Watch Out for Those Speed Cameras

[Jim Koepke]

It seems they write tickets by error:


The Baltimore Sun obtained data from a secret audit conducted by the city that revealed that Doty's is likely one of thousands issued erroneous speeding tickets by the city's cameras. The audit, which was conducted by consultant group URS Corp, concluded that the error rate was more than 10 percent for the city's speed cameras, costing residents $2.8 million in tickets. One camera URS audited turned out more errors than correct citations.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/24/5341578/baltimores-speed-cameras-audit-wrong-10-percent-of-the-time-urs-corp-xerox

jtk

[Jerome Stanek]

In Cleveland they were ruled unconstitutional

[Bruce Page]

In Cleveland they were ruled unconstitutional


They pulled them out of Albuquerque a couple of years ago.

[George Bokros]

In Cleveland they were ruled unconstitutional


They ought to make the city give those people their fines back!! That would cramp the city of Cleveland's spending. They raised over a million dollars from those cameras; reeks of taxation without representation to me.


George

[Jerome Stanek]

They just went on line

[ray hampton]

which is more important to you , catching the drivers running a red light or the change that the camera made a mistake

[George Bokros]

If it just for the ones running the red light the picture cannot be disputed. In the case of a citation for speed the cameras do make numerous mistakes on speed and under the Cleveland ordinance you do not appear in municipal court you just have to pay the fine and if you want to dispute the ticket you need to get a lawyer and lodge an official complaint and create a court case. In other words you are not presumed innocent until proven guilty you are presumed guilty until you prove your innocence. Quite different.

[ken masoumi]

In the city of Toronto 77 red-light cameras wrote up $11M in fines.
What scares me the most is to rear end someone at one of these intersections,all I know is if I ever get a ticket I'll fight it.close to 30% of all tickets were reduced to less than the set fine of $325 after being challenged.

[Jerome Stanek]

If it just for the ones running the red light the picture cannot be disputed. In the case of a citation for speed the cameras do make numerous mistakes on speed and under the Cleveland ordinance you do not appear in municipal court you just have to pay the fine and if you want to dispute the ticket you need to get a lawyer and lodge an official complaint and create a court case. In other words you are not presumed innocent until proven guilty you are presumed guilty until you prove your innocence. Quite different.

They said that someone stopped then turned right on red which was legal but got a ticket for a red light violation.

[Charles McKinley]

I believe there is a study showing an increase of accidents after the cameras are installed at intersections.

This blog cites 5 studies. believe at your own risk

http://blog.motorists.org/red-light-cameras-increase-accidents-5-studies-that-prove-it/

[curtis rosche]

I wish DOT worked that way,,,, last ticket was 587$...

[Brian Ashton]

which is more important to you , catching the drivers running a red light or the change that the camera made a mistake

Justice is more important. If they were speeding then fine them if they weren't give the money back for what is negligence on the part of the law enforcer and pay the penalty - just like everyone else is demanded to.

Running red lights is funny to me here. Nearly 50% of the population runs red lights here. I always tell new comers to not try and turn at an intersection if the light turns yellow and especially if it turns red because they're guaranteed to get hit by the car coming the other way at break neck speed. I play a trick also for new comers here by telling them I know when the lights going to turn green for us without looking at the lights. All I have to do is look at the cars coming from the other way. If they're barreling through the intersection and or the car is really healed over from the high speed turn the light will turn green in a couple seconds (they have a delay of 3 seconds here). If they're going through at regular speed it's not going to turn green any time soon. I'm about 90% right. If you've driven in 3rd world countries you know what I mean...

They've done a few audits here regarding radar cameras and 10% failure rate would be considered excellent. It was found many cameras have never been calibrated or if they have it's been years and the governments are unapologetic and have no intention of investing the effort to correct the problem. In fact they also have done their own audit and are now poised to move many cameras that are not producing enough cash.

[Chris Parks]

Justice is more important. If they were speeding then fine them if they weren't give the money back for what is negligence on the part of the law enforcer and pay the penalty - just like everyone else is demanded to.

Running red lights is funny to me here. Nearly 50% of the population runs red lights here. I always tell new comers to not try and turn at an intersection if the light turns yellow and especially if it turns red because they're guaranteed to get hit by the car coming the other way at break neck speed. I play a trick also for new comers here by telling them I know when the lights going to turn green for us without looking at the lights. All I have to do is look at the cars coming from the other way. If they're barreling through the intersection and or the car is really healed over from the high speed turn the light will turn green in a couple seconds (they have a delay of 3 seconds here). If they're going through at regular speed it's not going to turn green any time soon. I'm about 90% right. If you've driven in 3rd world countries you know what I mean...

They've done a few audits here regarding radar cameras and 10% failure rate would be considered excellent. It was found many cameras have never been calibrated or if they have it's been years and the governments are unapologetic and have no intention of investing the effort to correct the problem. In fact they also have done their own audit and are now poised to move many cameras that are not producing enough cash.

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story, what date are you leaving?

[Rich Engelhardt]

which is more important to you , catching the drivers running a red light or the change that the camera made a mistake
I'd rather see a thousand drivers run a red light than see one innocent person persecuted by the .gov wrongly.

I'm going over my SS paperwork right now as I turn 62 in a couple of weeks and become eligible to file.
According to the figures, I can collect $1300.00 a month.

Some of these fines I'm seeing - $325,,$587...
That's horrendous!
Not to tread too far afoul of the TOS here - but - I believe the Founding Fathers would consider that excessive and "cruel and unusual".
I mean really, to fine a man wrongly, 1/4 to nearly 1/2 their monthly income is just plain wrong!

[ray hampton]

I'd rather see a thousand drivers run a red light than see one innocent person persecuted by the .gov wrongly.

I'm going over my SS paperwork right now as I turn 62 in a couple of weeks and become eligible to file.
According to the figures, I can collect $1300.00 a month.

Some of these fines I'm seeing - $325,,$587...
That's horrendous!
Not to tread too far afoul of the TOS here - but - I believe the Founding Fathers would consider that excessive and "cruel and unusual".
I mean really, to fine a man wrongly, 1/4 to nearly 1/2 their monthly income is just plain wrong!

one intersection that I see quite often involve a left turn and if I am driving the other way, I will had to wait for the drivers making a left turn on my green light

[David Weaver]

the set fine of $325

Literal highway robbery!!

[Charlie Velasquez]

I'd rather see a thousand drivers run a red light than see one innocent person persecuted by the .gov wrongly. Not sure of an acceptable ratio, but there has to be some sort of point where I would rather see a bunch of innocent people persecuted by the gov., than one person killed by somebody running a red light...

just thinking out loud....

I know you could keep extrapolating to the point of innocent people in prison/death row, but this is just $$$$....

[Mel Fulks]

Rear end crashes are seldom fatal,side crashes are often fatal. Law here requires that driver stop at yellow light if safe stop can be made,that means that longer yellow means longer stop. Money is involved on both sides of this issue. Whenever this comes before lawmakers the committees are stocked with lawyers who take a lot of traffic cases.They literally sneak out the back door rather than face media. Virginias conflict of interest laws are weak,"hey ,we're all gentlemen here ,right?" Follow the adventures of our new ex governor.

[Kev Williams]

Several years ago I read a story about some city who installed red light cameras. First thing they found out was the camera's worked. Nobody ran red lights. Which was exactly the opposite result they were after. What they wanted was ticket revenue. So the camera company said "no problem, just shorten the yellow light time!" . So they did. And suddenly the cameras were little cash cows.

So, there's truth and justice for ya. The camera's actually made the roads safer, which was an ETHICAL result. But the greedy city and camera makers decided to cheat by making guilty people out of what used to be innocent people...

I don't remember the city, but IIRC they got caught, sued, etc, and don't have cameras anymore...

[Will Allen]

These tickets are not sent the perpetrator of the "crime, they are sent to the owner of the vehicle. It's completely unconstitutional but they don't care. It is all about money, nothing else.

[Rick Potter]

Az had them, finally took them out. I was going through Phoenix one day, and a BMW, going way above the speed limit , changed lanes and slammed on his brakes to stay beside my F250 just as we passed a speed camera, which activated (it flashed). Next thing, he speeded up and went on his way. Obviously a local, hiding beside me for the picture. I waited a couple months for a ticket in the mail, trying to figure out how I would prove what happened. Thankfully, no ticket ever came.

Rick Potter

[Rich Engelhardt]

there has to be some sort of point where I would rather see a bunch of innocent people persecuted by the gov., than one person killed by somebody running a red light...
I'm just old and set in my ways.
I come from a different era. I come from a time when the saying "millions for defense, but, not one cent for tribute" meant something.

I see these contraptions as nothing but a .gov out of control, installing booby traps to fatten their coffers - not make the roads safer.
@ that - I best stop since I could really blast one out about .gov abuse and blow the TOS right off the pages ;).

My friend George pointed it out above - these things are tax collectors, nothing else.

[Brian Ashton]

Well I always know assies are good for a story...


Leaving soon convict



My apologies to the forum this was completely inappropriate and regardless of how I may be feeling such garbage shouldn't be aired here. Circumstances far out of my control have left me in a position where I've been itching for a fight and I think I need to find a way to throttle down a bit. Anyways sorry guys n gals