#AmericanTrafficSolutions

Abraham Lincoln said that someone who represents themselves in a legal proceeding has a fool for a lawyer. Somewhat removed from his popular homespun image is the historical fact that Honest Abe was an experienced, high-powered attorney whose clients included entities like railroad companies. The man knew a thing or two about the practice of law.

The same can probably be said about Adam MacLeod, who teaches law students how to litigate at Faulkner University’s Thomas Goode Jones School of Law. Prof. MacLeod not only risked living down to Lincoln’s aphorism, he also violated many of the rules that he teaches his students how to act in court when he fought a ticket generated by a traffic camera in Montgomery, Alabama.

American Traffic Solutions (ATS) is following the playbook from its failed attempt to defeat an anti-red light camera referendum in College Station, Texas. The company on Monday used its law firm, Stoel Rives LLC, to file a lawsuit under the name of Christine Preston, a local resident seeking to prevent Mukilteo residents from having any say in whether automated ticketing machines are deployed on their streets.

“A controversy exists between plaintiff and defendants regarding whether the subject matter of proposed Mukilteo Initiative No. 2 is within the scope of the initiative power,” the ATS law firm’s complaint stated. “Proposed Mukilteo Initiative No. 2 would improperly interfere with the exercise of a power delegated by state law to a local legislative authority.”

The Florida legislature gave final approval yesterday to legislation giving municipal governments permission to operate red light cameras in return for a significant cut of the profit generated. The state Senate voted 30 to 7 to adopt a bill that had been approved last week by the House by a 77 to 33 vote. Passage of the measure represents a significant victory for American Traffic Solutions, a firm that installed and operated red light cameras in violation of state law on the gamble that the legislature would eventually authorize photo ticketing.

A photo enforcement company and city officials are gearing up to fight members of the public who will soon vote on the issue of red light cameras in Baytown, Texas. Earlier this year, American Traffic Solutions (ATS) set up a front group entitled Safety Cameras for a Safer Baytown to serve as its political action committee in opposition to a ballot measure that would ban the use of cameras. The firm used the same tactic in its failed effort to save cameras from a public vote in College Station last year.

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.

A lawsuit funded by a photo enforcement company succeeded yesterday in temporarily blocking the results of the vote to end red light cameras in College Station, Texas. Judge Suzanne Stovall granted a temporary restraining order preventing the city from ending its contract with American Traffic Solutions, despite the November 3 vote of a majority of residents demanding that the cameras come down. The law firm of Bovey, Akers and Bojorquez ostensibly filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Keep College Station Safe Political Action Committee (PAC), a group entirely funded by College Station’s camera vendor, American Traffic Solutions (ATS) and its subcontractors. Of the PAC’s $67,100 in reported funding, the largest chunk — $30,000 — came directly from ATS. Garry Mauro, a paid ATS consultant, gave $5000. Another $8000 came from Signal Electric, a Washington-based contractor that installs red light cameras for ATS. ForceCon Services, a Texas-based red light camera installation subcontractor, gave $5000. Questmark Information Management Inc, a company that prints citations for ATS, provided a $16,600 in-kind donation.