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.

Aurora, Colorado wants more red light cameras despite lack of demonstrable safety benefit.

Local activists are upset that Aurora, Colorado is doubling the size of its red light camera program even though the existing devices have failed to produce a demonstrable safety benefit. According to the public statements of officials, however, the sole motivation for the change is accident reduction.

Read more via Colorado: Accident Data Ignored in Red Light Camera Expansion.

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.

Federal court hears class action lawsuit seeking refund of every red light camera ticket issued in 59 California cities.

A class action lawsuit against fifty-nine red light camera programs in the state of California will be heard before Judge William H. Alsup in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. Attorney Bruce L. Simon, who is suing Redflex Traffic Systems and American Traffic Solutions (ATS), moved Friday that the case return to the state court system. Simon argues that the contracts of Redflex and ATS with municipalities are illegal under California law.

Read more via California: Class Action Lawsuit Hits Federal Court.

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.