USA Louisiana: Public Slams Traffic Cameras in Referendum
More than 85 percent of Sulphur, Louisiana residents vote to reject photo enforcement in a special election.
In a special election yesterday, a Southern Louisiana city of 22,000 overwhelmingly rejected photo enforcement. Asked, "Shall Ordinance No. 873, M-C Series adopting automated speed enforcement for the City of Sulphur, Louisiana, be repealed?" eighty-six percent of voters said "Yes." After results are certified on April 13, the Australian speed camera vendor Redflex Traffic Systems will be sent packing.
Sulphur's ballot box totals contrast sharply with public opinion survey results published by traffic camera vendor American Traffic Solutions (ATS). A review of ATS contracting arrangements with municipalities showed that ATS-sponsored polling is regularly offered as part of a suite of marketing services intended to promote the sale of automated ticketing machines. In a March 17 press release, for example, ATS insisted that camera opponents were the minority.
"A recent survey shows two-thirds of Missourians support police photo traffic enforcement using red-light cameras -- but that many of those supportive Missourians mistakenly assume the technology is not favored by most of their neighbors," the ATS release stated. "By a remarkable 66 percent to 30 percent margin, voters supported red light cameras."
In January, ATS hired Public Opinion Strategies to generate a similar survey showing 63 percent of Arizona voters supported speed cameras.
Although traffic cameras frequently enjoy enthusiastic support in public opinion research sponsored by the industry, photo enforcement has never succeeded with voters on election day.
Real voters in Cincinnati, Ohio rejected red light cameras last November. Seventy-six percent of Steubenville, Ohio residents rejected photo radar in 2006. In less recent votes, speed cameras lost by a two-to-one margin in Peoria, Arizona and Batavia, Illinois. Anchorage, Alaska also rejected a photo radar program in 1997.
The next referendum on automated ticketing is set for Chillicothe, Ohio where enthusiastic residents succeeded in gathering more than double the amount of signatures required to qualify for the ballot. Additional votes are possible as the group CameraFraud.com is currently working to put photo enforcement up for a statewide vote in Arizona and the Coalition Opposed to Spending and Taxes is working on a petition in Toledo, Ohio.
War of technologies in California speeding case
Parents of a teen driver use data from a GPS vehicular tracking device to fight a speeding charge based on radar guns.
Los Angeles - A California speeding ticket case to be decided in coming weeks puts a new twist on the age-old cops versus drivers battle, pitting police radar against personal GPS tracking devices.
The case, which is drawing national attention, revolves around 17-year-old Shaun Malone, who in 2007 was clocked by a Petaluma, Calif., police officer going over 62 m.p.h. in a 45 m.p.h. zone. He was found guilty and fined $194. But Shaun's parents contested the ticket, citing data from the satellite tracking device they had installed in their son's car and expert testimony.
The tracking device showed that Shaun was traveling at 45 m.p.h. when the officer stopped him. The data were automatically downloaded into the parents' computer.
"The speeding ticket – fear of getting one, how to fight one – is such a ubiquitous concern in American culture that this case is extremely interesting and could produce a compelling outcome," says Daniel Filler, senior associate dean for academic and faculty affairs at Drexel University's Earle Mack School of Law in Philadelphia.
Radar versus GPS
By all accounts, the legal case has been a war of experts and technologies. Petaluma police produced their radar evidence. The defense argued that the readings could have been derailed by human error or interference from road signs and passing trucks.
The district attorney countered that the distance between the stoplight and the police radar position couldn't have been covered in the time it was unless the car was traveling faster than 45 m.p.h.
"Since it is impossible to cover that distance going from a full stop to 45 m.p.h. where the officer was, this shows infallibly that Malone was speeding," says Sgt. Ken Savano of the traffic division of the Petaluma police. "We think he sped up to 62.5 m.p.h., then saw the police car and slowed down."
Petaluma police have spent a reported $15,000 on the trial. Sergeant Savano says, "We don't want this [radar] technology to be discredited. We think it helps save teenagers' lives."
However, defense attorney Andrew Martinez claimed that Shaun's stepfather, Roger Rude, recreated the incident 12 times and proved it was possible to have driven that distance without speeding.
According to Rocky Mountain Tracking, which sells the GPS device software, the system registers when the car begins to accelerate and registers the car's speed, direction, and location every 30 seconds after. In Shaun's case, his parents ensured that they would receive an e-mail if his car ever hit 70 m.p.h.
Mr. Rude says, "The issue is not whether radar works, but rather human error in using it." The stretch of highway in question is three lanes and moves around a curve, he says. "It's very easy for radar to lock in on the wrong vehicle. The issue is one of refining the beam so that it doesn't take in such a wide swath of cars and trucks."
Conflict of interest?
But Petaluma's Savano has questioned Rude's motivation because of his appearance promoting the GPS tracking device on the company website.
In a telephone interview, Rude countered that the company contacted him after the case started, and that he receives no money for his appearance. As a former enforcement officer and ambulance driver, his motivation comes from having "seen too many times how teens are killing themselves all over this country [by] being irresponsible behind the wheel," he says.
Drexel University's Mr. Filler says Rude's appearance in the company website video does call into question the motives of the defense. But he also notes that the police have an interest in not having radar challenged because speeding tickets are a major source of revenue for small towns.
Some experts say no legal precedents will be set in the case, but that attitudes about the two technologies could be affected.
"This seems to me to be a battle of credibility, radar versus GPS," says Norman Garland, a law professor at Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles.
Speed Cameras Going Green? Redflex is considering Solar Powered Cameras.
Sometime in the not-so-distant future, the photo-enforcement camera that snaps a picture of you speeding along an Arizona freeway may be powered by the sun.
Scottsdale-based Redflex Traffic Solutions Inc. is in the process of developing a photo- enforcement camera equipped with a solar panel that would allow it to operate independently of the power grid.
Redflex, which has a contract to supply the state's traffic cameras, is evaluating a bid from a solar-engineering firm to design the new technology. But company representatives are tight-lipped about the project.
"Until it is tested to our satisfaction, we're not going to media comment on it," said company spokeswoman Shoba Vaitheeswaran.
A Department of Public Safety official acknowledged that solar photo-enforcement cameras have been discussed; however, the agency is not making any plans until the state's budget battle is settled.
"Right now, it's really difficult to do long-term planning," said Lt. Jeff King, who oversees photo enforcement for DPS. He said the agency cannot sign off on any expansion until it knows whether it will have the manpower needed to handle additional cameras.
King said that because there have been a number of fatal collisions on U.S. 93, it is among several stretches of highway where DPS hopes to expand photo enforcement, though he said several areas in metro Tucson are the most immediate safety concerns for DPS.
In the past three years, a high number of people have been injured or killed on the highway between Wickenburg and Interstate 40 toward Las Vegas, with at least eight fatal collisions and about 60 injury-causing crashes annually, according to DPS.
Vaitheeswaran said Redflex has no immediate plans for the cameras.
"We have investigated the use of solar power around that area (U.S. 93) . . . but there's no plan to go forward at this time," she said.
She said the cameras are "not roadworthy" yet, and emphasized that Redflex is exploring the solar option along with a host of other green innovations. She said Redflex has used solar panels before on some of its fixed cameras in California.
"Until it becomes very clear who our partner would be and what the technology would be, we're not going to be rolling anything out (in Arizona)," she said.
Tempe-based Arizona Solar Concepts has an agreement with Redflex to design and possibly assemble the solar cameras, said owner Clint Taylor, who would not discuss the program in further detail due to a "non-disclosure" contract with Redflex.
When asked about plans to install as many as 50 cameras on U.S. 93, Taylor said, "That's exactly what I'm not supposed to be disclosing."
Taylor's company has contracted a portion of its design work to Solar Engineering Group, an ASU-student-run venture.
David Spotts, student president of Solar Engineering Group, said he could not talk specifically about the Redflex project.
But he said that in general the idea of putting them along U.S. 93 makes sense.
"That's a high-speed freeway, so why not put cameras out there to bust everybody?" Spotts said.
Using solar power would allow more cameras to be installed and operated more cheaply, because they would not have to be connected to a power source, he added.
In its agreement with the state, Redflex receives up to $28.75 out of every $165 paid to the state by motorists photographed speeding on highways. Redflex, in turn, pays costs associated with installing and operating the machines. The contract is estimated to be worth about $20 million a year to Redflex.
Redflex also has contracts with cities and towns throughout the state, including Peoria, Tempe and Chandler.
American Traffic Solutions, a competing photo-enforcement company based in Scottsdale, has contracts with many of the Valley's larger cities - Mesa, Scottsdale and Glendale. A spokesman would not disclose if it is doing similar research.
Several people involved with Redflex's solar research say efforts to develop new cameras could be complicated by the controversy surrounding photo enforcement.
Legislators first approved the statewide camera program in July 2008 and gave DPS a mandate to install 100 fixed and portable cameras. But the program was suspended by DPS in January following anti-photo- enforcement protests and efforts by legislators to ban the cameras.
At the time, only 36 fixed locations and 42 mobile cameras had been put in place. DPS has since restarted the program, and it installed two additional cameras in February, said Bart Graves, a spokesman for DPS.
