Free Republic

Next-generation speed cameras are being destroyed faster than they can be deployed in France. French officials were convinced that mounting speed cameras high atop poles would keep them from being attacked. The government committed to replacing every existing photo radar installation with these next-generation "turret" speed cameras only to learn that the devices are being destroyed faster than they are deployed. According to the experts at Radars-Auto.com, twelve cameras have been installed in the Tarn department since January 1, but a total of thirteen turret cameras there have been knocked out of service during the same period. On Friday, vigilantes...

Defense attorneys challenging red light cameras win three cases before the Missouri Supreme Court. The highest court in Missouri on Monday struck down red light camera and speed camera programs. In three separate cases, the high court judges found that the cameras unconstitutionally shifted the burden of proof by forcing ticket recipients to prove their own innocence. The judges also found that the creation of "civil" citations and administrative hearings for moving traffic violations violated state law. The decisions were a major blow to American Traffic Solutions (ATS), the Arizona-based vendor .. Earlier this year, the firm settled a class...

Thousands of E-ZPass users have been clocked speeding through Maryland toll facilities in recent years, prompting warnings — but not repercussions — from the Maryland Transportation Authority. lRelated Ex-mayoral aide accused of trying to help firm get camera contract The agency began recording the speed of E-ZPass drivers in 2002, though there are no signs at toll facilities indicating that speeds are being monitored. Drivers are informed in the terms and conditions of their E-ZPass contracts. Maryland law empowers the MdTA to revoke a driver's E-ZPass transponder for 60 days after a second speeding violation within a six-month period —...

Will Foreman has beaten the speed cameras. Five times and counting before three different judges, the Prince George’s County business owner has used a computer and a calculation to cast reasonable doubt on the reliability of the soulless traffic enforcers. After a judge threw out two of his tickets Wednesday, Mr. Foreman said he is confident he has exposed systemic inaccuracies in the systems that generate millions of dollars a year for town, city and county governments. He wasn’t the only one to employ the defense Wednesday. Two other men were found not guilty of speeding offenses before a Hyattsville...

Maryland speed camera crashes into a bridge. France, Germany paint cameras. Saudi Arabia stones them. Vigilantes in Dortmund, Germany painted a traffic camera entirely gold on Thursday, according to Ruhr Nachrichten. Locals have called the automated ticketing machine on the B54 the "Golden Blitzer," as other cameras in the area have been painted red and bright pink. Officials quickly re-painted the camera olive green so that it would be harder to spot from the road. In Auvergne, France vigilantes chose favored a darker look for their January 20 operation. The automated ticketing machine on the RN102 in Salzuit was sprayed...

The cameras, which combine number plate reading technology with a global positioning satellite receiver, are similar to those used in roadworks. The AA said it believed the new system could cover a network of streets as opposed to a straight line, and was “probably geared up to zones in residential areas.” The Home Office is testing the cameras at two sites, one in Southwark, London, and the other A374 between Antony and Torpoint in Cornwall. The `SpeedSpike’ system, which calculates average speed between any two points in the network, has been developed by PIPS Technology Ltd, an American-owned company with...

January 11, 2010 Arizona speed cameras may be flash in pan as $90m fines are ignored Chris Ayres in Los Angeles An attempt to introduce British-style speed cameras on the other side of the Atlantic has ended in a public revolt, with motorists binning speeding tickets worth $90 million (£60 million). The scheme in Arizona is now on the verge of bankruptcy and might be scrapped. Its demise would mark an ignoble end to the first statewide effort to bring speed camera enforcement to the US, where many, including judges and elected officials, regard the devices as an unconstitutional taxcollection...

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,...

Three thousand motorists who were victims of a miscalibrated speed camera in the town of Lausanne, Switzerland were issued full refunds along with a letter of apology ... After innocent motorists began complaining to the local media, police began to look into whether the automated ticketing machine may have malfunctioned. The investigation concluded that a manufacturer's defect had caused a "technical problem" forcing the detected speeds to read high. Despite the false readings, the device had passed all of the standard calibration and approval tests required for issuing citations. Police insisted all other speed cameras in the area were perfectly...

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...

GLENDALE, Ariz. – A 26-year-old man faces criminal charges after being accused of using a pickax to attack a speed enforcement camera recently installed along a Phoenix-area freeway.

New super-cameras will mean no hiding place for drivers who smoke, eat or use a phoneBy RAY MASSEY - More by this author » Last updated at 01:05am on 29th December 2007  Digital speed cameras which capture drivers smoking or eating at the wheel are being introduced nationwide in a new move to hammer motorists.  Drivers will also face fines, bans and even jail for infringements such as driving without a seatbelt, using a hand-held mobile phone or overtaking across double white lines. The hi-tech DVD cameras, which have instant playback, will also be used to provide photographic evidence...

  POLICE PROSECUTE THEMSELVES FOR SPEEDING  SOUTH Yorkshire Police took themselves to court today for speeding and were fined £500 - after a force vehicle was caught on camera breaking the limit. The case - believed to be one of the first of its kind - was heard at Rotherham Magistrates' Court. The driver of the unmarked police vehicle has not been identified but Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes pleaded guilty on behalf of the force to failing to supply the identity of the driver. Mr Hughes - who is the Association of Chief Police Officers' head of road policing...

Scottsdale made a deal with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and the Arizona Department of Public Safety in January to ignore their own speed violations snapped by the city’s pilot Loop 101 photo enforcement system. The arrangement meant sheriff’s office and DPS vehicles exceeding the posted 65 mph speed limit on Loop 101 received a free pass, even though in some cases police officials admitted the speeding might not have been justified. Some of the speeds recorded were significant, up to 117 mph. Since the high-profile camera system was turned on Jan. 22, city records show that 16 emergency vehicles...

EVERY fine issued by speed cameras could be invalid, after the Roads and Traffic Authority admitted yesterday it could not prove the authenticity of the pictures they take. In a double blow to the RTA, The Daily Telegraph can also reveal that Sydney Harbour Tunnel cameras monitoring toll cheats have been switched off for at least three years - and no penalties handed out. The revelation came as Sydney magistrate Lawrence Lawson threw out a speeding case after the RTA said it had no evidence that an image from a camera had not been doctored. Mr Lawson had adjourned the...

Speed camera catches wrong man A man faces a court appearance for speeding - despite the roadside camera showing a man in his 20s at the wheel. Laurie Motherby, 77, wrote to police saying he had sold the Toyota Corolla in the photo - and it was clearly not him pictured. But he still has to appear before JPs at Beverley, East Yorkshire reports The Sun. He said: "It's ridiculous." Wife Doreen, 71, added: "The snap says it all." Police say the car was still registered to Laurie when snapped at 45mph in a 30mph limit.

A speed camera has been destroyed by a bomb planted on the main box. The blast sent shards of metal flying more than 50 feet. Detectives said that if anyone had been driving past at the time, they could have been killed. Bomb disposal experts are investigating how the sturdy 10-foot-tall piece of equipment on the A605 at Thrapston, Northamptonshire, was wrecked. "Had someone been driving past at this time, the occupants would have been seriously injured or killed and we could have been looking at a murder inquiry," Det Con Alison Farr. The incident is the latest in...