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instead of fewer accidents, the number of traffic accidents has gone up at most of the Los Angeles intersections where red-light cameras have been installed.

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- Cameras don't lie, so how do you argue with a picture that shows you breaking the law? A Clarksville attorney is going to try. A Redflex camera caught Mark Burton running a red light, and for the first time in middle Tennessee, the issue is being taken to court. At around 5:30 a.m., Burton ran a red light and a Redflex camera caught him the act. Still, Burton's attorney Greg D. Smith said there's no way his client should receive a ticket. "If you're on the road in the middle of the night, and you're not hurting...

National Motorists Association names the seven worst locations to be a caught driving on Labor Day. The National Motorists Association (NMA) released its list of the top seven locations to avoid over the Labor Day holiday. This year, the drivers' rights group highlighted areas where heightened use of automated ticketing machines threaten those who are just passing through. Chicago, Illinois The Windy City's network of red light cameras operated by a for-profit Australian company, combined with short yellow warning times at intersections, has already generated $110 million worth of tickets. The city plans to double the installations and push the...

Mr. Clark was exonerated of charges of felony vandalism and reckless endangerment for allegedly shooting out the lens of a redlight camera. Charges were dismissed because there was no consent, no search warrant, and evidence was not made available to the defense.

4 weeks, 10,000 traffic tickets Heath officials say they didn't expect such a windfall Saturday, August 1, 2009 3:01 AM By Josh Jarman THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH HEATH, Ohio -- City officials say they were shocked by the number of violations recorded during the first month of traffic-camera enforcement and decided to make it cheaper to protest multiple tickets. More than 10,000 violations had been recorded by Heath traffic cameras through Tuesday. At $100 apiece, that would net the city a little more than $830,000 after paying the vendor, Redflex, its share. In four weeks, the cameras will have generated an...

Hopefully you're not the sort to risk things by gunning it when the light turns yellow, pushing your (and our) luck, saving yourself a few seconds on the race to the next intersection, and sneering red light cameras. Maybe if you knew the kind of hardware in there you'd have more respect: Nikon's D2X digital SLR. We had no idea there were pro-level shooters in there, but a New York City couple certainly did, running around the city with a cherry picker and pilfering 22 of the things, all sold at pawn shops for a total of $88,000 $6,600 --...

I always get a chuckle when there is a victory against red light and speed cameras. They have morphed quickly into money machines from their avowed purpose of making our streets safer. However a citizens’ revolt is brewing and some of their tactics are both devious and creative. Some are more crude and direct efforts such as this one from the NY Post: "Two oddballs have been busted for swiping nearly 20 percent of the city's red-light cameras right under Big Brother's nose, The Post has learned." "They allegedly drove around town in a pickup truck with a cherry-picker to...

Area drivers looking to outwit police speed traps and traffic cameras are using an iPhone application and other global positioning system devices that pinpoint the location of the cameras. That has irked D.C. police chief Cathy Lanier, who promised her officers would pick up their game to counteract the devices, which can also help drivers dodge sobriety checkpoints. "I think that's the whole point of this program," she told The Examiner. "It's designed to circumvent law enforcement -- law enforcement that is designed specifically to save lives."

Area drivers looking to outwit police speed traps and traffic cameras are using an iPhone application and other global positioning system devices that pinpoint the location of the cameras. That has irked D.C. police chief Cathy Lanier, who promised her officers would pick up their game to counteract the devices, which can also help drivers dodge sobriety checkpoints. "I think that's the whole point of this program," she told The Examiner. "It's designed to circumvent law enforcement -- law enforcement that is designed specifically to save lives." The new technology streams to iPhones and global positioning system devices, sounding off...

The City of Chicago lists that it currently has installed 141 Red Light Cameras. Spurred by the revenue generated by these cameras, several different suburbs have been installing them as well. Both the City of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs have expounded that these cameras are installed for the purpose of safety. Those of us that have been burned by the City over the past few years would certainly beg to differ, as the ticketing policy absolutely reeks of a revenue generation scam.

8,261 tickets issued in less than a year. The red-light-camera program dates to 1996, but has not run continuously because of legal and contractual issues. The city now has 12 cameras online and is preparing to activate three more. In late 2007, the City Council approved the current three-year, $4.5 million contract with American Traffic Solutions of Scottsdale, Ariz., which installs and maintains the cameras and processes photos. “In both management and technology, this program has improved by leaps and bounds,” said San Diego police Sgt. Joe Bane... the cameras have generated more tickets than anticipated, and the extra money...

What do you think of red light cameras?They are great. They give red light violators what they deserve. They are dangerous.Too many people get rear ended by panicked drivers. Too big brother. I just hate them.

On a vote that was so close that Farmington Mayor William Standley had to cast the tie breaker, officials of the Four Corners community rejected installing red-light cameras ... There are three municipalities in the state that use or are planning to use red-light cameras to enforce traffic laws: Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Santa Fe.

Farmington attorney who opposes red-light cameras in Farmington is fighting two tickets he received after his cars were caught on camera zipping through Albuquerque intersections. He contends Albuquerque’s ordinance violates state law and the federal constitution. He says he wasn’t driving but purposely hasn’t asked family members who was.

Alabama governor to decide whether to retroactively declare illegally issued red light camera tickets legal. The Alabama state legislature this week sent a bill authorizing Montgomery's use of red light cameras to Governor Bob Riley (R) for his signature. The city has been using automated ticketing machines since May 2008, but the local measure authored by state Senator Larry Dixon (R-Montgomery) and state Representative David Grimes (R-Montgomery) is designed to retroactively protect the city from any lawsuit challenging the legality of the first $1 million worth of tickets already issued without authorization. "The city, by Ordinance No. 10-2007, hereby validated...

Billings, Montana plans to shorten yellow times to cash in before the state legislature bans red light cameras. Yellow times may shorten as the city of Billings, Montana rushes to install red light cameras before the state legislature has a chance to ban them. The Billings City Council voted 8-3 Monday to empower Redflex Traffic Systems, a private company based in Melbourne, Australia, to issue automated traffic citations in return for a cut of the revenue collected. Billings needs to act quickly because the state legislature last Thursday entered into final negotiations on legislation that would ban red light cameras....

Duncanville, Texas mayor silences anti-camera councilman by having him arrested. The mayor of Duncanville, Texas had a member of the city council arrested last Tuesday for speaking out against the use of red light cameras during an official meeting. The incident took place during the discussion of whether the city should spend $59,000 to make street repairs. Mayor David Green recognized Councilman Paul Ford to speak on the contract item. "Thank you," Ford said. "I want to let you know that earlier this evening during briefing, Mayor Green threatened me that if he told me to stop talking and I...

New York state legislature approves massive expansion in red light cameras. As budget deficits continue to soar at all levels of New York government, the state legislature on Tuesday approved a package of bills to provide relief through the use of red light cameras. The package of six bills extends new authority to use red light cameras to Buffalo, Nassau County, Rochester, Suffolk County and Yonkers. The legislature also gave the nod to New York City's long-held desire to increase by half the number of automated ticketing machines already installed. Each project is called a "demonstration program" that will produce...

Some Texas law makers are pushing a bill to get rid of all red light cameras in the state. Motorists who spoke with CBS 11 had varying opinions. Leticia Menchaca said her car was tagged down in Houston by a red light camera. She said she wasn't even in Houston. She hasn't had much luck with red light cameras. Colleen Pilgrim took a different view, saying she's tired of people running red lights all of the time and causing accidents. But she believes they were put in to create extra money for city governments. Representative Carl Isett of Lubbock has...

Red light cameras shut down across Italy in massive fraud scandal involving 109 public officials and contractors. Red light cameras are shut down across Italy as the largest ever government investigation into the illegal use of photo enforcement expands. Motorist complaints about being trapped at camera-equipped intersections with short yellow signal durations sparked the inquiry. Criminal charges of forgery and fraud are based on four basic complaints, many of which represent common practices in the United States. First, municipalities are accused of shortening yellow times to boost profit. Second, investigators found that municipal police never reviewed the camera fines. Instead,...

Among the bills signed into law by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour on Friday is House Bill 1568, which bans the use of cameras to catch motorists running red lights. Mississippi joins at least eight other states in banning the automated technology, including neighboring Arkansas.

St. Louis, MO- The city installed red light cameras at twenty intersections, and they've taken in nearly $2 million in fines since they were installed last summer. Traffic Law Center where spokesperson Ann Horner says she see flashes from the camera on a daily basis. Horner however says there are no consequences for not paying. She says if you have outstanding parking tickets you cannot renew your plates or driver's license, but there's nothing in place like that if you get a red light ticket. Horner says it's all unconstitutional because there's a presumption of innocence in this country, and...

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,...

The Minnesota Supreme Court delivers a unanimous decision striking down the legality of red light cameras. The supreme court found that Minneapolis had disregarded a state law imposing uniformity of traffic laws across the state. The city's photo ticket program offered the accused fewer due process protections than available to motorists prosecuted for the same offense in the conventional way after having been pulled over by a policeman. The court argued that Minneapolis had, in effect, created a new type of crime: "owner liability for red-light violations where the owner neither required nor knowingly permitted the violation." The court also...

drivers are celebrating after they fought their automated tickets for running red lights and won. This week, a Prince George's County judge threw out more than a dozen red-light tickets taken by a camera on Annapolis Road because the drivers never actually drove through the intersection. Now, transportation officials are demanding the cameras be removed. mobile red light cameras do not comply with federal and state standards. "This program is illegal, it is illicit and it is illegitimate because it's charging people for running red lights they have not run," Townsend said. Last June when the controversial cameras first went...

Traffic cameras billed as answer to Chicago's budget deficit Red-light cameras have been combined with short yellow lights to catch drivers and raise city revenues across the country. Now an insurance-checking camera company has presented Chicago with a new twist on the idea—instead of speeders, go after the uninsured. The Windy City, like a lot of other metropolitan areas of late, is facing major budget deficits in the face of the recession's strong bite. State and local governments alike have been hunting for additional sources of revenue, so it's not surprising that a Chicago alderman would entertain the possibility of...

CLIVE, Iowa - Minutes after Neel Manglik illegally turned right on a red light in the Des Moines suburb of Clive, a video popped up on a computer at an office park outside Scottsdale, Ariz. The $75 citation arrived in the mail weeks later, making Manglik one of the millions of Americans ticketed as part of a growing industry that is making handsome profits for companies that operate video cameras at busy intersections throughout the nation. As more cities sign up and others invest their profits into more cameras, those companies expect increased revenue for years to come. What's less...

If you run a red light, you could get a ticket. A few legislators want to change that equation. Their idea: If your car runs a red light, you will automatically get a ticket. A pair of Bedford Republicans, of all people, have introduced another red light camera bill. Sen. Sheila Roberge and Rep. John Graham want to allow local police departments to install cameras at intersections. If the camera photographs your car running a red light, you will be sent a ticket. Click for Editorials & Op-EdsSo much for being innocent until proven guilty. With red light cameras, you...

A Duncanville City Council member wants to re-evaluate how the city issues citations to red-light runners and make it easier for suspected violators to request a jury trial. Paul Ford questions the nearly 45,000 citations issued in 2008 at four intersections monitored by cameras. Compared with Duncanville's population of 38,500, he said, the number of citations seems excessive. Ford will ask fellow council members to vote on a proposal at tonight's council meeting that would allow suspected violators to ask for a jury trial in municipal court. But City Manager Kent Cagle said Duncanville already allows for jury trials. Ford...

Lilburn, Georgia suspends red light camera program after extended yellow time cut violations by 80 percent. On January 1, a new Georgia law kicked in forcing a one-second increase in the duration of the yellow warning light at intersections with red light cameras. The result has been devastating for red light camera makers as violations -- and revenue -- immediately plunged for the months of January, February and March. Last week, the city of Norcross dumped photo enforcement. Now the UK-owned red light camera maker Lasercraft is offering its customers a 90-day suspension of service to prevent cities from dropping...

Revenue trouble may end red light cameras in Upland, California. Officials prepare for possible refund of illegally issued tickets. The Upland, California City Council is expected to vote Monday to stop using red light cameras because the program has not only failed to improve safety, it has also failed to generate sufficient revenue. In a memorandum to the city council, Upland Police Chief Steve Adams recommended canceling the city's contract with Redflex Traffic Systems, the Australian company that has been issuing tickets on Upland's behalf since November 2003. "The monthly revenue from the service has not covered the salary and...

Kansas City is about to put the pedal to the metal on its first red-light camera. Beginning Saturday, red-light runners at 39th Street and Southwest Trafficway can expect to receive a letter in the mail with instructions on where they can send their $100 fine plus $13.50 in court costs. Visa and MasterCard will be accepted. *****SNIP***** Sensors in the road are linked to the cameras, which capture still and video images. One photograph captures a vehicle as it nears the intersection after the light has turned red. The system tells the monitoring officer which lane the vehicle is traveling...

Police in Houston, Texas put pressure on a Rice University professor to alter negative data compiled while studying Houston's red light camera program, according to documents released in a lawsuit against the city. Houston Mayor Bill White had selected Urban Politics Professor Robert Stein to create a report on the engineering safety performance of the first fifty automated ticketing machines installed (view study released in December). Stein represented an ideal choice because his wife, Marty, is employed by the city of Houston as a top aide to the mayor. In a November 2007 email, White emphasized his personal interest in...

A bill introduced last week in the General Assembly quietly seeks to eliminate a significant motorist protection built into Virginia's existing red light camera law. The proposal of a pair of Democratic state delegates representing Virginia Beach, Joseph F. Bouchard and Robert W. Mathieson, would delete just three words from that statute, but the change would have wide-ranging effects. Under current law, cities that want to install traffic cameras must first submit a detailed engineering justification to state transportation experts. "A locality shall submit a list of intersections to the Virginia Department of Transportation for final approval," Virginia Code Section...

Two New Hampshire GOP House members have added their names to a Legislative Service Requestion seeking to introduce a bill allowing red light cameras in the Granite State. House members Ken Hawkins (R-Bedford) and John A Graham (R-Bedford) have joined NH State Senator Sheila Roberge (R-Bedford) in sponsoring LSR 2009-S-0874-R, titled "authorizing the electronic enforcement of traffic signal violations." Red light cameras snap a digital photo of vehicles caught inside the intersection when the the signal changes from yellow to red, not just those entering the intersection after the signal changes to red. With no video to contest the situation...

Longer duration for yellow signals in Denver, Colorado brings 90 percent reduction in violations. Increasing the duration of the yellow signals has had a greater safety impact than the use of red light cameras in Denver, Colorado. These facts emerged from a Rocky Mountain News investigation that also discovered that city officials and police made no effort whatsoever to track the performance of their public safety program beyond counting the 11,200 tickets worth $840,000 that had been issued between June and November. Redflex Traffic Systems, the Australian company that operates the automated ticketing machines at four intersections in return for...

Voters in Arnold, Missouri will likely vote in April on whether to ban red light cameras. Activists in the city of Arnold as early as this week expect to secure the number of signatures required to hold a referendum that would outlaw Missouri's first red light camera program. Organizers for the political action committee calling itself "Don't Tread on Me" need a total of 835 signatures to give voters a say on the April 7, 2009 ballot on whether photo enforcement should continue in the city. "These cameras were never about safety," Arnold City Councilman Matthew Hay said. "They are...

Denver has failed to enforce its red-light camera contract, collecting the $75 fines but not collecting the data necessary to determine whether the program actually is reducing red-light running. More than 11,200 tickets were mailed out through November. Denver police officials in charge of the program refused to be interviewed by the Rocky about the problems; Redflex failed to respond to several interview requests and written questions. After stories in the Rocky last spring disclosed that Denver uses the legal minimum three seconds of yellow, despite an engineering formula calling for more, the city agreed to add time at all...

Study finds accidents doubled at Houston, Texas red light camera intersections undermining the conclusions of a statewide report. Accidents more than doubled at the Houston, Texas intersections where red light cameras are installed, according to a study released Monday by Rice University and the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI). This result posed a dilemma for TTI and the city of Houston which had requested the study. Houston Mayor Bill White was furious when he saw the report's draft text in August. He banned the document from publication and ordered a re-writing of the text that would reflect a more positive result....

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) _ A group of Santa impersonators are on the naughty list of Arizona law enforcement officials. A YouTube video posted Monday shows four people dressed as Kris Kringle, white beards and red hats included, covering three speed and red light enforcement cameras in Tempe. Two are covered with boxes - one decorated with Christmas wrap - and the third is blocked with what appears to be a red sheet. The Jackson 5's ``Santa Claus is coming to town'' plays during the more than two-minute video. At the end is a message that reads: ``Ho Ho Ho! Death...

Denver's red-light cameras were anything but picture perfect in their first month of operation. More than 60 percent of the 2,545 suspected red-light violations caught on camera ...have been tossed out. The reasons vary, but police said that most of the citations were rejected because the "threshold speed" that helps trigger the cameras was set too low, generating hundreds of false readings. "The cameras fired, but the picture clearly showed all of the vehicles in compliance," ... Since then, the threshold speed was reset ... In Denver, police officials expect the city's $838,800 red-light camera system to perform more smoothly...

Private companies in the US are hoping to use red light cameras and speed cameras as the basis for a nationwide surveillance network similar to one that will be active next year in the UK. Redflex and American Traffic Solutions (ATS), the top two photo enforcement providers in the US, are quietly shopping new motorist tracking options to prospective state and local government clients.... The technology would be integrated with the Australian company's existing red light camera and speed camera systems. It allows officials to keep full video records of passing motorists and their passengers, limited only by available hard...

LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The mayors of Lafayette and West Lafayette say they'll ask state lawmakers to allow the use of cameras to catch motorists who run red lights. Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter issued an opinion Friday saying the legislature must create a law before municipalities can use the cameras to catch drivers who run red lights. Both Lafayette and West Lafayette have installed cameras at intersections, but they've only been used to see how many drivers run red lights. At one busy Lafayette intersection, a camera recorded 135 violations out of nearly 8,500 vehicles. A camera set up near...

Over the past couple years, we’ve noticed a suspicious number of ticket camera editorials by the Orlando Sentinel. After looking more closely, we noticed that nearly every editorial in the Sentinel was strongly in favor of installing ticket cameras. Furthermore, we noticed that nearly every pro-camera article was written by one member of the Sentinel’s Editorial Board, George Diaz.This seemed odd, so we decided to look into it further.After some quick research, we discovered that George Diaz appeared at a symposium held by The National Campaign To Stop Red Light Running in late 2007.As we covered on this blog previously,...

RED LIGHT CAMERA SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT AND PLACEMENT FOR INTERSECTION SAFETY WEB SEMINAR Date: Tuesday, May 20, 2008 Time: 2:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m. Eastern Credit: 1.5 PDH/.15 IACET CEU Background: Red light running is a serious safety issue at many intersections in the US and other countries. Cameras that automatically record red light violators and provide the means for issuing citations by mail have been shown to reduce the collision toll under some circumstances over the past few years. However, the success of a camera program depends upon many good decisions being made by the responsible jurisdiction and engineers. This course will...

Last week, Dallas officials reviewed the numbers and decided that a quarter of the cameras they had installed to catch motorists running red lights were too effective. So they shut them down. They are not alone. Faced with data showing that drivers pay attention to cameras at intersections — resulting in fewer ticketable violations and ever-shrinking revenue from fines — municipalities across the country are reconsidering red light cameras, which often work too well.

Cities get addicted to red light camera and speed camera revenue according to the CEO of Affiliated Computer Services.A top vendor of speed camera and red light camera services told investors that his company represents a great investment opportunity because the cities who use his product cannot resist the steady revenue stream it creates. Lynn Blodgett, CEO of Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), spoke earlier this month to the Technology, Telecom and Internet Conference hosted by the Thomas Weisel Partners investment bank. Blodgett made the pitch that no matter how bad the economy might get, there never be a lack of...

Thousands of drivers who ignore their red light camera tickets are receiving an unusual giftfrom Orange County courts: Their cases disappear. No fine. No points on their driving records. Meanwhile, the drivers who face up to their mistake and respond to their tickets face a $346 fine, driving school and sometimes, a spike in their insurance rates. "It's not a real good message to get out there to the public," Superior Court CEO Alan Slater conceded in an interview. An Orange County Register investigation has found that police and court workers throughout Orange County rarely complete the time-consuming process required...

"Our policy is pretty clear that they have to drive within the traffic laws" except under those circumstances, said Police Chief David Kunkle, who is meeting with police association officials Thursday to outline the new policy. [snip] So far, the Dallas Police Department has received notice of 103 marked vehicles and six unmarked vehicles running red lights, said Lt. Sally Lannom, who helped draft the new policy. [snip] "I think what they're worrying about is what if it's 2 o'clock in the morning, you're headed to a call but it's not an emergency call," Cpl. Bristo said. "If I roll...

Michael Kubosh, a former Democratic Texas Senate candidate, deliberately ran a red light at a intersection in Houston.  He got a $75 ticket in the mail and nearly six months later, he has filed a lawsuit against the city of Houston. "I've been telling the mayor that if they put these cameras up in Houston, I'm going to take them out of Houston.  Then I am going to Dallas, I'm going to Garland and San Antonio.  If you put them up in Lubbock, I am coming there," said Kubosh.But before his red light camera tour of Texas, he is focusing on a...