TheNewspaper

Maryland Politicians, Judges, Bureaucrats Drive Toll Free

TheNewspaper Editor — 2009-11-06T00:01-08:00

Among the 15,000 Maryland state employees who drive on area toll roads without paying are judges, lawmakers and powerful bureaucrats. The Maryland Politics Watch website used a freedom of information request in August to discover that 128 of 188 legislators took advantage of a perquisite giving officials a scrutiny and bill-free E-ZPass transponder -- despite already receiving a $600 yearly travel expense allowance from taxpayers. After being exposed, the General Assembly leadership moved to limit the fallout by abruptly canceling the program on September 25.

"Currently, many members of the General Assembly have non-revenue E-ZPass accounts or E-ZPass accounts with non-revenue accommodations," Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller (D) and House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D) wrote. "This recession requires us to find efficiencies and reduce unnecessary spending wherever possible; therefore, we have asked the Maryland Transportation Authority (MdTA) to terminate the non-revenue E-ZPass program for the legislative branch. Individual lawmakers will continue to be eligible to submit for reimbursement for tolls incurred on official legislative travel."

When Maryland Politics Watch informally attempted to learn the names of the politicians driving on toll roads at taxpayer expense, the MdTA initially claimed "privacy and security" concerns prevented disclosure. The agency then wrote to lawmakers informing them of the inquiry, allowing fifty-six lawmakers to cancel their accounts to avoid embarrassment before a formal request for the list of names was granted.

Authority to issue the free rides came from section 6.15 of the MdTA's contract with bond holders, a document that received little public scrutiny. The hidden provision applies to, "officials and employees of the executive, legislative and judicial departments of the state." Ambulances and other emergency vehicles also receive a special transponder that allows free passage.

Maryland Politics Watch author Adam Pagnucco slammed Democrats for taking advantage of the system.

"Delegate Ben Kramer (D-19) is a millionaire developer who has dumped $220,450 of his own money into his last two political campaigns," Pagnucco wrote. "Does he really need a free E-ZPass? [In Montgomery County] one of our Senators and thirteen of our twenty-four delegates drive toll-free, including some of our most liberal members. We get no moral high ground this time."

Pagnucco was equally harsh with the GOP.

"Fifteen of the fifty Republicans in the General Assembly carry free E-ZPasses," Pagnucco wrote. "This is the worst hypocrisy of all. Over and over again, the Republicans have called for big spending cuts while jealously guarding their E-ZPerks."

Last month, Senate Minority Leader Allan H. Kittleman (R) asked the Court of Appeals Chief Judge Robert M. Bell whether the judicial branch planned to give up free rides for judges. Source

California Toll Road Refunds Excessive Penalties

TheNewspaper Editor — 2009-11-05T02:21-08:00

California motorists hit with massive fines for minor, alleged toll infractions won a settlement last month from the Orange County Transportation Agency (OCTA) and Transportation Corridor Agency (TCA). The toll road operating entities agreed to pay $1.4 million in restitution and waive $41 million in unpaid toll penalties after a lawsuit alleged the fines were "excessive" and that the denial of due process to the accused was "unconstitutional."

Over a dozen motorists sued in 2007 claiming that fines of up to $123,000 for skipping tolls were outrageous. In several cases, such as that of Stephanie and Brian Young, the violations were inadvertent. The couple racked up $580 in unpaid tolls in 2003 after the credit card linked to their toll transponder account expired. For this mistake, OCTA demanded that they pay $53,550 in fines. Similarly, Maria and Pablo Gonzalez allegedly failed to pay $60.14 in tolls and were billed $78,780.

Under the settlement agreement, motorists who received a toll evasion penalty between January 1, 2003 and October 5, 2009 may be eligible for a share of the $1.4 million restitution payment and a 29 percent discount any unpaid toll penalties. The agencies also agreed to make a number of procedural changes designed to prevent future problems.

E-mail will be used to notify toll road users of problems such as low account balances and a thirty-day notice will be given before an account suspension. The agencies promise to keep accurate records. Notice of an alleged toll violation must be mailed within ten days. Alleged toll road violations will be subject to hearings that will now be conducted in a fair manner.

"The independent administrative hearing officer retained by OCTA and TCA to conduct administrative reviews will be advised that he/she should consider any fact which may tend to show that the violation was inadvertent; that the violation was the result of an innocent mistake; that multiple violations all arose from a single inadvertent cause, such as a lost, stolen, expired credit or debit or other payment card, or bank account that was canceled by the customer; that under all circumstances, the penalties imposed will cause an undue hardship for the person requesting the review; or any other circumstance which may bear on the culpability of the person seeking review or the cumulative amount of the penalties imposed," the settlement states.

Additional details regarding the settlement may be found in a 150k PDF file at the source link below. Correction: OCTA and TCA in a statement denied that any of its actions violated the law. Source

Photo Enforcement Defeated at the Ballot Box in Texas, Ohio

TheNewspaper Editor — 2009-11-04T00:01-08:00

Voters in three cities sent a clear message to local lawmakers yesterday by adopting charter amendments that ban photo enforcement. In addition to kicking two camera supporters from the city council, 72 percent of those voting in Chillicothe, Ohio approved a total prohibition on the use of red light cameras and speed cameras. In College Station, Texas the vote was much closer, but at the end of the night 52 percent wanted the red light cameras to come down. In Heath, Ohio 51 percent voted against the cameras. A total of nine cities nationwide have used the initiative process to ban camera enforcement since 1991, with camera proponents never having won a public vote.

The triple defeat for the photo enforcement industry came despite a well-funded public relations effort in each of the cities. In Chillicothe, Redflex Traffic Systems sent a glossy mailer to every voter while the mayor demanded that the Ohio Supreme Court ban the public from even voting on the issue -- a move high court justices swiftly rejected. Citizens Against Photo Enforcement (CAPE), the group responsible for the ballot measure, claimed an additional victory as voters elected camera opponent Bruce Arnold, who won the seat of council president, Jeremy Siberell, who won the fifth ward and Dustin Proehl, the only incumbent to have voted against cameras. CAPE leader Rebecca Valentich told TheNewspaper that she was thrilled with the outcome.

"We came together as individuals, and we united as a community," Valentich said. "The people have spoken, and very clearly. Our voices have been heard and thanks to the people and their strong voices, the cameras will be coming down. It is a huge victory, and one that we can all be proud of. And although our mayor has gone on record saying that he will fight the will of the people, his fight against the rights of the people will only bring a stronger united front from the community."

In College Station, Texas the city's automated ticketing vendor American Traffic Solutions (ATS) bankrolled a front group to conduct mass mailings and push polling in an effort to save the program that would have earned the company more than $11 million over the life of the contract. The ATS-funded group reported raising $71,240 in contributions, but not one dollar came from anyone living in the local community. To supplement the vendor's effort, the city allocated taxpayer money to send red light camera promotional material to every voter. College Station activist Jim Ash, who led the fight to put the issue on the ballot, watched the results with a large group of supporters.

"It has been nothing but celebration here," Ash told TheNewspaper minutes after the results became final.

In Heath, voters were bombarded with the same advertisements from Redflex, but they failed to persuade a majority. Voters also defeated Mayor Richard Waugh who had introduced photo enforcement as the signature issue of his administration.

"You can fight city hall and win, when you have a passion for what you believe in," We Demand a Vote spokesman Lori Lyons said in a statement.

Yesterday's results are consistent with previous public votes on the topic. In April, eighty-six percent of the votes in Sulphur, Louisiana rejected speed cameras. In 2008, residents in Cincinnati, Ohio rejected red light cameras. Seventy-six percent of Steubenville, Ohio voters rejected photo radar in 2006. In the mid-1990s, speed cameras lost by a two-to-one margin in Peoria, Arizona and Batavia, Illinois. In 1997, voters in Anchorage, Alaska banned cameras even after the local authorities had removed them. In 2003, 64 percent of voters in Arlington, Texas voted down "traffic management cameras" that opponents at the time said could be converted into ticketing cameras. Source

Maryland Cities Create School Zones for Speed Camera Use

TheNewspaper Editor — 2009-11-03T00:59-08:00

Maryland cities will create brand new "school zones" in an attempt to issue speed camera tickets on roads that previously had no need of the designation. When the state legislature authorized speed cameras six months ago in response to a $690,506 lobbying campaign from photo ticketing and insurance companies, lawmakers mandated that the cameras could only be used within a half mile of a school zone. Baltimore is among the first to admit that it will bypass that restriction.

"You asked if the locations for speed cameras were all pre-existing school zones," Baltimore engineer Rainna P. Strauss wrote in an email exchange obtained by the StopBigBrotherMD.org website. "No they were not."

The city's plan is to take a number of roads that are within the legally required distance to a school but are in areas where children do not regularly walk. Baltimore will install "school zone" signs on these roads for the sole purpose of meeting the legal requirement that the speed cameras be used only in a school zone. The new zones include Charles Street at Lake Avenue, Northern Parkway at Greenspring, Pulaski Highway at Monument Street and Roland Avenue at West Cold Spring.

Baltimore is not alone. In New Carrollton, two of the five proposed speed camera locations were not in actual, existing school zones.

"Speaking as a parent of two small children myself," the editor of StopBigBrotherMD.org wrote, "if these were legitimate locations for school zones we might ask why public officials put the safety of children at risk by not bothering to do the inexpensive bare minimum step of marking the locations as school zones and alerting drivers to the presence of a school nearby... until there was a revenue motive for doing so.

The following videos document the lack of school zone signs using Google street view: Baltimore locations. View New Carrollton locations.

The Maryland Department of Transportation also announced yesterday that it would delay the start of automated ticketing on Interstates 95 and 695 for at least another two weeks. These cameras are designed to ticket vehicles passing through the state in "work zones" where the speed limit has been lowered to 45 MPH but workers are not necessarily present. The majority of workers in work zones are injured by their own equipment, not by automobiles, according to accident reports. Source

Massachusetts: Red Light Cameras Proposed to Fight Deficit

TheNewspaper Editor — 2009-11-02T01:18-08:00

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick (D) on Thursday outlined his plan to reduce the state's $600 million deficit and help struggling municipalities by, among several other revenue raising measures, installing red light cameras. The governor's proposed fiscal year 2010 budget amendments would eliminate an existing state law forcing police officers to issue traffic citations personally. Under the new legislation, any jurisdiction in the commonwealth could give private, for-profit companies the right to issue $100 traffic tickets.

Although some lawmakers had proposed red light camera authorization bills in the past sessions, the measures have never succeeded. Patrick's quiet inclusion of the measure in must-pass legislation gives the proposal new momentum. Photo enforcement firms encouraged the move by giving lawmakers $10,245 in campaign donations. Australia's Redflex Traffic Systems gave $1800 to Patrick and state legislators, Affiliated Computer Services gave $7445 and Nestor Traffic Systems, now American Traffic Solutions, gave $1000. National Motorists Association researcher John Carr said that introduction of the legislation as part of the budget process was a sign that Patrick's primary concern is monetary.

"Red light cameras have a long track record of making roads more dangerous," Carr told TheNewspaper. "The governor isn't even pretending this is about safety. He is risking the lives of the public out of no motive other than pure greed."

In 2006, residents of Swampscott rejected red light cameras in a town meeting. The town had formed a special committee to investigate whether traffic cameras would benefit the town. It concluded that although such a system would generate $490,000 in revenue, the number of accidents would increase (view report).

Patrick's proposal would enforce payment of the automated citations by suspending the driver's license and vehicle registration of owners who fail to pay after two tickets are sent to his last known address. The suspensions remain in effect until the tickets and late penalties are paid in full, in addition to a $40 reinstatement fee that is split between the municipality and the state. The proposal also allows localities to seize or boot vehicles for non-payment.

Cities implementing a camera program would submit an annual report to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation detailing the number of citations issued, the number found guilty by an administrative hearing and the amount of revenue generated by the program.

Patrick's proposal must be approved by the state House and Senate before becoming law. Source

Corporate America Grows More Involved in Photo Enforcement

TheNewspaper Editor — 2009-11-01T09:53-08:00

Some of America's most recognized corporations are growing increasingly involved in providing equipment and services to the automated ticketing industry. In many cases, these Fortune 500 firms play a behind-the-scenes role, without actively seeking publicity for their connections to controversial programs.

Imaging giant Kodak did announce that it would be demonstrating a new CCD image sensor at a trade show in Germany on Tuesday. This sensor was specifically designed to work in red light camera and speed camera applications. The company claims the unit doubles light sensitivity, allowing a substantial increase in the number of tickets that can be issued in bad weather conditions.

"Improving camera performance for low-light imaging is a key issue for applied imaging applications such as security and traffic monitoring," Chris McNiffe, general manager of Kodak's Image Sensor Solutions group, said in the company's statement. "Deploying Kodak's new Color Filter Pattern technology... will provide these markets a new level of imaging performance -- availability of color information in low light where it wasn't available before. This integration is another example of Kodak's commitment to develop and deploy our most advanced technologies for these key markets."

IBM has an even greater involvement in speed camera programs, but it rarely comes to the attention of US audiences. The computing giant's Mideast photo ticketing operations include a a $125 million contract to create a GPS-enabled black box, designed eventually to be installed in every automobile in the United Arab Emirates, so that tickets will be instantly issued if the vehicle ever exceeds a pre-set speed. The company is so heavily involved in congestion pricing that it filed a patent on the concept of using a computerized system to tax drivers at a variable rate. The company also runs the high-profile congestion charge programs in London and Sweden.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs last year invested heavily in the number two speed camera company in the US, American Traffic Solutions (ATS). By providing the capital ATS needed to expand operations, Goldman hopes to increase the number of traffic citations -- and license points -- issued to drivers. That will drive a boost in profits for Geico, which is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, which in turn has a $5 billion stake in Goldman Sachs.

Photocopying pioneer Xerox went beyond a simple investment. It purchased the photo and parking ticket giant Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) in September at a cost of $6.4 billion. The deal still requires regulatory and shareholder approval.

Perhaps the strangest corporate connection was the former teaming of America's oldest gunmaker, Remington, with Elsag, an Italian camera firm, to deploy technology designed to allow police to track and log the movements of innocent citizens as they drive on public streets. With Remington's help, the Plate Hunter brand of automated license plate recognition (ALPR, ANPR in the UK) became one of the most widely used systems among local and state governments. In 2007, however, Remington sold its interest in the joint venture to Finmeccanica. Source

Italy: Speed Camera Accuses Motorcyclist of 383 MPH Blast

TheNewspaper Editor — 2009-10-31T13:18-08:00

According to a speed camera citation that landed in his mailbox on October 10, motorcyclist Paolo Turina blasted past a speed camera at 616km/h (383 MPH). Last month, Turina had been riding his Moto Guzzi motorcycle in the municipality of Cernusco Lombardone in Lombardy when a Telelaser Ultralyte device recorded him passing by.

The letter from the municipal police suggested that Turina had exceeded the fastest recorded MotoGP race speed of 217 MPH, set in June by Dani Pedrosa at the Mugello, Italy, by 166 MPH. Municipal police admitted the speed may have been printed on the ticket in error, but that the citation itself was valid.

"I was told that the [speed] check was carried out properly, because in the picture you see that I was going to 87km/h (54 MPH)," Turina told the Giornale di Merate newspaper. "It was probably a simple clerical error by the agent. In the end the blame for the fine was passed to me, which cost me less than five points on my license and more than 200 euros (US $296)."

Turina is keeping the ticket to use whenever he hears anyone making exaggerated claims about a motorcycle's top speed.

"I also brought it to the dealer who sold me the bike," Turina said. "They made a photocopy and hung it on the wall. Source

Redflex Battles Anti-Speed Camera Votes in Ohio

TheNewspaper Editor — 2009-10-30T00:35-08:00

As Redflex Traffic Systems fights a shareholder revolt at home in Australia, the speed camera vendor is simultaneously battling a public revolt against photo ticketing in two Ohio cities. Next Tuesday residents of Chillicothe and Heath will have the opportunity to vote on citizen-led initiatives that would ban the use of red light cameras and speed cameras. Redflex has poured substantial cash into an advertising blitz covering both towns.

"Vote NO on Issue 5 and keep Heath safe," read a Redflex brochure sent to Heath voters this week. "In the last four months alone, at enforced intersections in Heath... red light running has reduced by almost half... 90 percent of speeders are not Heath residents."

Duane Goodwin, who helped put the referendum on the city ballot, insisted that the Redflex numbers regarding the cameras' safety benefit were bogus. He cited Redflex traffic counts that showed 58,754 fewer automobiles had traveled on camera-monitored roads -- a 27 percent decrease in traffic -- as a result of out-of-town motorists avoiding the cameras by shopping elsewhere.

"Our little town revolves around business," Goodwin said. "It's a crushing blow."

A survey of six national chain stores that operate in Heath as well as nearby Lancaster and Zanesville showed that Heath sales were off nearly 14 percent compared to a 2 to 3 percent drop in the other cities.

Redflex has fought back against the citizen initiative in Chillicothe with an even more aggressive advertising campaign. In addition to mailing a version of the Heath brochure with one new photograph and the city name replaced, Redflex enlisted Police Chief Roger Moore as the company's spokesman in a radio promotion. Moore told voters that approving the initiative would result in a total ban on the use of radar guns and other commonly used police equipment.

"The language is pretty clear," Moore explained in an interview with WBEX radio. "I just can't see a scenario where a police officer is running radar and he can stop a car in one location, freeze them in time, go to that vehicle and write a citation. Without that happening they would be in violation of this proposed change."

Rebekah Valentich, head of the group Citizens Against Photo Enforcement (CAPE), rejects Moore's interpretation and wonders whether it is ethical for an appointed city official to appear in a commercial meant to influence an election for the financial benefit of a foreign corporation. A review of the proposed referendum language suggests it would allow the use of radar as long as "a law enforcement officer" presents the ticket to the alleged offender (view initiative text).

Compared to the resources available to Redflex to defend its multi-million dollar contracts, the citizen opponents must make do with a less well-financed response. CAPE has purchased a small newspaper advertisement along with twenty radio spots in Chillicothe -- despite a failed effort by Redflex to buy all available airtime. In Heath, Goodwin happens to be owner of the Dr. Signs sign-making shop. Goodwin says the city's business owners and residents across the entire city have been more than happy to put anti-camera signs on their property. At the end of the day, Goodwin believes his cause will succeed.

"I'm faithful," Goodwin told us. "As mad as people are and as bad as business is hurting, I can't believe we'll be the first people to keep them."

No city has ever voted in a referendum to keep photo enforcement. A copy of the Redflex campaign ads can be found in a 700k PDF file at the source link below. Source

Mass Transit Programs Only Serve 6.9 Million Customers

TheNewspaper Editor — 2009-10-29T00:01-08:00

Despite the billions in federal and state taxpayer dollars poured into mass transit programs, only 6,908,323 working Americans take advantage of the subsidized service, according to US Census Bureau data released yesterday. The agency's American Community Survey, a questionnaire mailed to three million households, found that 121,248,284 workers over the age of 16 regularly commuted to work by personal automobile or carpool last year. Despite the comparatively small number served by buses, subways and rail, the Obama Administration has made expanding mass transit a top priority.

"President Obama's vision of robust, high-speed rail service offers Americans the kind of travel options that throughout our history have contributed to economic growth and enhanced quality of life," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in April. "We simply can't build the economy of the future on the transportation networks of the past."

The stimulus bill poured $8 billion into the president's proposed expansion of rail. Another $8.4 billion in taxpayer funds have been directed to "stimulate" mass transit on top of the existing federal money set aside for such programs. The president's 2010 budget sought $42 billion for highway spending compared to $10.3 billion for mass transit programs that serve just five percent of the working public. The president strongly defended his priorities.

"Investing in mass transit and high-speed rail, for example, doesn't just make our downtowns more livable; it helps our regional economies grow," Obama explained in a July speech at an urban policy roundtable. "So you take an example like... Kansas City. One idea there focuses on transforming a low-income community into a national model of sustainability by weatherizing homes and building a green local transit system."

The combined federal spending on transit this year represents a $2300 subsidy for each passenger, not including local and state funds devoted to such programs. Taxes on motorists, including a direct 2.9 cent per gallon federal levy on gasoline, are the primary source of funds for subway, bus and rail systems.

The census survey also showed that greater numbers of the working poor used cars and carpools to get to work than transit. A total of 17 percent of transit users reported incomes over $75,000 per year in income while only 10.6 percent fell below the poverty line.

A copy of the census results can be found in a 1.5mb PDF file at the source link below. Source

Feds to Convince DC Area Taxpayers to Embrace $4.8 Billion Mileage Tax

TheNewspaper Editor — 2009-10-28T00:01-08:00

Officials are looking to convince residents in the Washington, DC metropolitan region that converting every local streets into toll roads would be good for them. The National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board last Wednesday voted to seek federal gas tax funds to bankroll a $400,000 study on how best to sell the public on a controversial per-mile tax proposal that would raise up to $4.8 billion in new revenue.

"A comprehensive road-use pricing initiative in the Washington metropolitan area would be an extremely ambitious experiment," Brookings Institution authors Benjamin K. Orr and Alice M. Rivlin explained in a policy paper designed to garner the interest of regional authorities. "Leadership and upfront investment from the federal government would also be essential to get the experiment off the ground and ensure comprehensive implementation. Some recent indications of interest at the federal level suggest that this might be possible. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has recently stated that, due to the failure of the Manhattan congestion pricing initiative, the US Department of Transportation still has funds available for pilot congestion pricing programs."

Brookings, a left-wing think tank, will complete the study entitled, "Public Acceptability of Regional Road Pricing: Can it be Designed to Garner Public Support?" by December 2010, presuming the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) approves the request. The funds will pay for a series of telephone surveys and focus groups with residents and special interest groups with an eye to determining how best to package ideas that have generated significant public opposition when proposed in other areas around the world.

In the UK, for example, 1.8 million residents signed an official Downing Street petition urging the prime minister to scrap plans to implement a GPS-based mileage tax. In Manchester, 79 percent voted against congestion charging in a referendum last year as 74 percent of voters did in Edinburgh, Scotland in 2005. The proposed Washington toll system raises many of the privacy concerns identified by UK opponents of congestion charging.

"Vehicles would be fitted with a GPS transponder device similar to an E-ZPass, perhaps as part of the registration process," Orr and Rivlin explained. "This device would record the type of vehicle, the distance traveled, and the time and location of travel."

Despite the privacy issues, DC officials insist that tolling is necessary for making up for the shortfall in gasoline tax revenues. The proposed mileage tax would solve this problem by increasing motorist taxation levels by a factor of ten. The additional revenue would be diverted to spending on buses and rail service.

"State gas taxes raise approximately $420 million in the Washington urbanized area every year," Orr and Rivlin wrote. "Revenues from the road-use pricing scheme described above would be between $2.96 billion and $4.79 billion, depending on the average fee... Net revenues could be split between improving mass transit (particularly buses), a need-based refund or discount, and roadway maintenance."

The federal and state excise tax is only one component of money raised from motorists in the DC and its Maryland and Virginia suburbs. Other taxes imposed on motorists include Virginia's personal property tax on automobiles, vehicle licensing and registration fees, a tax on car insurance, special taxes on commercial vehicles, as well as parking and speeding tickets. The total of all motorist-related taxes in Virginia exceeds the amount spent on road building and maintenance in the state, according to TheNewspaper's analysis.

Copies of the tolling resolution and Brookings report are available in a 600k PDF file at the source link below. Source

Texas Red Light Camera Program Offers No Appeal to Citations

TheNewspaper Editor — 2009-10-27T00:11-08:00

The right to a meaningful appeal in a red light camera case does not exist in the state of Texas. While several states have allowed photo enforcement tickets to be appealed to the highest level -- Minnesota's highest court ruled on a photo ticket in 2007 and a red light camera case is currently pending before the California Supreme Court -- several Texas municipalities are using an ambiguity in state law to deny challenges beyond the lowest level of the court system.

"Under the current red light ordinance there is no right to appeal beyond municipal court," College Station Municipal Court assistant Wanda Lapham wrote in a letter to Jim Ash (view letter).

Ash is responsible for organizing the effort that gave residents the right to vote on the future of red light cameras next Tuesday. As part of his educational effort, he has been publishing embarrassing correspondence from city staff that highlights little-known facts about the program contrary to city and vendor-prepared advertising material. The lack of meaningful appeal is central to Ash's complaint regarding photo ticketing.

"I reviewed the origins of my opposition to the cameras," Ash wrote. "No due process; no jury trial; no traditional right to appeal to a higher court; equal protection clause challenges related to the fact that the offense is at the same time a criminal and civil violation."

For Ash, departing from the system established by the Constitution undermines the most fundamental elements of fairness.

"Did you ever stop and wonder why the founders of our country set up such a system?" Ash asked. "They set up our system the way it is because they understood that the state has disproportional power... The state has the power to make laws but it is ultimately up to the citizens to enforce the laws in acting as members of a jury. I am unwilling to be denied the right to a jury trial for any reason."

Ash has also challenged the city's use of taxpayer money to send red light camera promotional material to residents in the hope of swaying their vote next month. If a city official knowingly included false information in such a mailing, it becomes a crime. According to Mayor Ben White in testimony before the state House of Representatives in April, accidents increased overall at the intersections with red light cameras.

"The number of crashes at the four intersections with red light cameras increased from 24 in 2006 to 28 in 2008," White testified.

This fact, however, was not included in the "educational" material sent to voters. Instead, the city's flyer included a chart suggesting the number of crashes decreased from 13 in 2006, before cameras, to 7 in 2008, after cameras were installed. The reduction was created by excluding inconvenient accidents by labeling them 'not red light related.' Source

Utah DOT: No Downside to 80 MPH Speed Limit Increase

TheNewspaper Editor — 2009-10-26T00:06-08:00

The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) announced last week that the experimental increase in the state's maximum speed limit to 80 MPH has been a success in terms of safety. UDOT Deputy Director Carlos Braceras testified before the state Interim Committee on Transportation that that there has been no increase in accidents as a result of the higher number printed on the speed limit signs on certain stretches of Interstate 15.

In 2008, the state legislature granted UDOT permission to test higher limits on rural sections of the road. Using crash histories, engineering studies, UDOT carefully selected the areas that it believed would best handle the increased limit. The department then conducted before and after surveys of speeds and traffic volume on the three sections where the limit was changed. Although the signs permitted another 5 MPH in speed, the results showed that drivers did not 'take advantage' of the new limit to drive significantly faster.

"Overall we saw speeds increase between two and three miles per hour," Braceras explained. "The speed differentials did increase... We saw no change in accident history, which with how careful we were in choosing this location it wasn't surprising to us, but it was very good news to see that... The number of vehicles exceeding the speed limit decreased 20 percent."

With the speed limit posted at 75 MPH, 85th percentile speeds measured between 81 and 85 MPH -- barely different from the 83 to 85 MPH speeds under the higher 80 MPH limit. The 85th percentile speed represents the speed at which 85 percent of free-flowing traffic feels is the safest. Engineers have determined that the greatest safety can be achieved when speed limits match the 85th percentile speed. State Representative James Dunnigan (R-Taylorsville) championed the results as evidence that the law allowing a higher limit has been a success.

"One of the concerns when we presented this bill a couple of sessions ago was that people would increase speeds to 90 or 95 and there would be tremendous carnage on the road," Dunnigan said. "So even though it has only been a year, that has not happened. And really all that's happened is that people haven't changed their speed much -- a little bit -- but they're doing so legally... So by increasing the speed limit to 80, we just made them legal."

National Motorists Association researcher John Carr reviewed the data and suggested that coverage of speed limit increases always includes dire predictions of increased carnage. He pointed to an accident on the 75 MPH portion of I-15 just after the limit was raised on a nearby stretch as an example of skewed perspectives on the issue.

"It could have been anywhere," Carr wrote. "Inside the 80 MPH zone it would have been taken as proof that the speed limit increase was recklessly endangering drivers. In the 75 zone it was not taken as an indictment of the low speed limit. That is how people think about speed limits. Ignore what they don't want to believe, panic over what they do want to believe."

UDOT is pleased with the results and will continue to watch the performance of I-15 under the higher limits.

"We believe this warrants further examination in the long term," Braceras said. "We take safety very seriously... This isn't something we consider to be a trivial undertaking -- just go up and change the speed limit sign... We may want to after we've had a chance to evaluate this a little longer and we feel that we have something with more statistical significance it may be appropriate at that time to expand it to other sections of other highways." Source

UK: Surrey Speed Camera Burned

TheNewspaper Editor — 2009-10-25T08:43-08:00

Vigilantes in Surrey, England destroyed a speed camera early Tuesday. The device had issued automated citations on Upper Halliford Road in Shepperton until being set on fire. Vigilantes had previously ripped a camera at the same location out of the ground in March. The Staines News reports that since the camera was installed in 1997, the accident rate has increased 37 percent. Source

New York Officials Make School Bus Camera Sales Pitch

TheNewspaper Editor — 2009-10-24T12:05-08:00

The New York Association for Pupil Transportation is desperate to get its hands on automated ticketing cameras that promise to generate thousands in new revenue. On Thursday the group held a press event to showcase to state lawmakers how much money could be generated with passage of legislation authorizing school bus ticket cameras. A private company equipped a trio of school buses with automated ticketing equipment in the Bethlehem Central, Canandaigua City and Brewster Central School Districts. Over the course of forty days the machines recorded 46 possible citations that would be mailed to the owners of vehicles that allegedly passed the school bus while stopped. The state has thousands of school buses in its fleet.

"License plate reader technology makes it possible to hold those who disregard the law accountable for their reckless behavior," Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner David J. Swarts said.

Had the drivers been held accountable by fines of $400 each, the program would have generated $18,400 with just one bus in each of the three districts. No actual citations were issued because state law currently does not allow cameras on school buses to generate actual citations. Elsag, a company formerly associated with gunmaker Remington, attached a MPH-900 Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) camera to the bus to record and identify all passing vehicles. Project funding came from gasoline tax money diverted from road building through the Governor's Traffic Safety Committee in the form of a $77,260 "safety grant."

The current penalty for passing a school bus in New York is a fine of $400 for a first offense with five license points and the possibility of thirty days in jail. The fine can rise to $1000 for multiple tickets issued within three years. In April, Assemblyman Peter M. Rivera (D-Bronx) introduced A.7778, a bill to authorize the photographic ticketing program sought by the school districts. Source

College Station, Texas Uses Public Funds to Influence Election

TheNewspaper Editor — 2009-10-23T00:44-08:00

Officials in College Station, Texas used $20,000 in taxpayer funds in an attempt to influence residents to vote against a referendum that would ban red light cameras from the city. The city mailed to every voter a multi-color, bilingual brochure entitled "Red Light Cameras: Voter Education" in the hopes of convincing them to support a program that generated $905,688 in revenue for fiscal 2009.

"A petition was filed by a citizens' group asking the city council to let voters decide whether to keep or eliminate the red light camera system," the brochure explained. "This item will be on the November 3 ballot."

The brochure goes on to present a chart showing "red light related" crashes at photo enforced intersections in 2006 and 2007 -- before cameras were installed -- and in 2008 and 2009 -- after installation. The enforcement industry created the "red light related" category of accident as a way to selectively exclude the types of accidents that increase following the installation of cameras. The brochure's numbers also were not adjusted to reflect the significant decrease in traffic volume that began in 2007 as a result of recession and high gas prices. The drop in traffic resulted in a nationwide drop in the fatality rate to the lowest level the US Department of Transportation has ever recorded. In 2007, the rate stood at 1.38 deaths per 100 million vehicle-miles traveled. The figure plunged to just 1.15 in the first half of 2009.

Petition sponsor Jim Ash stopped the city from implementing a far more extensive plan to spend public money on a television and radio advertising blitz. Earlier this month, Ash filed an ethics complaint over a proposed brochure that would have included a number of what Ash described as potentially illegal claims.

"The false and misleading information is sufficiently substantial and important enough to influence a voter in the November 3, 2009 election," Ash wrote. "Conversations, emails obtained as a result of 'Freedom of Information' requests indicate the city manager and members of the city council know the facts to be misleading and false. Knowingly using city money to misrepresent facts for the purpose of influencing an election is a violation of election code."

After the complaint was filed, the city eliminated nearly all of the claims about the benefits of photo enforcement that were present in the twelve-page draft brochure. Early voting began on Monday in College Station. A copy of the final brochure is available in a 900k PDF file at the source link below. Source