Speed Camera News

Piemonte, Italy speed scamera attacked.  5/20/2012

Thanks to Camerafraud.

Thanks the ABD for the link!  www.abd.org.uk

Ban the Cams note:  the UK on some of their expressways have variable limits with speed scameras so you can be on a road with a 70 mph limit, going the speed limit, but if you miss one of those variable signs, still get "cited".

More on UK scameras:  http://www.abd.org.uk/topics/speed_cameras.htm

http://www.motordefencelawyers.co.uk/motoring-news/m6m42-variable-speed-limit-cameras-under-investigation/

UK:  M42/M6 Variable Speed Limit Cameras Under Investigation

The variable speed limit cameras which operate on the M42/M6 Toll and particularly where those motorways merge are notorious for capturing unsuspecting motorists who travel along the M6 Toll at 70mph in the belief that they are complying with the speed limit, only to fall foul of the variable speed limit in operation (40,50 or 60mph) and enforced by the overhead camera gantry’s. Junction 9-7 on the M42/M6 Toll being one such notorious location.

These speeding cases are commonly prosecuted before Leamington Spa Magistrates Court and commonly involve cases where the driver is significantly in excess of the speed limit e.g. travelling at 70mph in excess of a 40mph (variable) speed limit. In such cases the driver is to receive 6 penalty points or worse, be disqualified from driving.l

We have today (Friday 9th October 2012), received information from the Crown Prosecution Service that all speeding prosecutions in the West Midlands and Warwickshire relating to these variable speed limit(M42/M6 Toll) cameras are to be suspended pending further investigation. At present the reason for these “investigations” are unknown and may relate to signage or some more inherent defect in the prosecutions which are ongoing and may even case a shadow over earlier prosecutions for offences detected at these locations.

Caddick Davies Solicitors will continue to monitor this situation and we will provide a further update on this post once any further information is obtained.

Neil Davies
Principal Solicitor
9th November 2012

Speed Scamera car ENDANGERS Bike riders!

Thanks to Camerafraud for the link!

http://progress-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/speed-car-a-hazard-in-balwyn/

Speed car a hazard in Balwyn
Crime

20 Nov 12 @ 04:43pm by Greg Gliddon

 A BALWYN North cyclist says he could have been killed because of a "dangerously" parked speed-camera car on Burke Rd.

 Matt, who asked that his full name not be used, said he was riding along the busy road about 7.45pm late last month when he was forced into traffic to avoid the car parked between Cascade St and Riverside Ave.

 "I was coming up to it and I thought 'who would be parking in that spot', then I noticed it was a speed camera," he said.

 "It was parked right across the bike lane and when you're on a bike, there's nowhere you can go but out into the middle of traffic."

 Matt said while it wasn't peak hour, the road was still relatively busy.

 "It's not usually a patch of road where there is a lot of speed, because it's between two sets of lights and they are timed, so you can never get through both at once," he said.

 Nunawading Highway Patrol Sgt Simon Webb said while every attempt must be made for mobile traffic cameras to be safely parked, they were exempt from usual parking laws.

 "The overriding factor is to make it as safe as possible," Sgt Webb said.

 "Every traffic-camera site is vetted for its relevance and they are areas known for either excessive speed or a high collision rate.

 "Audits are carried out all the time and we try to place a vehicle where it will have the least impact."
 

Camerafraud:  Silver Spring, Maryland. 11.18.12

Ban the Cams:  Looks like more of the public speaking out against speed scamreas in MD!  Wonder if the papers there will mention why it was knocked over. 

Ban the Cams:  Please read the comments we have made on the complete repost on Ban the Cams.  1.  Retting WORKS FOR THE VENDOR THE CITY HIRED, 2.  Governement officals in other places have been BUSTED LYING on their safety claims too!

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/sun-investigates/bs-md-speed-cameras-mainbar-20121117,0,5467980,full.story

City's lucrative speed camera program dogged by problems
Tickets cost drivers millions of dollars, but questions surround the effectiveness – and the evidence

By Scott Calvert and Luke Broadwater
 
The Baltimore Sun
 
11:46 a.m. EST, November 18, 2012
The tractor-trailer hit 70 mph as it passed the Poly-Western high school campus on Cold Spring Lane, barreling down a turn lane at twice the legal speed limit. Or so the $40 citation claimed. Just before Falls Road, a pole-mounted speed camera clocked the truck with radar and snapped some pictures. A ticket soon went out in the mail.

On paper it seemed like just the kind of blatant, dangerous school-zone speeding violation that the ubiquitous enforcement cameras are designed to catch and deter.

Except the truck wasn't going 70 mph that September morning — or even fast enough to get a ticket, The Baltimore Sun determined after examining the camera's time-stamped photos and measuring how far the vehicle traveled. Simple math proves the automated camera was off the mark.

The camera had been misfiring for months, in fact. And city officials knew it.

Going back to last winter, the truck's owner got three other tickets from the same camera, and in each case the camera's own photos show the citations were wrong. Other truck companies report similar complaints: Same camera, same issue.

According to records obtained and reviewed by The Sun, the city government and its speed camera contractor discussed problems with that camera as far back as February, yet the device continued churning out thousands of speeding tickets.

"To put it in simple terms, it's not fair," said Michael Weiss, chief financial officer of the Naron Mary Sue Candy Co., whose trucks have gotten four tickets that photo evidence shows were inaccurate. "Nobody likes to get a ticket for something they didn't do, whether it's jaywalking or spitting on the sidewalk or speeding."

Since 2009, automated cameras aimed at nabbing and fining speeders have proliferated across Maryland, pumping out more than 2.5 million tickets in and around Baltimore and yielding more than $70 million in fines paid by motorists. The state government and Baltimore and Howard counties all operate speed cameras in the area, but Baltimore City's program has expanded to become one of North America's largest, with 83 cameras and more than $19 million in annual revenue.

When the city announced recently that it took in $4 million more than expected from speed cameras last year, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake told drivers to simply obey the law if they don't like them. The tickets, she said, amount to a "minor inconvenience."

They can also be inaccurate and the process unfair, The Sun found in an investigation that focused on the city's program but which also analyzed automated speeding tickets issued around the region.

While the city reaps millions from motorists who believe their only practical option is to pay up, the evidence used to issue speed camera tickets is not nearly as unimpeachable as many drivers and lawmakers think, The Sun found. Even some city District Court judges criticize the program.

In addition, city officials have put cameras in locations that flout state guidelines calling for placement near schools, and while they deny any violations of the law, they recently shut down five of the devices after being challenged about their compliance. Together those five cameras have generated 110,000 tickets.

Far more lucrative than city officials envisioned, Baltimore's speed camera system also suffers from spotty government oversight and poor record-keeping — and the data is mixed on whether the cameras have indeed made roads safer and resulted in fewer injuries.

Among The Sun's findings:

Tickets routinely fail to hold up in court in the city because of glitches in the data, the government's inability to produce evidence, the failure by police to weed out bad citations or obvious instances of motorists being wrongly accused.
 
Nearly 6,000 tickets have been deemed erroneous by the city because cameras were programmed with the incorrect speed limit or location address, or the equipment malfunctioned, resulting in several hundred thousand dollars in refunds and forgiven fines.
 
Baltimore has grown increasingly reliant on a private contractor for speeding enforcement, and for months government officials could not say how many tickets had been issued on the city's behalf.
 
While vehicle owners are mailed pictures that purport to show them speeding by at least 12 mph, the citations don't mention that most cameras in the city also record video — and that those videos can exonerate drivers in court.
 
Traditional police-officer enforcement has dropped since cameras were installed, yet more than 170,000 vehicles on area roads have been ticketed by the cameras enough times that those drivers' licenses could have been suspended if the citations hadn't been issued by a machine.
There also is little question that speed cameras have caught many thousands of drivers who were exceeding the speed limit on Baltimore-area roads. City officials say the cameras have slowed drivers and made roads safer.

"Our program is pretty darn both effective and well-operated," said Jamie Kendrick, who has overseen speed cameras as a deputy transportation director for the city. He described the system-wide error rate as being "well south of one-half of 1 percent."

Critics of the speed cameras say such issues cast doubt on the system's fundamental soundness and fairness.

"With so many problems being reported with the city's system, the integrity of the program is called into question," said AAA Mid-Atlantic spokeswoman Ragina Averella, who was briefed on The Sun's findings. "It's difficult for motorists to have faith in the system and believe it's not about raising money instead of saving lives as it was intended."

AAA has long criticized fee arrangements used by the city and elsewhere that pay the contractor a cut of each $40 citation, arguing that it creates incentives to process more tickets.

Others see such an abundance of problems that they think the city could owe millions of dollars in refunds to vehicle owners if the speed cameras were challenged in court. Steven A. Glazer, a federal administrative law judge who has written about Maryland's cameras, believes the city's program is so legally problematic that many of the speed camera fines should be returned to drivers.

"They should refund them with interest, absolutely," said Glazer, a University of Maryland adjunct law professor who wrote a law journal article about the cameras this year. "Since the jurisdictions are expecting people to follow speed limits strictly, then they should follow the law implementing speed cameras equally strictly. We expect them to act the same way they've treated us."

Glazer said he and his family have received two dozen speed camera tickets in the area the last six years – none in Baltimore – and got nine of them dismissed.

The city's speed program has come under increasing scrutiny during the last few months. Rawlings-Blake recently created a task force to examine automated camera enforcement, the city announced it will replace its camera contractor and officials began an internal review of the Cold Spring camera's accuracy.

Read more: City's lucrative speed camera program dogged by problems

Public hatred over speed scameras continue.  Eight Speed Cameras Attacked

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/39/3952.asp

France, Mexico: Eight Speed Cameras Attacked
Vigilante group claims credit for destroying six French speed cameras while Mexican prosecutors free accused pair accused of camera destruction.

Vigilantes in the Brittany region of France claimed credit for destroying six speed cameras last week. According to Ouest-France http://www.ouest-france.fr/actu/actuLocale_-Morbihan.-Six-radars-fixes-neutralises-dans-la-region-de-Pontivy_40819-2131524------56260-aud_actu.Htm, a group calling itself "Argad, the Breton resistance" issued a statement saying it had eliminated automated ticketing machines in Baud, Pontivy and Vannes as a protest against the "application of illegal taxes by the French state on the Breton nation."

A photo enforcement company in Guadalajara, Mexico this week declined to press charges against two young men accused of destroying a pair of speed cameras, DK 1250AM radio http://www.dk1250.com/local/52795-pagan-danos-y-liberan-a-jovenes-que-danaron-camaras-de-fotoinfracciones.html reported. Jaime Ordiales Martinez and Gonzalo Alcocer Fregoso were released after promising to repay the 700,000 peso (US $53,000) in damages.

UK scamera partnerships use of "speed awareness courses" to fund speed scameras in trouble!

Ban the Cams note:  the "speed awareness" "courses" are being used by the speed scamera "partnerships" in the UK to get around loss of funding for the scameras since there are no points with these courses.

 This latest change might mean more people skipping the propoganda course and less money for the scamera "partnership" scams!  Read below the Apco keeps trying to spin these courses as "safety" but they know what will happen if people stop taking the course.  less money for the scamera "partnerships".

http://www.abd.org.uk/pr/746.htm press release on the questionable speed "awareness" course a year ago:

quote:  Offenders allegedly involved in speed-related offences are being offered ‘Speed Awareness Courses’. Some Police forces have now arranged for some of the revenue from fees for ‘Speed Awareness Courses’ (many of which are run by commercial organisations) to be diverted to finance the operations of camera partnerships.

For example, Thames Valley Police (led by Rob Povey, head of roads policing) has arranged to receive money from the payments made for such courses, thus enabling it to reactivate cameras in that county and maintain the operations of the "safety camera partnership". This has been widely reported in the press and Mr Povey even made it clear in a video posted on YouTube by Thames Valley Police.

We question whether this is legal (we have seen no evidence that it is), and we certainly suggest this is ethically dubious.

In essence, in return for payments that at least part-fund the operations of speed camera partnerships, alleged offenders are diverted from the justice system.

Speed enforcement will again have the potential to become a major cash generator with the result that speed camera partnerships may once more be paying more attention to financing their own operations than to road safety.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20328860

Car insurers start penalising speed awareness courses

By Emma Forde
 
Drivers who attend a speed awareness course instead of taking a fine and points on their licence may see their insurance premiums increase.

The BBC has learned that Admiral is treating it as if it were a conviction, even though the police do not.

The insurance group says its statistics show that drivers who have attended a course, pose a higher risk.

The Association of Chief Police Officers say Admiral's stance could harm efforts to improve road safety.

A spokesperson for Admiral told the BBC's 5 live Investigates programme: "Although a speed awareness course is a replacement for penalty points, it does not change the fact that the person involved has committed a speeding offence."

"Our claims statistics show that drivers who have committed a speeding offence could be a higher risk than drivers who do not commit speeding offences.

"This means that people attending a speed awareness course are more likely to make a claim and we price these risks accordingly," the company said.

The increase in Admiral's premiums comes despite assurances from some police forces and councils that attending a speed awareness course does not affect insurance policies.

Cumbria Constabulary's website says: "By attending the speed awareness course you... retain your current insurance premium."

The website of South Yorkshire Police says: "Attendance on a course would have no impact on the driver's insurance premium."

Substantial increase
 
The BBC has also spoken to drivers who were told by their course instructor that attendance would prevent their premiums increasing.

According to several drivers, the promise that insurance premiums will not increase is a key factor in their deciding whether to attend a speed awareness course - even though they are often more expensive than the standard speeding fine of £60.

However, the programme has learned of a number of cases where drivers have seen their annual premiums go up by hundreds of pounds as a result of going on a course.

One driver in his 20s told the BBC his policy rose by £300 after informing insurance company Elephant - part of the Admiral group - he had been on a speed awareness course.

Another Elephant customer, Graham Taylor, from Oxfordshire, says his premiums rose by £80 after telling the insurer he had attended a course.

Paul Gemetta, from Hersham in Surrey, was caught speeding earlier this year and also opted to attend a course, rather than have points added to his licence.

"I thought it would be better to go on a speed awareness course, partly because I had not done any formal driver education for a long time," he told the BBC.

"It avoided me having any points and... on the course there was a very strong implication that insurance premiums wouldn't go up as a result of attending the course," Mr Gemetta said.

However, his renewal quote was £60 higher after completing the course - the same increase charged to Craig Wright, from Prestwich, another driver contacted by 5 live Investigates.

Admiral says it considers attending a speed awareness course as information relevant to pricing an accurate premium and told the BBC: "On the list of offences on our website, speed awareness courses are listed. The question is also asked on the phone at 'new business' stage and on our invitation to renew documents."

'Not a punishment'
 
Police say independent research shows speed awareness courses are very effective in making people think about the way they drive.

The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) say the insurers' new policy could harm the purpose of the courses.

With no incentive to avoid increased insurance premiums, police fear drivers may opt to pay a fine instead and reject the courses.

Acpo's lead on roads policing, Deputy Chief Constable Suzette Davenport, told the BBC that going on a course is "not a punishment".

"We would argue that this is about improving road safety and therefore reducing risk, so it is a real concern to us," Ms Davenport added.

"I've had many letters come to me that say 'this was a really good course, I will do things differently' - if people are doing that then that is reducing the risk.

"I think therefore it is unfair that insurance companies are loading premiums. It's not appropriate."

Ban the Cams note:  NO Acpo, what you are really worried about is the LOSS OF REVENUE FROM THE SPEED "awareness course" since this is how you are backdoor funding the speed scameras since the government cut your money on speed scamera citiations.

Speed awareness courses are offered throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but not in Scotland. In 2010, 447,724 people completed a speed awareness course and that increased to 772,430 in 2011.

An independent survey, commissioned by Acpo, of more than 2,000 people who had taken a speed awareness course, found that 99% of drivers claimed to have changed their behaviour as a result of attending.

http://www.winnipegsun.com/2012/11/15/city-finally-admits-that-photo-radar-about-money-not-safety

City finally admits that photo radar about money, not safety

 By Tom Brodbeck ,Winnipeg Sun
First posted: Thursday, November 15, 2012 08:48 PM CST | Updated: Thursday, November 15, 2012 09:07 PM CST

It took eight years but the bureaucrats at city hall have finally admitted in writing what we’ve been telling you all along: photo radar is about the money, not safety.

In a report to the city’s protection and community services committee recommending city hall renew its photo enforcement contract, the city’s bean counters rejected the option of adding more traffic cops to the streets as an alternative to photo enforcement because they say it would cut into the city’s traffic enforcement profits. They drew that conclusion even though they admit in the report that real cops on the streets provide a greater presence and allow better coverage of the city than photo enforcement.

“Conducting traffic enforcement by officers provides a greater presence on the streets, and allows complete coverage in the city of Winnipeg as traditional enforcement is not restricted to school and construction zones as under photo enforcement,” the report says.

“However, the increasing cost of salaries and court over the time period reduce the net revenues as it is assumed that the level of revenue remains constant.”

There it is, in black and white. The bureaucrats agree having more traffic cops on the street provides better coverage and a greater presence yet they reject that option solely on the grounds that real cops on the street would cut into the city’s profits.

The background to this is that administration was instructed months ago to examine whether putting more dedicated traffic officers on the street might be a better alternative to photo enforcement.

The problem with doing that — at least for the bureaucrats — is real cops doing traffic doesn’t make nearly as much money for the city as photo enforcement does.

So city councillors will have to decide whether they want to make money from automated ticket dispensers or enhance public safety. It’s now a clear choice laid out by city officials.

Meanwhile, what the report failed to mention is that more traffic cops on the street doesn’t just improve coverage across the city and create a greater presence.

Traffic cops perform a myriad of duties that photo enforcement simply can’t do. Not only can traffic cops stop a vehicle for speeding and running red lights, they can pull motorists over for infractions like running a stop sign or driving erratically. Photo enforcement can’t do that.

Also, once the officer has pulled over a vehicle, they can check for impaired driving, licence and registration infractions, stolen vehicles, etc. Photo enforcement can’t do that either.

What we do know about photo radar is that there is no data whatsoever that shows it has reduced collisions or injuries. There’s no data on it because police have never kept crash data on photo radar.

There is conflicting data available for red-light cameras. Some of the data published by Manitoba Public Insurance has shown collisions have increased at most intersections where red-light cameras have been installed. Other police reported data shows some collisions have decreased, although those statistics are incomplete because not all collisions are reported to police.

At best, red-light camera data is inconclusive, and at worst it shows collisions have increased.

And city officials say this has made our streets safer?

What they really mean — and it’s now in writing — is that photo enforcement has made the city treasury richer. It hasn’t made streets safer, but it has generated lucrative profits.

City council will now have to choose between money or traffic safety, which should really be a no-brainer.

Stop Big Brother MD comment on Baltimore using speed scameras to pilfer out of town drivers!

Post left on: 
http://www.wbaltv.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/City-Suburbanites-get-most-speed-camera-tickets/-/10131532/17452172/-/64yk2h/-/index.html?absolute=true&fb_comment_id=fbc_246306642163651_946933_246445372149778#f29f5a5e891e614

Sbb Maryland commented on WBALTV.

How many tickets were issued to innocent drivers?
http://www.stopbigbrothermd.org/2012/10/trucking-company-questions-accuracy-of.html

Baltimore has admitted that "we know we have a problem" with a camera located at 1300 cold spring lane. But in fact they knew about the problem in March and did not correct it in 8 months:
http://www.stopbigbrothermd.org/2012/11/baltimore-saw-previous-problem-with.html

There have been MANY other examples of Baltimore issuing bogus speed camera citations. But at the speed camera task force hearing a week ago they repeatedly tried to minimize the issue. The conclusion one must draw is that Baltimore believes that money from the innocent is the same color as money from the guilty!

Speed Scamera shut off in Avon and Somerset, UK.  Crashes GO DOWN!

Quote:  According to the Department for Transport, there were 312 people killed or seriously injured in crashes on Avon's roads in 2010. In Somerset, there were 238.

That number fell to 258 in 2011 across Avon; 224 for Somerset. Figures for 2012 have not yet been published.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-20308752

13 November 2012 Last updated at 10:37 ET

Speeding fines in Avon and Somerset fell by 70% last year

Fixed speed cameras across the Avon and Somerset area were switched off in March 2011.

There has been a 70% drop in the number of speeding drivers prosecuted across the Avon and Somerset area since cameras were turned off in March 2011.

A BBC Radio Bristol investigation found 160,000 people were prosecuted between April 2010 and March 2011. It fell to 45,000 from April 2011 to March 2012.

Avon and Somerset Police said education programmes were recognised as the best way of influencing driver behaviour.

Safety charity Brake said there was no longer an "incentive not to speed".

According to the Department for Transport, there were 312 people killed or seriously injured in crashes on Avon's roads in 2010. In Somerset, there were 238.

That number fell to 258 in 2011 across Avon; 224 for Somerset. Figures for 2012 have not yet been published.

'Flexible approach'
 
Supt Ian Smith, from Avon and Somerset's road policing unit, said the force had found a new education provider and re-established the speed reinforcement programme.

"We are focusing on a flexible approach using the speed mobile vans. We maintain a clear commitment to preventing excess speed," he added.

Frankie Hackett, from Brake, said she was worried about going back to "the bad old days".

"People no longer have an incentive not to speed and people don't learn how dangerous speeding is," she added.

"The worse case scenario for us is that... we go back to the bad old days of seeing large numbers of people speeding.

“Speed cameras don't do anything”

Bob Bull
 
The Assocication of British Drivers
 

 "Large numbers of people taking risks and large numbers of people, even more than now, being killed or seriously injured."

Fixed speed cameras across the Avon and Somerset area were switched off in March 2011.

The area's safety camera partnership, made up of the local councils and the police, was disbanded as a result. Digital cameras also stopped working that month.

Bob Bull, Avon and Somerset co-ordinator for the Association of British Drivers, said speed cameras were a poor system.

"I'm really pleased that they have woken up to the facts," he said.

"In the year to 2012 nationally there has been a 6% drop in the numbers killed [on the roads] - a 3% drop in the number of casualties.

"Cameras never did anything. Education, which is what the police are using in this area, is the way forward. Speed cameras don't do anything."
 

Thanks to Camerafraud for the link!

http://road.cc/content/news/70108-hertfordshire-driver-fears-fine-after-cyclist-triggers-speed-camera

Hertfordshire driver fears fine after cyclist triggers speed camera

Motorist with unblemished record calls for law to be clarified

Simon MacMichael, November 9, 2012

A Hertfordshire motorist is said to be anxiously checking his mail for a speeding fine after being caught by the flash of a speed camera he claims was triggered by a cyclist. He has called for the law to be clarified, and also says it’s wrong that cyclists aren’t bound by the same rules as motorists, since by not having to abide to the speed limit, it places riders in danger.

Stuart Gurney, aged 54 and from Croxley Green, has apparently been dreading that a fixed penalty notice will drop onto his doormat ever since the incident on the morning of 26 October, reports the Watford Observer http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/10036422.Driver_fears_ticket_after_cyclist_triggers_speed_camera/.

The newspaper reports that in 37 years of driving, Mr Gurney has not had a single point on his licence, and his reaction to the prospect of receiving a fine for something he claims he didn’t do is one of mild indignation mixed with a certain amount of bemusement.

The camera was triggered as a cyclist, whom the motorist had noticed closing in on him in his rear view mirror, caught him near the bottom of Scots Hill.

"When the camera flashed I couldn’t believe it, I thought I was only doing 28mph,” he explained.

"I managed to catch up with him, pulled him over and politely asked the cyclist, 'Excuse me, that camera didn't flash on behalf of me I hope’, he replied ‘No it was me it flashed for’.

"He was dressed like a racing cyclist but I can’t believe someone is going round as fast as possible trying to set speed cameras off.

"He could have slipped on some oil or if I'd had to brake suddenly he would end up coming over my car bonnet."

According to the Watford Observer, Mr Gurney has contacted Three Rivers District Council as well as the police on their non-emergency number, but has been informed that no action can be taken unless he actually receives a fine.

Bicycles in Great Britain have never been subject to a speed limit, which have only ever been applied to motor vehicles, although as Bike Hub’s Cycling and the Law article http://www.bikehub.co.uk/featured-articles/cycling-and-the-law/ points out, cyclists can be prosecuted for “cycling furiously” or “wanton and furious riding.”

But Mr Gurney believes it is wrong that while motorists must adhere to the speed limit or risk a fine, cyclists don’t have to, something he thinks can place them in danger in circumstances such as those he found himself in.

"This should not be allowed to happen, this could have caused an accident.

"Bradley Wiggins' crash just goes to show that even the very best cyclists are vulnerable, I was once a cyclist myself so I know to look out for them but it is a huge risk cycling like that.”

He also maintained that rules needed to reflect specific circumstances such as the his own situation, worrying that he will be fined for something that he says wasn’t his fault.

"We have got to think where the law stands on things like this.

"I am not the guilty party but could be the subject of a penalty due to being in the camera at the time.

"Speed cameras are there for a reason but cyclists can just get away with it."

A spokesman for Hertfordshire Constabulary commented: "We are unable to comment on particular instances.

“However, photographic evidence taken from GATSO safety cameras is always checked before a Notice of Intended Prosecution is issued.

"An assessment of the speed of all vehicles in the photos is made and notices will not be issued where there is no evidence of a vehicle travelling over the speed limit.

"If a motorist believes they have been incorrectly issued with a notice then there is also an option to challenge it in court."

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/speed-demons_660201.html

Speed Demons (DC speed Scameras really being used for BUDGET!)

Nov 12, 2012, Vol. 18, No. 09 • By THE SCRAPBOOK

A few issues back, The Scrapbook noted that the proliferation of traffic cameras in this country is getting out of hand. Local municipalities are increasingly turning to speed cameras as a source of revenue, and nowhere is the plague further advanced than in the nation’s capital.

Last year, Washington, D.C., generated $55 million in revenue from traffic cameras. But there are more reasons than the eye-popping dollar amounts to believe that Mayor Vincent Gray—still under federal investigation for his corrupt campaign—is not being honest when he says the purpose of the cameras is to “protect people.”
 
The $55 million is no surprise to anyone who has received a traffic camera ticket in D.C. The fines at the moment are $75 for exceeding the speed limit at all, $125 for exceeding it by more than 10 miles per hour, and $250 should you be traveling in excess of 20 miles per hour over the limit. Public outcry is such that D.C. council member Tommy Wells convened a task force, which recently recommended dropping the fines to just $50. This, as you might imagine, is a very popular idea with constituents.
 
Sensing he’s on the losing end of this argument, Gray is proposing to lower the fines more modestly to $50 and $100, down from $75 and $125. (In excess of 20 miles per hour, the fine will actually go up to $300.) But Gray is also proposing that $3.5 million of speed camera revenue be used to hire 100 more police officers. Anyone opposing Gray’s proposal will thus be disingenuously labeled as someone opposed to public safety. Not surprisingly, D.C.’s chief of police Cathy Lanier is on board with Gray’s proposal—in fact, she says with fines of $50 or less, speed cameras would be “absolutely no deterrent.”

D.C.’s chief of police makes in excess of $250,000 a year, so we don’t expect her to appreciate the deterrent effect as perceived by the nearly one in five District of Columbia residents at or below the poverty level. By way of comparison, speed camera tickets in Montgomery County, Maryland—adjacent to Washington, D.C.—are capped at $40, and the local government there conducted a study concluding that this was an effective deterrent. Wells’s task force reached the same conclusion. The Washington City Paper’s local reporter Alan Suderman was much more to the point. “Also backing up those findings: common sense,” he wrote.
 
And just so we’re crystal clear what this is really about, Gray had his budget director point out at a news conference that lowering the traffic camera fines would leave the city budget $30 million short. Given D.C.’s perennial corruption and bloated city government, The Scrapbook figures that, with a red pen and a 10-minute wait for the Metro, any honest member of the D.C. government would have no problem filling that fiscal hole. But that’s not what this is about. Welcome to the endgame for Blue State America—monitoring your every move so as to extract as much money from you as possible.
 

CameraFraud Library 2010:  4409 -- Photo Radar Executive is worried about HIS privacy?

Uploaded by RP4409 on Apr 10, 2010

http://www.Formula4409.com

Redflex photo radar scamera executive Jay Heiler refuses to show me his car so I can take down the VIN and license plate number. That's strange, because I remember Jay telling us "If you're not doing anything wrong, then why do you care" hmmm, hypocrisy at its finest :) Dont you know its for your safety?

We started CameraFRAUD back in Aug of 2008 as a way of having fun while at the same time freeing the minds of the people who mistakenly believed these Scameras were for safety.

Ever since then we dominated the language and the debate by using a Ron Paul type approach and have systematically obliterated them on every level. The debate is now over and the Cameras are coming down.

This footage was from the CameraFRAUD/ Redflex debate held at the Tempe, AZ.

http://www.thenewspaper.com/

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/31/3104.asp
 

Speed Scamera Destruction Week Ending 11/10/2012

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/39/3946.asp

Belgium, Italy, Poland: Speed Cameras Bashed, Smashed
Speed camera vigilantes increase activity in Belgium while cameras are smashed and bashed in Poland and Italy.

Last week vigilantes whacked a pair of automated ticketing machine with a sledgehammer in Lonato, Italy. Giornale di Brescia http://www.giornaledibrescia.it/in-provincia/garda/lonato-autovelox-preso-a-mazzate-e-devastato-1.1423478 reported the devices were located just before the entrance to the San Zeno tunnel. The cameras are out of commission, and police have no idea who might be responsible.

Between January and April, a total of 70 speed cameras have been knocked out of commission in Flanders, Belgium thanks to vigilantes. Gazet Van Antwerpen http://www.gva.be/nieuws/binnenland/aid1274891/flitspalen-steeds-vaker-beschadigd.aspx reports this represents a significant increase over last year's total of 54. The most popular method of destruction is ramming, accounting for 39 of 124 incidents between 2011 and 2012. Some 21 have been pried open with a crowbar, 18 have been spraypainted, 11 have been set on fire, and 3 have been shot.

A speed camera in Jeziorki, Poland failed to prevent an accident on Wednesday that flattened the automated ticketing machine, according to TVN 24 http://www.tvn24.pl/wiadomosci-poznan,43/jechala-pod-wplywem-skasowala-fotoradar,287552.html. At around 10pm, a 25-year-old drunk driver in a Peugeot slammed into the camera pole, ripping it out of the ground. Police found the uninjured woman's blood alcohol level was .13.

SPEED SCAMERA in Iowa FALSELY ACCUSES DRIVER in OREGON!

http://siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/columnists/zerschling/zerschling-mystery-speeding-ticket-does-the-camera-lie/article_c6538040-aa7d-5620-9b67-d79c1413323a.html

ZERSCHLING: Mystery speeding ticket: Does the camera lie?
LYNN ZERSCHLING This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Sioux City Journal
November 07, 2012 10:00 pm  •  LYNN ZERSCHLING

SIOUX CITY | An Oregon man who got a speeding ticket after his rental car was snapped by a traffic camera on Interstate 29 in Sioux City claims he was hundreds of miles away at the time and has witnesses and documents to prove it.

Ken Benkstein thinks the only logical explanation for his $168 ticket is that the camera equipment malfunctioned, recording the date incorrectly when a different customer had the car.

His story and supporting documents seem credible, but city officials didn't back down. They said the evidence is on the citation, which shows the car, with a closeup of the rear license plate, was recorded traveling north at 65 mph in a 55 mph zone at 10:15 a.m. Sept. 11 at I-29 mile marker 151.

That's at the Riverside exit in Sioux City. Benkstein and colleagues from his West Des Moines public relations and marketing firm, Meyocks Group, insist they were meeting in West Des Moines, about 200 miles from Sioux City, that morning and later went to Ames, Iowa.

Company Senior Vice President James Head said Wednesday he and the other employees were dumbfounded when they learned Benkstein, who commutes from his home in McMinnville, Ore., had received the $168 speeding ticket for the day he spent with them.

“It defies any logic," Head said. “Ken’s car was in our parking lot when we left for Ames, and it was there when we returned” less than four hours later.

“Ken’s rental cars are absolutely not shared with other employees,” Head wrote in an Oct. 22 letter to the Sioux City Police Department.

“It’s not like we were drinking buddies and saying we’ll help you fight this thing,” Head told me Wednesday. “What we said didn’t seem to count. From my perspective, the city should have understood there was a mistake somewhere in the machinery.”

Two other colleagues and Benkstein himself wrote to city officials. Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, based in Tulsa, Okla., wrote a letter stating Benkstein had rented the car on Sept. 9 at the Des Moines airport, returned it Sept 14 and driven it 230 miles. Benkstein also sent a copy of the receipt for the car rental and a Google document showing the distance from the airport to Sioux City as 199 miles -- a round trip of nearly 400 miles.

That was after he had called the police department and the city attorney's office and tried unsuccessfully to resolve the issue.

Sioux City started installing traffic cameras in 2009, and although many motorists have complained about their tickets, city officials said Benkstein's case may be a first.

“We’ve never had an incident where the camera equipment has been off,” City Attorney Nicole Jensen-Harris told me last week, adding the only issue for the city was that the car was in Sioux City when the violation took place. “That’s all we’re required to prove.”

The city did check with Dollar Thrifty but was told Benkstein's mileage could not be verified.

However, late Friday afternoon, a Dollar Thrifty official contacted the police department saying it would pay the fine to RedFlex, the company that operates the cameras. As of Wednesday afternoon, Dollar Thrifty hadn't returned my calls and emails asking what spurred the decision.

Benkstein had just mailed his payment to the RedFlex processing center in Cleveland. When the company receives the two payments, it will work with the city to refund his money, RedFlex spokeswoman Jody Ryan of Phoenix said.

She also said the staff wasn't aware of any erroneous date stamps on citations "in recent history."

Benkstein, 61, who lived in Cedar Rapids and Des Moines for 20 years before moving to Oregon in 2002, said he hasn't been in Sioux City since 2000.

“If I had actually done the crime, I would have owned up to it and paid the ticket,” he said. “What we have is a confluence of robots and real human beings here.”

Sometimes, humans score a surprise win over technology.

“I think I have a happy ending,” Benkstein said

http://www.stopbigbrothermd.org/2012/11/baltimore-saw-previous-problem-with.html

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Baltimore Saw Previous Problem With Cold Spring Lane Speed Camera

Baltimore has released an email in response to a Public Information Act request by StopBigBrotherMD.org showing that the city had experienced, and confirmed a previous problem with a speed camera at 1300 West Cold Spring Lane, which caused it to cite a vehicle for a speed it was not traveling.  This is at the same location where we recently reported about apparently erroneous speed camera citations which had been issued to trucks http://www.stopbigbrothermd.org/2012/10/trucking-company-questions-accuracy-of.html.

The email originated on February 7, 2012 from the safety manager for a well known food products company which operates a fleet of delivery vehicles.  (We have redacted the company's name and the name of a city employee from the email)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UU5xGlakav0/UJceWiyu28I/AAAAAAAAAtg/Hjy9h_E2RoA/s1600/Mar2012ErrorLetter.jpg

Mar2012ErrorLetter

Citation Number [redacted]
 Location 1300 block of W coldspring lane
 The video shows him not going fast.  Please review & consider citation.  Also, please request a calibration from the private company that owns the speed camera."

An engineer in the Baltimore Department of Transportation reported the problem to ACS State and Local Solutions (a part of Xerox Corporation).  Two days later ACS's product manager Donovan Wilson replied
"I reviewed this citation and it seems that the vehicle was not traveling 47 mph.  Should I request a void for this citation?"

On March 5 the Baltimore City employee followed up on the situation "Has the citation been voided?  Also, has the issue with the camera been rectified?"

Mr. Wilson replied for ACS on March 7 "The void request for this citation and te citations for The Alameda were sent to Parking Fines yesterday evening."

The final email response from ACS never stated the cause of the problem or whether the issue was "rectified".  We at StopBigBrotherMD believe it was NOT corrected.

In addition to the company who we previously reported http://www.stopbigbrothermd.org/2012/10/trucking-company-questions-accuracy-of.html had complained about erroneous speed readings being issued to their trucks, another company has also contacted StopBigBrotherMD.org, claiming they have evidence that citations which they received from 1300 Cold Spring Lane, as well as another camera of apparently the same type at 3800 GreenSpring Avenue, were in error.  They are contesting those citations.  This means at least 3 companies have separately complained about the accuracy of the cameras on Coldspring lane this year.

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/39/3940.asp

UK: Lincolnshire Speed Camera Set on Fire
Lincolnshire, England speed camera is destroyed by burning tire.

Vigilantes took out a speed camera in Lincolnshire, England on October 23. A gasoline-filled tire was used to destroy the automated ticketing machine on the A153 Main Road at Anwick, the Sleaford Standard http://www.sleafordstandard.co.uk/news/crime/another-county-speed-camera-vandalised-1-4428485 reported. Police have no idea who may be responsible.

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/39/3934.asp

Germany: Speed Camera Fails to Protect Itself From Accident
German driver destroys speed camera in an accident the automated ticketing machine failed to prevent.

In Swisttal-Heimerzheim, Germany at around 10:45pm on Saturday, October 20, a speed camera on the L182 between Bornheim and Swisttal-Heimerzheim failed to protect itself from a collision. A 43-year-old man hit the automated ticketing machine, ripping it out of the ground. Bonn police were unable to determine the cause of the accident, according to the department's news release

DC Councilman Brown on speed scameras tickets.  "What's wrong with 100 percent of those being from Maryland and Virginia?"

http://www.stopbigbrothermd.org/2012/10/some-in-dc-want-cameras-to-target.html

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Some In DC Want Cameras to Target Maryland and Virginia

In a debate among candidates for DC council, council member Michael Brown argued that speed cameras should be place for the specific purpose of targeting Maryland and Virgina residents, demonstrating that one of the motives for camera enforcement by DC is to create a de facto commuter tax on visitors to the nation's capital.. From WTOP.Com http://www.wtop.com/109/3086603/DC-Council-candidates-debate-at-Catholic-University: 
 

DC Council Member Michael Brown 
 

"If the cameras are going to be anywhere, let's at least put them on the fringes of the city so we can get the Maryland and Virginia folks to pay those fines rather than us," Brown said.

When the moderator pointed out that 65 percent of the fines are already issued to Maryland and Virginia drivers, Brown replied, "What's wrong with 100 percent of those being from Maryland and Virginia?"

The correct level for fine from DC's cameras has been a matter of much dispute lately.  A plan floated by some council members to lower the fines in DC hit a snag when Mayor Gray expressed that he would need to see a fiscal impact statement before considering it http://www.wtop.com/109/3082075/DC-mayor-questions-lower-speed-cam-fines; "Someone is going to have to demonstrate how it would be paid for, so that's the first question,"  According to WTOP.com, Gray said in order to lower the fines and maintain a balanced budget, that revenue would have to come from somewhere else.  Mayor Gray reiterated this sentiment to WJLA news http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/10/mayor-gray-says-show-me-the-money-to-speed-camera-reduction-proposal-81151.html.

DC earned $85million in photo enforcement revenues http://washingtonexaminer.com/d.c.-rakes-in-85m-from-traffic-cameras/article/2511160#.UIQdV4YuMlZ in the fiscal year ending in September 2012, with the city running a budget surplus.

One council member, Yvette Alexander, had previously argued to the Washington City Paper that camera fines should be raised to $1000 http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/looselips/2012/10/04/yvette-alexander-pro-1000-speed-camera-tickets/. 

In other DC news, a police whistleblower within DC's speed camera program claimed he was reassigned http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/oct/11/dc-traffic-whistleblowers-efforts-stall/ after he filed a complaint that a manager in the program had misused funds, failed to rescind defective tickets, and improperly voided legitimate tickets.  “I have been forced to remain in a detailed position because I adhered to the District of Columbia Ethics Manual and reported waste, fraud and illegal conduct to the appropriate authorities,” Sgt. Robinson said.

Earlier this year, a former officer in DC's photo enforcement program plead guilty to falsifying camera deployment and calibration logs http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/08/david-cephas-former-mpd-officer-pleads-guilty-in-photo-radar-fraud-case-78649.html, and was forced to pay the cost of refunding citations.

BAN THE CAMS ADVISORY:   WE STRONGLY SUGGEST THAT PEOPLE DO NOT vistit DC BY CAR!  The city is using the scameras a a form of HIGHWAY ROBBERY.  DC is addicted to sCAMERAs like a Junkie is addicted to DRUGS.  THIS will only get worse.  Spend your dollars elsewhere if you must travel by car.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-red-light-camera-probe-1019-20121019,0,1954456.story

Preckwinkle ask red-light insider to resign county post

Ex-city official who ran camera program is under ethics probe

By David Kidwell, Chicago Tribune reporter

1:34 a.m. CDT, October 19, 2012

A former City Hall insider now under an ethics probe involving his oversight of Chicago's red-light camera program was asked to resign his political appointment to an obscure county panel, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said Thursday.

John Bills, 51, who retired from his city management job last summer after a 32-year career, was appointed by Preckwinkle last December to the part-time post on the Cook County Employee Appeals Board, long known as a haven for those with political clout. Bills is a longtime campaign worker for House Speaker and state Democratic Party Chairman Michael Madigan.

Both Preckwinkle and Madigan refuse to say whether Madigan played any role in Bills' appointment to the seat on the appeals board, which meets once a month to hear appeals from county employees who have been fired or demoted. The pay is about $35,000 per year, plus health benefits.

Preckwinkle spokeswoman Kristen Mack said that after the Tribune asked Preckwinkle about the appointment on Wednesday, the County Board president called Bills that evening.

"I was very troubled by reports of Mr. Bills' alleged impropriety with the city's red-light camera vendor," Preckwinkle said in a statement. "I called him and told him I wanted his resignation letter by the end of the week, which he promised he would deliver."

Bills did not return a telephone message.

Until his retirement from the city last year, Bills oversaw the city's controversial red-light camera program that since 2003 has resulted in $300 million in traffic ticket revenue for the city. He came under scrutiny this week after Tribune reports disclosed how Chicago's longtime red-light camera vendor — Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. — failed to tell City Hall about internal allegations of impropriety involving Bills and his neighborhood ties to a company consultant paid more than $570,000 in commissions.

The company also didn't tell the city for two years that it disciplined one of its own executives for paying a two-day luxury hotel tab for Bills in Arizona. After the reports, Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration this week threw out Redflex's bid to install speed cameras in the city and referred the allegations to the city inspector general for a more thorough investigation.

Emanuel's office still hopes to choose a speed camera vendor from among the eight remaining bidders and begin testing the new equipment by November. Whether Redflex gets to keep its current role as the vendor for the red-light cameras remains in question. The company has collected more than $97 million on that business since 2003.

Bills told the Tribune last week that he asked a Redflex executive for help finding a hotel reservation for his annual vacation to White Sox spring training in Arizona, and didn't realize the $910 tab never showed up on his own credit card. He also denied there is anything improper about his friendship with Redflex customer service representative Marty O'Malley, 72.

O'Malley, who comes from Bills' childhood neighborhood on the South Side, was hired by Redflex at the outset of the contract to act as its liaison with the city. Both say that Bills had no role in O'Malley getting the Redflex job and they have no financial relationship.

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