Speed Cameras Are All Profit, No Mercy. Basically another income redistribution scheme.
Foreman started with a ticket that claimed his driver had gone through the cameras’ coverage zone at 76 mph. He analyzed the two camera images taken one-third of a second apart on a computer program that calculates time, distance and velocity.
He was able to determine that the truck would have traveled 40 feet had it been moving at 76 mph, not the 14.5 feet shown by the images. Covering 14.5 feet in that interval meant his driver was going well below the 35 mph speed limit for that stretch of road.
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Red light cameras are illegal. They merely hope you don't want to take the time to go to court to contest them, where they will be thrown out. Why? They have a picture of the license plate, but not the driver. They can't prove you were driving unless you admit it. You also don't have to tell them who was driving the car at the time.
The ones we had in Stockton took a photo of the license plate and the driver...
Same with the ones in Bakersfield. There ARE ways out, though. You subpoena the operator's manual, and find out how often the units speed measuring device has to be calibrated. Then subpoena the city's records of calibration. Very rarely are they properly maintained. In California, there are state laws restricting the length of yellow lights when there's a camera on the intersection, also.
Any Radar Device has to be calibrated and tested every two years in Kalifornia....I use to take care of that. You write a speeding ticket using radar, you bring the calibration certificate with you. Don't know who or what takes care of the Cameras since they do use radar.
They're growing here in the Tacoma area.
There are "school zones" nowhere near schools, and which have totally conflicting signs. It's madness.
What technology has taken away from us is the warning from a nice cop. That's totally a thing of the past.
Since most PD lease these cameras through the companies who supply them, I wouldn't be surprised if the suppliers didn't get a certain percentage of the fines issued as well. So setting them up to read speeds on the high side would generate more profit for both the Departments and the Suppliers.
Years ago I was the supervisor of a pursuit of a guy who had robbed and beaten an old woman. We caught up to his vehicle and he couldn't drive very well since he was also intoxicated. The pursuit went all over town and I finally got in front of him, deployed a spike strip and flattened the guys tires and he managed to crash into a few cars along the way and then stopped and got arrested.
During the pursuit while I was trying to get ahead of him, I ran six read lights (lights and siren on, and oh by the way I always slow down at intersections to avoid a collision)
So the next day I come to work and there is my happy ass on the wall in traffic, six different pictures of me going through red light cameras. (We are exempt in emergencies)
They we using the data provided by the Cameras and at one point it said I was going 103 miles per hour through the intersection. I said Bullshit. I was contacted by the traffic Lieutenant about a possible complaint about my policy violation (More than double the posted speed even in an emergency on a city street)
Our cars were equipped with a device called AVL (Automatic Vehicle Locator) which can track speed, direction and wether you have your lights and siren on. It is used only for locating patrol vehicles when you don't get a response on the radio.
Anyway I checked the AVL in the watch commanders office, It tracked me from beginning to end of the pursuit, Highest Speed? 80 in a 55, intersection speeds (with lights and siren)? highest 31, lowest 28. I printed it out and took it to the traffic Lieutenant. He said the AVL must be broken. When I asked if it is possible the red light cameras were not calibrated he told me to , "get your ass out of my office and don't come back"...Never heard another word about it....
I also do not trust red light camera's..Perhaps they should be used only for collisions, to show who violated the red light. Otherwise I have no use for them. Plus the cost to set them up, buy the software and dedicate an office to review them all means there is very little cost savings. It is about the same and paying and equipping a motor officer who is much more of a deterrent.
(edit) Also If I remember correctly, the company we used gets a "processing fee" for each ticket....Thats why a red light ticket in Kalifornia is about 560 dollars, the Camera fee, court security fee, victim fund fee, processing fee...you get taxed to death on a ticket.
Years ago I got a speeding ticket in North Dakota..(yes I was speeding) I was going 74 in a 70. Got a ticket from Sergeant Schultz of the North Dakota Highway Patrol..it was 20 bucks...that's the way it should be. I paid it by mail and went on my merry way, speeding up at the Montana Border where the speed limit at the time was "reasonable and prudent"...I loved that.
Yeah, Hawaii ended up paying more fees to the company than it took in after the tickets were thrown out in court. THEN the state was sued by the company after the state prematurely terminated the contract. We the tax payer were out waaaay more than they promised we'd take in when all was said and done.
You could make a fortune being an expert witness for red light tickets in Stockton.
I go to Stockton once a year now, the retired cops luncheon. Other than that I don't go anywhere south of Lodi.
Oh, Lord, don't get stuck in Lodi again.
Someone should let it leak in the hood that they have lots of copper wire in them...
Been tried in Stockton, they have an alarm to the P.D. and basically they are in a bullet proof (yea that has happened too) metal box. and they are welded to the street flange to avoid them disappearing like the Call Boxes along the freeways in Kalifornia. For a long time, people would stop, unbolt them and drive off to the recycle center. Then the CHP put alarms on them too.
Hawaii tried it. It died within a year. Not only did citizens put up a United front against them, but police had to be deployed to protect them, thus countering any "savings" on personnel. PLUS, unless the driver was speeding in a school or construction zone, judges just threw out the tickets.