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Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Arizona: Speed Camera Companies Hide Behind Paid Victim Advocacy
As citizen-led groups in Arizona gain traction in their efforts to drive efforts to place a photo radar ban before voters statewide, automated enforcement companies are opening their checkbooks to oppose the efforts. This Saturday, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu hosted a high-profile protest outside the Phoenix office of Redflex Traffic Systems. In response, Redflex kicked its own public relations effort into high gear.
At an event inside the Redflex offices, local media interviewed a number of paid advocates. Former Arizona Department of Public Safety Director Roger Vanderpool, for example, is now widely expected to take a job at Redflex now that he has been replaced as Arizona's top cop. Also present was John D. Wintersteen, a long-time friend of the photo ticketing company executives. Most media stories showed Wintersteen and Vanderpool as former law enforcement officials, neglecting to mention Redflex sponsored the interviews.
To further distract from the Sheriff Babeu event, a "victim advocacy" group bankrolled by the industries that profit from photo tickets held a competing event Saturday at the Banner Health Safety Fair in Peoria. Frank Hinds, whose daughter was killed in an automobile accident, serves as spokesman for the Red Means Stop Coalition. The group has received funding and support directly from Redflex and American Traffic Solutions (ATS), the two main providers of photo enforcement, a fact no longer disclosed on the website (view cached version of site, 300k PDF).
The Red Means Stop Facebook group is also filled with representatives of the automated ticketing industry, including ATS spokesman Josh Weiss and the company's general counsel, George Hittner. In January, the group held its annual meeting at the AAA corporate offices. Each speed camera or red light camera ticket issued by a municipality in Arizona carries points that increase insurance rates -- directly boosting profits for insurance companies like AAA.
Using groups headed by victims is a favorite tactic of the National Campaign to Stop Red Light Running, a public relations front created for the photo ticketing companies. The campaign's website specifically recruits victims to be used as lobbying tools for the industry.
Monday, February 08, 2010
Wisconsin Appeals Court Limits Scope of Move Over Law
When approaching a police car parked on the side of the road, a motorist does not need to change lanes into oncoming traffic to escape punishment under one state's "move over" law. The Wisconsin Court of Appeals on Thursday disagreed with state officials who had insisted that failure to make such a maneuver should result in a traffic ticket.
At around midnight on April 5, 2008, Portage County Sheriff's Deputy Robert Wanta parked his squad car, emergency lights activated, on the side of Highway 10, a two-lane road, so that he could issue a traffic ticket. After Wanta finished the transaction, he noted that two cars were approaching his location. The second car pulled into the lane for oncoming traffic away from his police car, but the first did not. Wanta saw the opportunity to issue another ticket and chased after and stopped the lead vehicle driven by David G. Baake.
"Generally when I return to my squad car I can get an idea if somebody is going to slow down or if I get a little concerned that they're coming at my squad car," Wanta explained in his court testimony. "I became concerned because this vehicle was continuing in its normal lane of travel, close enough that I did not feel comfortable returning to my squad car because I was not sure if the car would be rear-ended or if I might be hit if I tried to return to my car."
Prosecutors argued that because Highway 10 is marked with a divided yellow line signifying that passing is permitted, the motorist must "change lanes," if possible, to avoid a citation. The road, in effect, allows two lanes of travel in the same direction. The appeals court found this interpretation unacceptable.
"By its plain language, [the statute] only requires a motorist to change lanes if there are two or more lanes in the motorist's direction of travel and it is safe to do so," Presiding Judge Charles P. Dykman wrote.
The court pointed out that the law explicitly provides for an alternative of slowing down for two-lane roads like Highway 10.
"The statute simply does not require a motorist on a roadway with only one lane of travel in the motorist's direction to move into the lane for oncoming traffic when passing a stopped motor vehicle," Judge Dykman wrote. "Wanta testified that he was 'concerned' about Baake's driving because Baake continued in the same lane of travel as Wanta's vehicle, which we have concluded is not prohibited by statute. Wanta did not provide any testimony that Baake failed to slow down or that he was traveling at an unsafe speed, or any other details that would support reasonable suspicion of a traffic violation... We therefore conclude that there was no reasonable suspicion to support the stop."
Because the traffic stop was invalid, Baake's arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol will be thrown out. A copy of the decision is available in a 40k PDF file at the source link below.
Source:
Wisconsin v. Baake (Court of Appeal, State of Wisconsin, 2/4/2010)Sunday, February 07, 2010
Oregon, Germany, Italy, Poland, UK: Speed Cams Shot, Spraypainted, Stolen, Singed
Vigilantes damaged a speed camera in Essex, England last Sunday at 9:40pm. The Thurrock Gazette reported that garbage piled on top of the camera was set alight, inflicting £7000 (US $11,000) in damage on the South Road speed camera located in the village of South Ockendon. The camera had also been damaged by fire two weeks previously.
In Medford, Oregon, vigilantes shot a red light camera at the intersection of Barnett Road and Stewart Avenue, preventing the device from wrongfully ticketing motorists where a "no right turn on red" sign had been improperly posted. City officials told the Medford Mail Tribune that the inappropriate sign was placed near the automated ticketing machine as the result of a "misunderstanding." The sign has been removed.
Armed vigilantes used a shotgun to take out a speed camera in Sardinia, Italy in the early morning hours of January 30. The same camera, near the castle of Eleonora, had been chopped down seven months ago. As the machine had issued more than ten thousand tickets in six months, local officials are rushing to have it replaced, L'Unione Sarda reported.
Around midnight last Thursday, vigilantes made off with the speed camera on the ring road at via Marchioni in Rovigo, Italy. Surveillance video recorded a highly organized group that completed the removal work in less than a minute, Corriere del Veneto reported. A Traffiphot III speed camera on the SR88 in Lendinara was set on fire two weeks previously. The same camera had been set on fire on December 6, 2008.
Vigilantes in Lohfelden, Germany used spraypaint and expanding foam to disable all four of the area's speed cameras last Thursday. The camera located on Crumabacher Street had also been attacked in October. Police have no idea who may be responsible.
Likewise, vigilantes in Czuchow, Poland covered a speed camera in white paint last week. Just one month ago, the same camera had been covered in blue paint, Nowiny reported.
Saturday, February 06, 2010
Florida, Washington, France: Traffic Cameras Face Legal and Accuracy Problems
Photo enforcement machines around the world this week were found to be ticketing drivers who had malfunctioned, ticketed motorists who had done nothing wrong, or the machines themselves were found to be in violation of the law.
In Collier County, Florida on Friday, the private vendor American Traffic Solutions was working to install more red light cameras even though at least some of the already-installed devices had gone out-of-control, flashing nearly every passing motorist. The Marco Eagle reported that the cameras at the intersection of Immokalee and Airport-Pulling Roads, in addition to Immokalee and Livingston Roads, began malfunctioning early in the week.
"American Traffic Solutions is aware of the issues with the two cameras in Collier County," ATS spokesman Ellen Pence told the Eagle. "We are taking this issue very seriously. Our local technicians have been on site, and we realize that a few of our signal detectors need to be readjusted to return to normal functioning. We are working to accomplish that as quickly as possible, and hopefully the issue will be fixed no later than mid-day tomorrow."
No citations were issued as a result of the faulty sensors in this particular case, but automated tickets issued in Florida rest on shaky legal ground. A number of class action lawsuits are fighting red light camera programs on the ground that the state attorney general, the state department of transportation, and even red light camera vendor Redflex Traffic Systems agree that photo enforcement is illegal in Florida ( view Redflex statement, page 6, 1.8mb PDF).
In Seattle, Washington, Judge Francis deVilla ruled on Monday that a red light camera citation issued at the intersection of 45th Street at Union Bay Place was illegal, KING-TV reported. Under state law, such cameras are only allowed at four-way intersections, but the location in question was a five-way intersection. Afraid of refunding the 9000 tickets worth $1.1 million, the city is ignoring deVilla's ruling, as well as a prior ruling by Judge Adam Eisenberg that found the ticketing location in violation of state law.
A French camera falsely accused motorists of speeding in Rouillac on the road to St. Jean d'Angely on January 14. Although the speed limit at the location was 70 km/h (44 MPH) the camera was set to ticket vehicles traveling at 50 km/h (31 MPH), Charente Libre reported. Under French law, any motorist wishing to challenge an automated citation had to pay it first. A large number of outraged motorists began complaining until the Mayor of Rouillac, Michel Trainaud, was forced last week to refund every ticket issued on that day.
Friday, February 05, 2010
Florida: Highway Trooper Busted For Writing Fake Tickets
A Florida Highway Patrol trooper was charged Tuesday with issuing traffic tickets against motorists who had done nothing wrong. Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle charged Trooper Paul C. Lawrence, a twelve-year veteran, with twenty-two counts of official misconduct, a third-degree felony.
Lawrence allegedly made up the violations and filed citations in the computer system between November and January. The victims never received a copy. Like most states facing budget troubles, trooper performance in Florida is measured primarily by the number of citations issued while on duty. Florida is unique in providing a direct financial incentive for individual police officers to issue tickets. The state taxes insurance premiums to fund police pensions. For example, an individual who pays a thousand dollars to insure his vehicle would pay $8.50 into the police fund annually. This premium, and the subsequent contribution to police, skyrockets after the motorist receives a traffic ticket. This in turn increases the take home pay of police officers by decreasing their contributions to the fund accordingly.
Lawrence's plot to boost his statistics unraveled when motorists began to have their licenses suspended for failure to pay the faux citations. Their complaints led to an investigation which determined that an unusual number of his traffic tickets were not signed by the alleged offenders. Many of the ticketed drivers could also prove that they were elsewhere at the time and date of the incident claimed on the citation.
"We all know that honesty and integrity are the central values of every effective police agency," Rundle said in a statement. "When an officer lies, he damages the reputation of his department and every one of his fellow officers. In Mr. Lawrence's case, he has also committed a crime. Now we all must work to undo the damage Mr. Lawrence created."
Rundle asked the county court to dismiss 85 traffic tickets that Lawrence had written over the past several months, many of which were issued to individuals had Hispanic surnames. The FHP is reviewing all of the citations that Lawrence has issued.
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