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Morning Lineup – December 18

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Tuesday Morning – Watch the Light

One of the sleazy stunts that a lot of the bigger cities have been doing in the past few years is installing what they call "red light cameras."  These devices are aimed at traffic light-controlled intersections and take photos of vehicles that drive through red lights – usually trying to sneak through as the light is turning from yellow to red.  Their public explanation for this is to "promote safety" by making people more aware that they might get caught if they cheat on the light.  When they are installed, there is usually a big press conference extolling the gadget and how it is being placed in the intersections with the highest accident rates along with claims how this will cut down on crashes and make life wonderful again.

But the real goal is for the cash-strapped cities to raise revenues, sometimes great amounts of revenue, without having to raise taxes.  And the cameras have been quite successful at that.  It has been pointed out that often – and without telling anybody – the light cycles are altered at the same time to reduce the length of time that the yellow is displayed before it switches to red.  A mere three seconds is enough to boost revenues significantly.  Suddenly, law-abiding citizens begin receiving $200 tickets in the mail.  In a few places the local press or tv stations have demonstrated this trick and the city council was shamed into setting the timer back to what it was.  But some of the more corrupt cities just ignore the outcry and carry on with their highwayman holdup scheme.

The Pelican Post, for example, reported last year:  The New Orleans Annual Operating Budget indicates that the city government has increased its reliance on revenue from red light and speed cameras to cover holes in the operating budget. Revenue from red light cameras, for example, has increased from $3.4 million in 2008 to a projected $18 million in 2011, an increase of 419 percent.  Suffolk County, New York, has just approved doubling the number of redlight cameras on their streets and they make no secret of the fact that it is purely for revenue gains, hoping to increase their yearly take to $20 million.  You don't hear anything about "safety" any more.  They want you to bust the light.

Since 2007 Houston has generated more than $24,000,000 in fines from the cameras.  Columbus, Ohio, grabs more than $1 million annually from their cameras and that's after paying the vendor who operates them.  Most of these devices are owned by, installed and operated by a firm in Texas that collects a little more than half of the fines that range from $200 to $600+ in some areas.  The Texas company sends the pix of all the redlight runners back to the municipality and – so they claim – the photos are first reviewed by a police officer for validity who then issues the official summons.

And the catch here is the "official review" which is the weak link in the program.  In many cities this has been mostly a rubber-stamp procedure in the hopes that the violator just pays it without contesting it, but more and more the "violators" are pushing back.  This guy in Baltimore was cited for running the light when the camera plainly shows that he was stopped, not moving, and his brake lights are on.  His citation said that he was clocked at 38 mph going through the intersection  You can even see the cross traffic passing by in front of him:

 

So all that phoney-baloney about the photos being carefully reviewed is a flat-out lie.  Currently there are 542 communities using redlight cameras and you can look to see if any around you have them HERE.  San Diego, California, plans to dump their camera enforcement program entirely when their current contract expires at the end of January.  Read more about their experience HERE.

By the way, the communities that  are truly concerned with safety have found out that by merely extending the yellow light by three seconds significantly reduces collisions at controlled intersections.  And before you ask,  No, I have never gotten one of these.

Now let's safely travel to the apparatus and get it checked out for the day.  See you back in the day room in a little while.   More coffee will be ready by then.

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From Amazon …..

Through December 22

Up to 47% Off – Walt Disney DVD's

CLICK HERE to view the offerings and to order.

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Posted by on December 18, 2012 • Filed under: morning lineup • Tagged:

Morning Lineup – July 23

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Monday Morning – Slow Down

A new week begins and it's time for the GeezerGang to return to normal routine, however "normal" that may be.  Around here, "normal" is the abnormal at times.  Take for instance our topic for this morning, red-light enforcement cameras.

This insidious device that was sold to the public as a "safety" measure that would reduce red-light runners (except ambulances) was really just a gimmick by shady city councils to raise revenues.  This scheme was uncovered pretty quickly when the dupes citizens found out that the intersections that had the automatic cameras also had the elapsed time of the yellow light reduced by a half-second or so, thus entrapping otherwise legal drivers.  It's all about the money, you see.

These spies-on-poles that catch not only redlight violations, but in some areas also speeders, are set up and maintained by private businesses who get a percentage of the take.  Thus the incentive to boost profits by sneaky methods.  It's all about the money, you see.

On public citizen's group in St. Petersburg, Florida, has been waging a campaign against their redlight cameras and casting some mild embarrassment onto the city council.  But it's hard to embarrass a politician enough to get them to change their devious ways.  This group in St. Pete recently let the citizens know about some interesting facts after getting a hold of a log of the 21,602 photo tickets issued in the city from October 29, 2011 to April 30, 2012.  Some of the things that they found were summarized in a report:

Proponents of photo enforcement frequently assert the camera never lies, but newly released evidence suggests the technology can often be wrong. In St. Petersburg, Florida, cameras belonging to the private vendor American Traffic Solutions (ATS) have accused vehicle owners of doing the impossible. If the camera is to be believed, on December 13, 2011 at 3:29pm, a woman blasted through the intersection of 66th Street and 38th Avenue at 215 MPH.

At that velocity, her car would have been traveling the distance of an entire football field every second. Reaching such a velocity requires use of vehicles with million-dollar pricetags such as the Bugatti Veyron or Pagani Huayra or the $400,000 Lamborghini Aventador. The reading was not an isolated error. At the same location on January 8, 2012, another woman was said to have blasted through the intersection at 170 MPH. At 4th Street and 22nd Avenue, a woman allegedly hurtled through the intersection at 157 MPH on December 29, 2011.

ATS did issue other citations alleging very high speeds, but they are well within the capabilities of modern automobiles in a straight line. On April 12, 2012, a man was accused of making a right-hand turn at 96 MPH at the corner of 34th Street and 22nd Avenue. Similarly, a woman turned right at 85 MPH just three days before Christmas at the intersection of Gandy Boulevard and 4th Street.

About 2/3 of the tickets were issued to people who were making turns and were in the intersection less than a half-second after the light went to red.  But is anybody really surprised to learn about this?

We'd better learn about how well our equipment's status is for the day, so let's get started on the daily checksheet.  I'll make sure the Bunn-O-Matic is set for the day, too.  See you back in the day room.

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From the Expo Photo Files

We didn't catch this good fellow's name, but he was our favorite
visitor on Saturday.  Mike Legeros  caught the moment on camera.

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Posted by on July 23, 2012 • Filed under: morning lineup • Tagged: ,