Any thoughts on how to proceed?
BTW
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2212058/posts
Posted on 03/22/2009 9:34:09 AM PDT by george76
In February 2006, the City of Gallatin unveiled the Automated Camera Enforcement System. The system, known as A.C.E.S., is designed to catch drivers running red lights at intersections. Rather than relying on police officers to perform this function, the cameras automatically trigger when a driver enters an intersection after the light turns red.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Gallatin is not alone. At least nine other communities in Tennessee...
Red Light Cameras are sophisticated surveillance systems designed to catch drivers who run red lights. Though the majority of the systems in Tennessee focus on red light runners, some police speed limits, while others do both. They work through a complex system of triggers, cameras and computers.
Drivers “caught” typically receive a citation by mail within a few weeks of the incident. These citations are a cash cow for municipalities.
While cities claim that safety, deterrence, and cost-reduction are their ultimate priorities in camera system installations, revenue statements indicate otherwise. Cities that employ the devices see a dramatic spike in revenue ...
The most alarming aspect of this revenue generation is where the money goes. The camera companies enter into agreements with the cities, install the cameras, and sit back and let the cities do the dirty work. After collecting the fines from unsuspecting drivers, each city remits from 45 to 85 percent of the money to the companies.
Constitutional rights are infringed upon by the enforcement of the camera programs.
A strong case can be made for constitutional violations on both procedural and substantive grounds. Procedural challenges range from evidentiary matters to sufficiency of notice. Substantive issues include the Confrontation Clause, self-incrimination, search and seizure, equal protection, and most significantly, due process, by shifting of the burden of proof to the defendant to prove non-guilt.
(Excerpt) Read more at clarksvilleonline.com ...
Bravo ..that’s 2 ... 48 more to go.
the lack of compliance with the Federal and Tennessee Rules of Evidence
The most insidious issue arising from the application of these cameras is the unconstitutional shifting of the burden of proof to the defendant. A prevalent notion in the American criminal justice system is that defendants are innocent until proven guilty.
Here, when defendants are presumed guilty until they prove otherwise
First find out if your state constitution as the state this article discusses and do what the ACLU does and threaten law suits. Make the case they make in this article on why it didn’t fly this state. Once they do the red light cameras, they also implement them unknowingly at certain Stop signs.
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you know what’s even worse with our country? no one can do anything anymore without some jackass popping out a cell phone camera, and start recording.
Constitutional rights going going gone.
Red Light Cameras are coming to Oak Ridge, TN in May?
Where? When I find out, I’ll just avoid that intersection.
I heard a story, and I don’t know how true it is. Some guy got a letter form Knoxville about a red light violation. The letter has a photo for proof. (I got one and the license tag is plainly legible.) Any way, the guy sent Knoxville a picture of the check he wrote. According to the story, Knoxville sent him a picture of a pair of handcuffs.
In Tennessee, a traffic light photo ticket is no more serious than a parking ticket because the cop who writes the ticket must witness the violation. Tennessee residents should notice that the Highway Patrol no longer uses a radar operator and a chase car down the road. Too many tickets were dismissed because the Trooper who wrote the ticket, did not witness the speeding. I haven’t seen one of those speed traps in twenty years.
Having been nearly killed once by someone who blasted through a red light at a well-known dangerous intersection (I was cautious, therefore I’m alive)...I don’t quite understand the resistance to at least some surveillance of interesections.
Where? When I find out, I’ll just avoid that intersection.
http://www.oakridger.com/news/x110653274/Red-light-cameras-by-May
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — It could be April or May before traffic-enforcement cameras are installed in Oak Ridge, City Manager Jim O'Connor said Tuesday.
Late last year, city officials had said the cameras could possibly be installed in Oak Ridge by February.
On Tuesday, O'Connor said the terms of operation for the cameras were signed last week, and the vendor, Redflex Traffic Systems Inc., of Scottsdale, Ariz., is now working with the Oak Ridge Electric Department on technical issues regarding the cameras — ensuring they have proper power supplies, for example.
“We're trying to make sure it happens right the first time,” O'Connor said.
The city plans to install four cameras. Two will be used to enforce speed limits and two will be able to spot drivers who run red lights, as well as those who drive too fast.
The two speed-enforcement cameras will be put up next to the Oak Ridge Turnpike in front of Oak Ridge High School and on Robertsville Road in the Willow Brook Elementary School zone, Police Chief David Beams said.
Meanwhile, the other two combination cameras, capable of enforcing speed limits and red light ordinances, will be installed at the intersections of Illinois Avenue and Robertsville Road, and Lafayette Drive and Oak Ridge Turnpike, he said.
/sarcasm
Find the intersections they will use and videotape and time the light cycles -- especially the length of the yellow light. Yellows are usually shortened when red light cameras are installed.
Try to interest a local TV or newspaper reporter in this project. Look for a reporter who does a lot of enterprise or investigative reporting. There is usually someone who does reports that focus on local government excesses. Failing that, try a consumer reporter, the "Channel 11 on your side" type reporter. Don't just write letters to the editor, but try to interest a specific reporter in your project.
After the cameras are installed, repeat your timing and video project and publicize your results. If you can show that the city shortened the lights after they installed the cameras, that will be a good story. There may be state requirements for the duration of yellow lights. There should be USDOT standards for yellow signals. See if the city shortened the duration below state or federal standards.
I live in a city where they closed our only freeway, and passed a fraudulent bond issue to widen streets that was used for construction of more downtown elite nonsense. There also used to be three lanes running through downtown, but our local city council fiends cut them down to two. They already added three to five seconds to every traffic light, where all four sides sit at once, to prevent red light running. The lights at even minor intersections are arbitrary, and you can sit a long time with no one coming from the opposite direction. This creates constant tension and anxiety, and the behaviors you don't like.
With the police vans and cameras everywhere, and this degree of congestion, it's quite difficult to move freely in traffic, with everyone driving along side by side. That's if no idiots are in the vicinity, driving too slow or speeding up to keep you from changing lanes. The city does nothing but make it tougher to drive, and then try to create more money to gorge themselves on.
I remember counting 9 left turning cars at a North Dallas intersection (I know ... it was N. Dallas) AFTER the crossing traffic had a green light. Fortunately for them there was no one in a big a$$ truck or SUV to challenge them which I have also seen.
Here in ABQ the most I’ve ever counted was 5 cars turning left against the light.
If drivers don’t behave that way in your town, congratulations, but human nature being what it is, too many will do what they think they can get away with.
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