No WhiteWash!

Below are articles that deal with traffic enforcement cameras issues.  Many thanks to “theNewspaper.com”

Innocent Drivers Receive Photo Tickets in Florida, Australia, France, UK

Cameras wrongly accuse motorists of speeding, running red lights and illegally parking in Australia, Florida, France and the UK.

Washington City Files Lawsuit to Block Anti-Camera Referendum

Wenatchee, Washington lawsuit contends the public can do nothing to stop photo enforcement for the duration of its contract.

More California Cities Close to Dumping Red Light Cameras

Rocklin, California dumps red light cameras while Victorville searches for a way out.

North Carolina Considers Criminalizing, Expanding Traffic Camera Use

Competing bills in the North Carolina legislature would make photo enforcement a criminal offense, or expand its use.

Texas City Ignores Anti-Camera Voter Petition

Port Lavaca, Texas attempts to avoid voter referendum on red light camera program.

Nearly two-thirds of the House of Representatives in South Dakota votes to ban speed cameras and red light cameras.

The South Dakota House of Representatives voted 43 to 24 on Tuesday to prohibit the use of red light cameras and speed cameras in the state. A bipartisan group of lawmakers led by state Representative Peggy Gibson (D-Huron) took aim at the controversial automated ticketing machine set up in Sioux Falls, describing the due process denied innocent motorists ticketed by the system.

Read more via South Dakota House Votes to Ban Photo Enforcement.

In fifteen public votes, automated ticketing machines have never survived.Houston anti-camera protest

The public rejected the use of photo enforcement in five more municipal referendum elections Tuesday. America’s fourth-largest city, Houston, Texas, was home to the most hotly contested vote. The group Citizens Against Red Light Cameras run by brothers Paul and Randy Kubosh gathered enough signatures to force the issue onto the ballot against the wishes of the city council and after fending off a legal attack from camera operator American Traffic Solutions ATS.

Read more via Red Light Cameras Routed at Ballot Box.

I guess the smell of money is too great for Albemarle County.  I am sure that Redflex had some thoughts also on where the cameras should be placed.   Maybe the local citizens will avoid the area when shopping.

Albemarle County, Virginia installs red light camera at location with no angle collisions.

Albemarle County, Virginia plans this week to install its first red light camera system, ostensibly to reduce accidents caused by red light running. County documents show that at one of the two intersection approaches selected, there has not been a single accident caused by red light running in the past three years.

Read more via Virginia: Red Light Camera Installed at Accident-Free Location.

Supreme courts in California and Louisiana turn down municipal requests to rescue photo ticketing programs.

The highest courts in California and Louisiana yesterday denied the requests of municipal officials desperate to save their photo enforcement programs. In New Orleans, the red light camera and speed camera program must shut down after the Louisiana Supreme Court unanimously rejected the city’s request to overturn the decision of Orleans Parish Civil District Court Judge Paulette R. Irons who found earlier this month that the program violated the city’s own charter.

Read more via California, Louisiana Supreme Courts Thumb Down Traffic Cameras.

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.

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

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.