No WhiteWash!

Experienced class action law firm takes on red light cameras in California.

A team of experienced class action lawyers is taking on California’s red light camera industry, and photo enforcement companies are expressing unease. Last month, the law firm of Pearson Simon Warshaw and Penny, LLP filed suit in San Mateo County Superior Court arguing that tickets issued throughout the Golden State since January 1, 2004 should be refunded where the photo enforcement contracts violated a state law mandating flat-rate compensation to companies like Redflex Traffic Systems. Redflex referred to the case as a particular business risk in an August 25 filing with the Australian Securities Exchange.

Profit from most common red light camera ticket in California could be slashed in half under bill passed by legislature

Read more via California Legislature Votes to Drop Right Turn Fines.

Civil grand jury joins appellate court in slamming red light cameras in San Mateo County, California.

Under court order, Redwood City, California was forced to admit that the red light camera installed at Whipple Avenue and Veterans Boulevard in March 2008 have done absolutely nothing to reduce traffic collisions. San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Clifford V. Cretan instructed the city council to respond to a civil grand jury report from June that blasted municipal programs throughout the county that raised $13.8 million from ticketing despite the lack of evidence of any safety benefit (read report).

Read more via California: Court, Grand Jury Bash San Mateo Red Light Cameras

Accidents increased 40 percent one year after red light cameras went live in Baytown, Texas.

After a year of use, red light cameras have failed to deliver the promised safety benefits in Baytown, Texas. The Houston suburb activated the majority of its cameras on July 13, 2008. Since then, the number of accidents at eight camera locations has increased 40 percent, contrary to predictions from city officials. The increase in accidents has not been in minor “fender benders,” as is frequently claimed by photo ticketing advocates. Rather, the number of collisions resulting in an injury jumped 75 percent. Rear end collisions increased 39 percent. Results from comprehensive, independent studies elsewhere in the country have yielded similar results.

Read more via Red Light Cameras Increase Accidents in Baytown, Texas.

Red light camera makers fear high court Confrontation Clause ruling will create legal challenges.

Red light camera and speed camera manufacturers fear that last month’s US Supreme Court ruling in the case Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts could create legal turmoil for the industry. The National Campaign to Stop Red Light Running issued a statement yesterday warning that the ruling has armed motorists with a greater ability to challenge the basis of automated traffic citations. Speed cameras, for example, depend heavily on legal faith in a certificate that claims to confirm the total reliability of a machine’s speed reading. In the Melendez-Diaz case, the high court ruled that merely producing such a certificate in court is insufficient. Defendants have the right to cross-examine any individual who claims to have certified evidence.

Read more via US Supreme Court Upsets Speed Camera Industry.

If you have been following the red-light cameras hearsay scene….you should check out the following links below.

California Court of Appeal Publishes Red Light Camera Hearsay Decision
California Court of Appeal declines traffic camera company request to depublish Santa Ana appellate decision.

California: Another Judge Discards Red Light Camera Evidence
Red light camera companies found to generate hearsay evidence in San Diego, California court trial.

A red light camera in Kingsport, Tennessee wrongly accused Ray Tolley, 89, of running a red light. According to WJHL-TV, Tolley received a ticket in the mail accusing him of blowing through an intersection on red in a white Ford Mustang. Tolley owns a blue 1990 Ford pickup truck, and the octogenarian rarely drives. His son, David, who was forced to fight the ticket on his father’s behalf, discovered the license plate on the pickup was off by one digit. The Kingsport police, who claim to diligently review every ticket, did not notice that the ticket claimed the Mustang in the photograph was a "pickup" truck.

via California, Tennessee: Bogus Red Light Camera Tickets.

It appears that the Kingsport, TN Police did review the evidence and found that a white Ford Mustang and a black 1990 Ford pickup is close enough. 

89-year old Ray Tolley states that he visited Kingsport about 35 years ago and his pickup has not been started since last fall.

It appears that the Kingsport Police is rubber-stamping the data submitted by camera vender Redflex as the gospel.  The photo on the right is from the Kingsport Police Department web page.

If you have been following the red-light cameras scene….you should check out the following link below.

California Court of Appeal declines traffic camera company request to depublish Santa Ana appellate decision.

California’s second highest court on Wednesday upheld the publication status of a key decision that called into question the legitimacy of red light camera evidence. The state Court of Appeal rejected the request of the cities of Santa Ana and Menlo Park to depublish a May appellate ruling of the Orange County Superior Court (view the California v. Khaled decision) that found the red light camera photographs presented as evidence in court were inadmissible hearsay.

Read more via California Court of Appeal Publishes Red Light Camera Hearsay Decision.

Tennessee Appeals Court rules police must show failing to signal caused a hazard to initiate a traffic stop.
The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday ruled that a driver cannot be pulled over for failure to signal when that conduct did not affect any other driver. The decision came down in the case of Antoinette Feaster, 37, who was stopped and arrested on August 15, 2007 around 11am. Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department Officer Travis Robinson had set up a speed trap on the median of Interstate 24 when he saw Feaster’s Chevrolet Tahoe traveling about 8 MPH below the speed limit and making a lane change without signaling. Feaster’s attorney quizzed Robinson on the stand at trial about his recollection of the incident.

Read more via Tennessee Court Rules Overturns Turn Signal Traffic Stop.

PHOENIX — Dozens of photo-enforcement cameras on freeways throughout the state are coming down this week.

A total of 76 cameras will cease operation on Thursday.

The photo-enforcement program, which was meant to catch speeders on Arizona’s freeways, has been controversial from the beginning. The cameras first went up nearly two years ago.

Read more via Freeway speed cameras to be turned off this week | Phoenix News | Arizona News | azfamily.com | Yahoo News.

Nate Morabito, a reporter with WJHL has complied the yellow light times for the cities in Sullivan and Washington Counties that have red light revenue cameras.  Go to the following link to read the entire article.  Caution:  Not every yellow light timed the same | TriCities.

Drivers, be aware that you stand a better chance of getting a red light ticket and rear-ended in Kingsport because of their shorter yellow light times.

Go to the link below to access the database to get the yellow light times for Johnson City, Jonesborough, and Kingsport.

Information provided by the City of Kingsport, the City of Johnson City and the Town of Jonesborough.

Read more via Caution:  Not every yellow light timed the same | TriCities.