 2009?  The cameras were not installed until 2009.  Did the cameras put a stop to the decline in accidents in 2009?  Why was the decline only 12.4% in 2009, instead of the 30% decrease established in 2008?

http://www.oakridger.com/archive/x1775162829/g113000de5f81da12397f30cebb9737333e04d1d503820f.jpg

Ironically, there is no causative proof that the cameras were responsible for restraining accident reductions in 2009.  Correlation does not prove causation.  For that same reason, it is fallacious for the December 2009 Camera Statistics Report to imply that the cameras were solely responsible for the 12.4% decline in total Oak Ridge accidents in 2009.   

The intersections and school zones with cameras are a negligible fraction of the intersections and roadways in Oak Ridge.  Furthermore, via roadside signs and publicity, most drivers in Oak Ridge know where the cameras are, and drive through those specific areas with extra camera caution.  Outside those regions, they relax to their normal, safe-driving habits.  Consequently, it is not rational to assume that the cameras have a significant effect on accidents in ALL parts of Oak Ridge.  Rather, one should compare the accident rates per million vehicles through the intersections having cameras to those same trends for non-camera intersections of a similar nature.  That is what all the sound statistical traffic studies do.

Secondly, the number of accidents at camera intersections is so low that it is virtually impossible to have a statistically significant comparison from year to year.  For example, there were 24 accidents for the last 7 months of 2008 at the Oak Ridge Turnpike and LaFayette Drive.  For the same period in 2009 there were 16 accidents with cameras installed.  After removing the 12.4% reduction experienced for all of Oak Ridge, the remaining difference in accidents is 5.  That is well within the uncertainty expected for random variations in accident rates.  (For those steeped in statistics, the difference is 0.83 sigma, a factor of 2.4 less than the required 95% confidence level).  Consequently, one cannot conclude there is a statistically significant reduction of the accident rate as a result of the cameras.

For more details on this analysis, see the article, The Placebo Effect and RLCs, at http://tnliberty.org/wordpress/?page_id=40.

To avoid misrepresentation and embarrassment on published accident statistics in the future, the City of Oak Ridge should hire a certified traffic consultant who has expertise in statistical analysis of accident records.

March 2, 2010  Tags: , , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Government Revenue Scam, Police State, Red Light Cameras, Scamera Research, Scientific Facts, Speeding Ticket, Ticket Cameras  No Comments

Photo Enforcement Industry Launches All Out Florida Campaign

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/30/3065.asp

Posted: 01 Mar 2010 12:02 AM PST

University of South FloridaThe industries that profit from photo enforcement are scrambling to convince Florida lawmakers to adopt legislation that will forgive municipalities for installing red light cameras contrary to existing state law. A circuit court judge last week ruled that red light cameras were illegal in the state, following the legal argument presented in a 2005 attorney general opinion. On the day the decision was handed down, an insurance and camera company-backed front group headed by Melissa Wandall, the widow of an accident victim, released new polling data intended to jump-start the legislative effort.

“These camera safety programs maintain that high degree of support across partisan, generational and gender lines as well,” Public Opinion Strategies (POS) partner Neil Newhouse claimed in the industry-supported press release. “Even a very healthy majority — 60 percent — of those who have personally received red light and speeding tickets still support using the cameras.”

The POS polling firm, which conducted the survey, has a contract with American Traffic Solutions to produce regular surveys in support of the ticketing company’s business model. The polling firm consistently produces favorable numbers that do not match the results seen at the ballot box. Photo ticketing has been put directly to voters in municipal elections on nine occasions (view list). Photo ticketing has lost all nine contests with up to 86 percent of voters rejecting the industry’s arguments.

The industry has also made it a priority to undermine a 2008 review of the safety effects of red light cameras conducted by University of South Florida (USF) researchers (view report). On the same day, a letter attacking the 2008 report by Edward A. Mierzejewski appeared in a suburban Chicago newspaper — the same letter, word-for-word, has appeared in the National Campaign to Stop Red Light Running’s photo ticketing company-funded newsletter. Although the 2008 report’s authors responded directly to the criticisms in a journal article (view letter and response). Mierzejewski ignored the points made in rebuttal and used the same text published as a letter in a half-dozen Florida papers two full years ago.

The industry turned to Mierzejewski for good reason. As the administrator in charge of the USF Center for Urban Transportation Research, he is heavily involved in research supporting the use of toll roads. Tolling and photo enforcement are intimately linked, with American Traffic Solutions (ATS) serving as the leading provider of camera enforcement for toll roads. Mierzejewski maintains strong ties with the industry as he is the former program director for HDR Engineering, a company that worked closely with the ATS political operation in shutting down the 2008 congestion reduction initiative in Washington state that would have removed the profit motive from tolling and photo enforcement.

The Florida legislature will open the 2010 legislative session tomorrow. Source

March 1, 2010  Tags: , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Legislation, Police State, Red Light Cameras, Ticket Cameras  No Comments

Arizona, Tennessee, UK: Speed Cameras Catch Fire, Crash

People are getting tired of the scameras.

Posted: 28 Feb 2010 12:13 PM PST

Redflex van crash, photo by GlyphA speed camera van in Mount Carmel, Tennessee burst into flames at around 3am on February 21, burning down a barn near which it had been parked. Officials did not immediately blame vigilantes for the incident, instead suggesting the van, owned by Australia’s Redflex Traffic Systems, may have caught fire on its own.

“There’s a lot of wiring in that vehicle, and there’s a chance it wasn’t arson,” Mount Carmel Police Chief Jeff Jackson told the Kingsport Times-News.

There is no question that vigilantes were behind ten attacks on speed cameras in Dorset, England in the past year. Automated ticketing machines in Ferndown, Bear Cross, Longham, Verwood and Three Legged Cross have all been burned, the Bournemouth Echo reported.

Even a fake speed camera has felt the wrath of vigilantes. Former police officer Bill Angus, 64, constructed a faux automated ticketing machine and mounted it outside his home in Sunderland, England. Angus was upset last week when his false device was smashed with a hammer.

In Phoenix, Arizona, the group CameraFraud.com spotted the mangled wreckage of a freeway speed camera van being de-striped in the Redflex parking lot on Friday. The Australian company has issued no statement on the cause of the van’s destruction, but the anti-photo organization offered the suggestion that perhaps another of the company’s employees has been driving under the influence of alcohol. Roderick Ruffin was charged with DUI in 2008 while behind the wheel of a Redflex van. Source

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/30/3064.asp

March 1, 2010  Tags: , , , , , ,   Posted in: Camera Destruction, Government Revenue Scam, Police State, Red Light Cameras, Speed Camera Vans, Ticket Cameras  One Comment