No WhiteWash!

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.

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.

US House Transportation subcommittee discusses possible legislation to increase yellow time at red light camera locations.

At a congressional hearing Wednesday, members expressed increasingly skeptical views toward the safety claims made by the usual cast of advocates for photo enforcement. The US House Transportation Subcommittee on Highways and Transit invited five representatives of the familiar groups that advocate expanded use of red light cameras and speed cameras. In presentations before the committee and written testimony, however, members seemed to be more swayed by what the two camera opponents that appeared had to say

Read more via Congress Turns Sour On Red Light Cameras.

South Carolina governor signs law banning speed cameras and red light cameras. Legislature passes measure unanimously.

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford (R) last week signed a law banning the use of red light cameras and speed cameras in the state. The measure swept unanimously through the House, 106 to 0, on June 3 and in the Senate 38 to 0 on June 2. So far, fifteen states have taken legislative or judicial action to prohibit the use of automated ticketing machines. In addition, the voters in ten cities have thrown out photo enforcement by referendum (view complete list). South Carolina’s law takes effect immediately.

Read more via South Carolina Bans Photo Enforcement.

Three-judge appellate panel finds a total lack of evidence from Santa Ana, California red light camera program.

Appellate courts in California are becoming increasingly upset at the conduct of cities and photo enforcement vendors. On May 21, a three-judge panel of the California Superior Court, Appellate Division, in Orange County tossed out a red light camera citation in the city of Santa Ana in a way that calls into question the legitimacy of the way red light camera trials are conducted statewide. Previously, a string of brief, unpublished decisions struck at illegal contracts, insufficient notice and other deficiencies. This time, however, the appellate division produced a ten-page ruling and certified it for publication, setting a precedent that applies to the county’s three million residents.

“This appeal involves an issue far too often presented to this court, namely the admissibility of evidence and the statutory compliance with the procedures employed by several municipalities in this county in what have come to be known as ‘photo enforcement’ citations,” the unanimous ruling stated.

Read more via California: Appellate Decision Strikes Down Red Light Camera Evidence.

WEST PALM BEACH — Rear-end collisions more than doubled and accidents increased overall in the first 70 days of red-light cameras in West Palm Beach compared to the same period of 2009, traffic records reviewed by The Palm Beach Post show.

Read more via Rear-end collisions jump at red-light camera intersections in West Palm Beach.

Officials in the US, UK and Australia are forced to refund inaccurate or illegally issued red light camera and speed camera tickets.

In the past week, thousands of vehicle owners across the US, England and Australia will receive refunds after officials admitted that the automated citations they received were either bogus or issued contrary to law. In Virginia Beach, Virginia, the red light cameras operated by Redflex Traffic Systems were ticketing drivers who stopped before turning right on red. Despite making perfectly legal and safe turns at Independence Boulevard and Bonney Road, vehicle owners were receiving tickets from the Australian company, WVEC-TV reported. Virginia Beach police claimed that they “reviewed” every citation before it was mailed, yet they failed to prevent innocent owners from being ticketed

Loma Linda, California to dump red light cameras while South San Francisco will keep them.

Three California city councils debated whether to keep or discard red light cameras last week. In Loma Linda officials on Tuesday voted to drop automated enforcement while South San Francisco officials voted to keep it on Wednesday. The debates followed in the wake of a decision by the city of San Carlos last Monday to drop cameras after the duration of the yellow light at the camera-enforced intersection was extended by one second, eliminating the system’s profitability. San Carlos Mayor Randy Royce wrote to the South San Francisco council urging them not to renew their automated ticketing contract with American Traffic Solutions (ATS).

“Our city council is disappointed with the representations made by Redflex and our approved motion included direction to staff to go back to the vendor and propose termination of the three-year contract immediately,” Royce wrote. “My personal recommendations as learned from this experience are that 1) don’t assume that red light cameras improve safety, 2) recognize that people are generally smarter than cameras so expect a significant reduction in citations over time, and 3) never commit to a lease term longer than your cell-phone provider.

Read more via More California Cities Keep, Dump Red Light Cameras.

Engineering solutions and an extra second of yellow duration made red light cameras a money loser in San Carlos, California

The San Carlos, California City Council voted Monday to cancel its red light camera program after intersection engineering improvements made use of the devices unprofitable. The city had installed a red light camera at Brittan Avenue and Industrial Road on November 27, 2008. As soon as the private contractor Redflex Traffic Systems began mailing out citations there, drivers complained about the shortness of the yellow light. The city checked and found that they were right — the 3.0 second yellow timing was illegal.

Read more via California City Dumps Red Light Camera After Increasing Yellow