Posted on 12/04/2012 6:13:42 PM PST by george76
Red-light cameras are gaining popularity across the country. Now, New York City is being sued after it was accused of rigging the lights to catch more drivers and write more tickets.
They’re “gotcha” cameras, mounted at intersections. Their photos catch and fine drivers running red lights. New York City first had them in 1998.
...
By federal law, drivers have to have enough time to get through a yellow light — three seconds at the typical 30 mph intersection. Back in October, engineers at AAA New York discovered a problem. At some intersections with the cameras, the yellow lights were almost a half-second too fast.
Red-light violators who later had to pay up now say they feel set up. If you’re timing them too short, then it just becomes a revenue enhancement tool and it erodes support for the program
(Excerpt) Read more at newyork.cbslocal.com ...
Red light camera in Yonkers looks like a strobe the whole time the light is yellow.
Good luck to them!
NYC ... not a setup, just business as usual. The Chicago “pay to play” is morphing into “pay to exist”.
They need to do what the Brits do. They “set them alight, with a petrol-soaked tyre.”
http://www.redditmirror.cc/cache/websites/www.speedcam.co.uk_adyvb/www.speedcam.co.uk/gatso2.htm
In a study cited by the Washington Times, increasing the length of a yellow light by one second reduced red light violations by up to 80%.
For safety, get rid of the damn cameras and increase the length of the yellow. For more government revenue, add more cameras and decrease the length of the yellow.
New York made its contemptible choice.
Over ten years ago, I got ticketed for running a red light in NYC. I went back and timed the light at 2.5 seconds, went to traffic court. The judge asked the policeman if he had checked the light. Yessir, 5 seconds, sir. Guilty.
The citizen is assumed to be lying.
It just occurred to me that a cell phone would serve as evidence that the light is fast, if you could calibrate it down to tenths of a second.
I ran a red light and got a ticket from a state cop. It was a fast road - bunch of cars - if I stopped quick as needed it could have been a rear-end situation. The yellow clearance interval was way too short - I researched it tremendously before I went to court - took video of scores of people running the red on a lazy Sunday afternoon - and walked into court with reams of research.
I won, ticket got thrown out and they wanted my research - I gave it to them - I asked them to have someone change the light, even went to the town where the light was and told them- nothing happened ....years later that light is still timed dangerously short. 50 mph road and under 3 second yellow.
But no red light camera——yet
In Pennsylvania, the traffic laws clearly state that the traffic light must be set up in accordance with the engineering study for that specific intersection. I beat one in court by taking in the DOT traffic study showing the light was not set up correctly.
“The citizen is assumed to be lying.”
Yes, I’ve run into the same phenomenon. If a police officer gives testimony that contradicts a citizen’s, then the police officer’s testimony is given more weight. In minor cases, it’s easier, if the cop screwed up, or doesn’t have the evidence, to just lie on the stand. The judge takes the cop’s word for it, the case is wrapped up in one sitting, and they don’t expect anyone to waste time and money going back and contesting minor things like traffic citations or misdemeanors.
And it probably still produces government revenue from tickets, since few people will go to the lengths you did to prove your case.
“The citizen is assumed to be lying.”
I received a parking ticket outside a restaurant in Newark about 20 minutes after I had put an hour’s worth of quarters into a meter (the time was written on the ticket). I described it to a friend (retired cop), and he said this was routine; they assumed you couldn’t miss a day of work to go to court (and probably lose anyway, since it couldn’t be proven).
I haven’t parked at a restaurant in Newark since then, and that was over 10 years ago. I hope it was worth it for North Zimbabwe; what a toilet. Social media must make it much easier to boycott towns that have these ticketing blitzes as municipal fundraisers.
Earlier this year, by a stroke of luck, I avoided a false ticket.
I was parked in a 2 hour maximum free spot in Boston. I was gone no more than 1:15 and as I turned the corner going back to my car, there was Mr. Parking Gestapo just taking his book out to write me up. I hit the panic button on my remote starter, which went off and startled him. I yelled “What are you doing? I haven’t been parked anywhere near two hours!” at him.
The fat f*ck didn’t say a word, took a few steps to the car parked in back of me and wrote that car up. I don’t recall that car being there before me, so that person got the fake ticket...
Earlier this year, by a stroke of luck, I avoided a false ticket.
I was parked in a 2 hour maximum free spot in Boston. I was gone no more than 1:15 and as I turned the corner going back to my car, there was Mr. Parking Gestapo just taking his book out to write me up. I hit the panic button on my remote starter, which went off and startled him. I yelled “What are you doing? I haven’t been parked anywhere near two hours!” at him.
The fat f*ck didn’t say a word, took a few steps to the car parked in back of me and wrote that car up. I don’t recall that car being there before me, so that person got the fake ticket...
That’s a shame that cities are reduced to that to raise revenue; I just avoid them altogether. Good for you for getting out of it. I think as more and more public area is under some type of camera surveillance (not even necessarily from law enforcement), some of those “fake tickets” will taper off. Imagine you subpeona surveillance footage from a Quick Check that shows you were only there 10 minutes...
Actually, they are revenue enhancement tools regardless of how long the yellow is.
A while back, I got a $40 ticket from a camera for “speeding” in a Maryland construction zone. It was raining and no construction work was being done that day so no workers were present. It pissed me off that they would hand out tickets when worker safety was not an issue. I live in Virginia and go into Maryland a couple of days a week. Since Maryland has a $0.21 per gallon gas tax, I decided that I would no longer - under any circumstances - buy gas in Maryland. I now make sure to fill up every time before leaving Virginia. I figure it has cost Maryland over $200 in taxes at this point. I hope they’re happy.
“That’s a shame that cities are reduced to that to raise revenue...”
A month ago, my Mom got a $25 ticket while at Mass for parking more than 12 inches from the curb. I call BS on that, but barring proof (a photo for example), not much can be done. I guess there’s an unannounced tax for attending Church now, but that’s story for another thread. I did get my Mom a new cheapo cell phone with a camera, to record these types of things if they happen again.
This is the revenue raising tact that municipalities are taking, especially when property tax raising measures fail. Hey, gotta to pay for the townies to retire at 45 and take off to Florida, right.
As far as surveillance goes, do you really think that municipalities are going to even bother responding to subpoenas? I doubt it, unless you have a Johnny Cochran-type (yes, he’s dead) yapping.
My town still has enough Catholic cops so they probably wouldn’t even give a legitimate ticket if someone was parked in the yellow near a Church during Mass times.
I always wondered if having a photo would do any good. I think it is easier to avoid whole areas where this is commonplace (though I understand for Mass this is impractical).
I don’t know that subpeonas can be ignored; I suspect a much cheaper lawyer could request the footage. They always have to seem plenty of private-sector security footage on the nightly news when people are killed in NYC.
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