Link from:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Say-No-to-Traffic-Cameras-in-Muscatine/147519808649948
 
http://www.messengernews.net/page/content.detail/id/544667/Ticket-troubles--Drivers-vs--cameras.html?nav=5010
 
Ticket troubles: Drivers vs. cameras
Drivers complain that traffic camera system wrongly nabs big vehicles December 19, 2011 By BILL SHEA, Messenger staff writer

Speeding tickets generated by the mobile traffic camera system used in Fort Dodge suggest that there are some lead-footed drivers behind the wheels of school buses and other large vehicles traveling through the city.
 

That's simply not true, said a handful of drivers who took their case to the City Council Monday night. They said they were not speeding when the traffic camera snapped photos of their vehicles. They added that it would be impossible to get their large machines moving as quickly as the traffic camera evidence suggests.

''I have to believe that there's something seriously wrong with this traffic cam,'' said Dave Wooster, who drives a large panel truck in his job as a plumber for the Fort Dodge Community School District. ''I don't think they can hold us accountable for these tickets.''
 

The white Ford Escape that houses that traffic camera system will not be used until questions about the tickets involving large vehicles are investigated.
 

''We don't want it on the street if it's not working properly,'' said Police Chief Tim Carmody.
Carmody said the traffic camera system is checked and calibrated every time it's set up. He said it's set up to meet the same standards expected of any radar system used by any law enforcement agency in Iowa.
'

'For our own integrity purposes, we want to make sure it works properly,'' he said.
Councilman Robert ''Barney'' Patterson said he read about another city that had a problem with its traffic camera system and large vehicles. He said in that case, the radar beam from the traffic camera bounced off of large-profile vehicles, hit nearby parked vehicles and returned to the traffic camera system, which then recorded a speed that was much higher than the rate at which the vehicle was actually driving.
 

(Ban the Cams note:  Most likely this one in MD.  http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/33/3387.asp or http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/32/3258.asp)

Patterson couldn't remember what city had that problem. He said he would look up the information online and relay it to Carmody.
 

According to Wooster, the questionable tickets were issued when the traffic camera vehicle was parked in the 1200 block of Sixth Avenue North for several days in November. He said the school district received three tickets after his truck was clocked going 50 to 55 mph in a 25 mph zone.
 

Wooster said the speeding supposedly happened after he turned east onto Sixth Avenue North from 11th Street after leaving Phillips Middle School, 1015 Fifth Ave. N. He said it's impossible for his big truck to hit 50 mph or more in the block and a half he traveled before passing the traffic camera unit.
 

Lundy Pender, a driver for Dodger Area Rapid Transit, whose bus was ticketed twice in one day, told a similar story. The bus, she said, can't get moving that fast in such a short distance.
Bob Kearney, a school bus driver for the Fort Dodge district, said he received three tickets.
''I've already got three, and I'm going to lose my job over this,'' he said.
Contact Bill Shea at (515) 573-2141 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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