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Posted in: Red Light Camera News  | Add a Comment(0)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/05/MNGJ1N2VRO.DTL&ao=all
Red-light cameras boost coffers, rile drivers
Kevin Fagan

 
Sunday, February 5, 2012

Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle

Phuong Nguyen sees the camera at 27th and Northgate in Oakland flicker all day from her family's flower store.

California has the most expensive red-light camera tickets in the world - the fine is so steep that one camera in Oakland generates more than $3 million a year - and a Fremont man is launching a protest group to do something about that.
 

If Roger Jones has his way, that freezing dread that knifes through a driver the moment he sees the overhead flash of a traffic camera will become a thing of the past.
 

But he's facing quite an uphill fight against officials hungry for the cash the cameras sweep in and police who are convinced they make the roads safer.
 

Anyone in California snapped violating a red light pays a fine of $480, and according to the traffic-watch site TheNewspaper.com, no other jurisdiction anywhere has a tab that high. The second-highest fine in the United States is $250, and it is usually more like $100.
 

The Legislature passed two bills in the past two years that would have reduced the fine or limited the cameras' use, but both were vetoed. When he killed the most recent measure, Gov. Jerry Brown said the matter should be left to local jurisdictions.
 

The state Department of Finance has estimated that red-light cameras bring in more than $80 million annually to the state and $50 million to cities and counties - and that, Jones and his supporters say, is the real reason they continue to snap away at motorists.
 

Not all $480 from each ticket goes to the cities or counties that authorize the cameras - more than half goes to the state or to the companies that run the devices. And not all tickets result in convictions.
 

But the haul is still out of proportion to the overall set of offenses, critics say. And so even though the fine for running a red light is the same whether a camera or a live police officer generates it, the cameras draw the fire because they can issue far more tickets than a single cop sitting at an intersection.

'Gotcha'

"Is there a limit to how much 'gotcha government' we have to put up with?" asked Jones, 62, a retired distribution manager who began crusading against red-light cameras after he got a ticket from one in 2009. "Just because you can do it doesn't mean you should."
 

His newly formed organization, the Red Light Camera Protest Group, picketed at Mowry Avenue and Fremont Boulevard in Fremont on Saturday, waving signs to approving honks from several motorists. It was their first protest, and the two dozen who participated plan more in the coming months - all calling for the elimination of red-light cameras and a reduction in the fine.
 

"I think we'd all be better off without them," Jones said. "There are better ways to address the problem."

Read more: Red-light cameras boost coffers, rile drivers

Posted in: Legislative News  | Add a Comment(0)

Sbb Maryland Maryland for Responsible Enforcement
 

There is legislation regarding speed cameras & photo enforcement which will soon be heard by state legislative committees (Judicial Review and Environmental Matters) on Feb 14, 21, and 28. We need people who are willing to go to Annapolis that day and speak before the committee. Please contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you are interested.

Upcoming Bills include:

• - a ban workerless workzone speed cameras(good)
• - a bill to remove police review of tickets (bad)
• - 'vehicle height monitoring systems'(bad)
• - removing a restriction on the use of speed camera funds (bad)
• - modifying the way 'school bus monitoring cameras' work in a way that would let them ticket people who do NOT actually pass school buses (bad and EXTREMELY SNEAKY!)
• - legislation requiring warning periods whenever a new camera is placed (good)
• - a bill forbidding cameras for being moved for the purpose of increasing revenue (good).

Posted in: Speed Camera News  | Add a Comment(0)

(Thanks to www.camerafraud.com for the link!)

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/readersrespond/bs-ed-speed-cameras-letter-20120205,0,5997082.story

Speed cameras nail the innocent, too
 

11:00 a.m. EST, February 5, 2012
It seems everyone has a speed camera story, and here is mine. Just after Christmas I received a citation from Maryland Safe Zones Automated Speed Enforcement in the mail. It was not my car; I was not in the place at the time specified, and the picture of the license plate was virtually unreadable. I was offered the option of paying $40 or asking for a court date. I chose the latter and received a letter a couple of weeks later stating that I needed to appear in District Court in Towson at 9 a.m. on Jan. 31.

Fortunately, I appeared before a judge who was full of good humor, compassion and common sense. After my name was called and I walked to the front of the courtroom, I was asked if it was my car in the picture. I replied in the negative. Next, the judge looked at the citation and without hesitation said, "Case dismissed. I cannot read this license plate. Not guilty." All of that took about 30 seconds, and I didn't need to present evidence in my defense. Interestingly enough, the same thing happened to the man who was called before me.

To dispute this inaccurate citation, I had to drive 54 miles in morning traffic, which took me 90 minutes of drive time, and pay a $5 parking fee, not to mention the cost of gas and missing time off from work. In addition, I am left with a nagging suspicion that I received the inaccurate citation because I had received a citation in September in Montgomery County, and my name was in the Maryland Safe Zones data base. Did a person or computer match the unreadable license plate to mine because it was similar?

I was not originally opposed to speed camera enforcement because I thought if drivers obeyed the speed limit they would avoid penalty. I was so naïve. Maryland Safe Zones Automated Speed Enforcement incurs no penalty for being inaccurate; the driver bears the burden of proving his or her innocence. Are the citizens of Maryland really safer?

Evelyn Barrett, Hampstead

Posted in: Speed Camera News  | Add a Comment(0)

Speed Scamera Cop:  It is appalling cameras are now being used as almost a threat to the safety of road users

(Thanks to www.abd.org.uk for the link!)

http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Use-camera-cash-wrong/story-15121369-detail/story.html
 

Use of camera cash is wrong
 
Friday, February 03, 2012
 
The Sentinel

BETWEEN 1995 and 2002, I was the manager of the Staffordshire Safety Camera Office and as a police officer with experience of both community policing and as traffic officer I understood the need for unattended 24/7 cameras to monitor and enforce inappropriate speeds. My understanding was that the cameras would, if located correctly, help reduce the severity of collisions and thereby make parts of our road system safer.

The value of the cameras would therefore be measured by the reduction of offences, as well as the reduction in injuries.

I was disappointed when the Government of the time and under pressure from the police and local authorities agreed to introduce the Hypothecation Project and turned the cameras into a method of indirect taxation. I decided then to walk away from the project I had so valued.

I was and always will support the deployment of cameras to enforce speed limits.

What I object to is the management of the cameras and the way money generated from them is used. The Hypothecation project was introduced with a direct link to the Exchequer's Office.

The project was then linked directly to the number of prosecutions with the numbers being increased with each tranche of the project.

Each partnership would be required to submit targets for the amount of money raised and if they failed to reach those targets the short fall would be met by the local authority.

Needless to say it was clear from those already involved in the scheme that they would ensure that they prosecuted greater numbers to ensure the targets were met.

At meetings I attended, the forecasts were that within three to five years speeding would be as anti-social as drink driving and that it would be difficult to catch speeders as most would have been put off because of the fear of being caught.

This statement was made 10 years ago to date. I now read in The Sentinel that the police and authorities are thinking of raising the prosecution levels in order to ensure that they get a flow of drivers to attend the driver improvement scheme. This is the exact opposite to the forecasts made by the then head of North Wales Police who was in charge of the project.

At the same time the Hypothecation project was introduced Staffordshire Police and many other forces reduced their traffic policing. Overnight Staffordshire reduced the traffic patrols from 200 to less than 20.

Rather than speeding being treated as anti-social in much the way of drink driving, I get the impression that drink driving is again on the increase. Figures released for the Christmas period were I believe disappointing with drivers being caught at all hours of the day.

In truth the lack of traffic patrols and the high visibility deterrent they have on drivers, I would argue, means that the roads are in fact less safe than previously.

It is appalling cameras are now being used as almost a threat to the safety of road users in Staffordshire.

Our safety and that of the public using our roads is being measured by the amount of money it can keep raising to fund itself and while I am sure that there have been casualty reductions it is clear that the path chosen was the wrong one. More road policing officers and reduced collision hot spots should ensure safer roads.

When I was a traffic officer the Association of Chief Police Officers offered the following advice: 'Target those drivers who are most likely to cause the greatest dangers to others.' This blanket process fails to do that and therefore is seen by the majority of just another stealth tax.

STEVE WALSH Ashley Heath

Posted in: Speed Camera News  | Add a Comment(0)

Scamera Attacks Week Ending 2/5/2012

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/37/3707.asp

France, Germany: Speed Cameras Burned
Speed cameras set on fire in Toulouse, France and Wiehl, Germany.

A speed camera was set on fire on the highway between Narbonne and Toulouse, France on Wednesday at 3:30am, La Depeche http://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2012/02/04/1277608-un-radar-victime-d-un-gros-coup-de-chaud.html reported. Police have no idea who might be responsible for destroying the automated ticketing machine, admitting the public has not been willing to rush forward and identify the vigilantes. The area has twenty-five speed cameras and sixteen red light cameras, which are regularly attacked.

Vigilantes set fire to a speed camera in Wiehl, Germany on Thursday at 1am, according to Oberberg Aktuell http://www.oberberg-aktuell.de/index.php?id=75&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=130216&cHash=8827a1b22b. A canister of gasoline was placed on top of the device and set on fire. Only the camera lens suffered significant damage.