#RedLightCameras

After a year of use, red light cameras have failed to deliver the promised safety benefits in Baytown, Texas. The Houston suburb activated the majority of its cameras on July 13, 2008. Since then, the number of accidents at eight camera locations has increased 40 percent, contrary to predictions from city officials. The increase in accidents has not been in minor “fender benders,” as is frequently claimed by photo ticketing advocates. Rather, the number of collisions resulting in an injury jumped 75 percent. Rear end collisions increased 39 percent. Results from comprehensive, independent studies elsewhere in the country have yielded similar results.

A San Diego, California Superior Court judge on Monday found elements of typical red light camera court evidence packages to be inadmissible hearsay. Eight consolidated cases were dismissed by Commissioner Karen A. Riley after she considered a motion to exclude evidence generated by automated ticketing vendor American Traffic Solutions (ATS). In light of the recent Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts ruling by the US Supreme Court ( view ruling), Riley found the accused had a right to confront ATS witnesses.

One million Texas voters are likely to be given the option of reducing the number of red light cameras in the state. Later today, activists in Houston plan to submit over 30,000 signatures — more than is needed — on a petition to place a photo enforcement ban on the November 2 ballot. In the nearby suburb of Baytown, organizers responded to a notice that a previously submitted petition had fallen short of the requirement by twelve names by turning in an overwhelming 747 more last week.

The city of Mukilteo, Washington filed papers Monday hoping to thwart the attempt of a traffic camera company to deny residents the chance to vote on banning automated enforcement. Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Michael T. Downes on Friday will hear arguments in the case filed by an American Traffic Solutions (ATS)-funded front group to protect the company’s ticketing contract from the fate such agreements have shared in all ten cities where the public has forced a vote to toss out the cameras. The sponsors of Mukilteo’s initiative — Nicholas Sherwood, Alex Rion and Tim Eyman — filed a more comprehensive legal brief as intervenors tearing apart the ATS-backed case.

For years it had been a mystery how the Texas House of Representatives, 83 percent of whose members voted to ban photo enforcement, could nonetheless endorse the use of red light cameras. An ethical storm that broke around state Representative Linda Harper-Brown (R-Irving) last month provides the answer. Harper-Brown, a Transportation Committee member, accepted unreported gratuities from a traffic camera firm in return for playing the decisive role in establishing the automated ticketing industry in the Lone Star State.

Toll road giant Macquarie Bank this week announced its intention to acquire the leading operator of red light cameras and speed cameras in the US. Macquarie, known for its skill in harnessing government guarantees to make itself a “millionaire’s factory,” made an offer to purchase Redflex Traffic Systems of Australia at the bargain price of A$2.50 a share.

Red light cameras in San Mateo County, California received a one-two punch as an appellate court and a grand jury called into question the way red light cameras operate in the county. On Monday, the San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury released a report suggesting that the eight cities within the county that use photo enforcement are preoccupied with revenue. The report found that although cities claimed their sole interest was safety, officials failed to furnish reliable evidence to back up the assertion.

Lobbyists for municipalities and photo enforcement companies have succeeded in gutting attempts to place even the most minor of restrictions on the use of red light cameras and speed cameras in Arizona and Tennessee. For more than a year, the Tennessee General Assembly debated the wisdom of restricting the use of automated ticketing machines. A special study committee was established where state House members listened to testimony almost exclusively from representatives of cities and the private, for-profit companies that operate traffic cameras. The committee now has nothing to show for its effort.

The Missouri state Senate on Monday voted overwhelmingly to ban the use of red light cameras and speed cameras. The measure’s champion, state Senator Jim Lembke (R-St. Louis), had failed in previous efforts to convince his colleagues to end the use of automated ticketing machines. This year, however, he was emboldened by the state supreme court’s decision last month to strike down Springfield’s photo ticketing as illegal ( view opinion). Lembke successfully attached the red light camera prohibition to a broader, 106-page transportation measure that included a number of miscellaneous provisions. The vote was 23 to 8 in favor of the ban.

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.

Voters in California’s tenth largest city will have an opportunity to ban red light cameras in November. On Tuesday, the Anaheim City Council unanimously endorsed the idea of placing a charter amendment on the ballot that, if approved by the public, would ensure that automated ticketing machines never appear on city streets. Mayor Curt Pringle, a former speaker of the California State Assembly, offered the measure even though his city has never used cameras.

Citizen activists are looking to ban red light cameras and speed cameras in Maryland, Ohio and Texas. Petition drives are under way in six cities with the goal of offering local residents the opportunity to vote in the next election on whether automated ticketing should continue or not. Already, one of these efforts has succeeded.

A committee of the California General Assembly last month began consideration of legislation that would make minor changes in the way red light cameras are used in the state. State Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) introduced a bill that he believes will increase the fairness in the administration of automated citations. Simitian is a supporter of photo ticketing who nevertheless believes the existing system suffers from significant flaws.