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1788 messages, Last post on Nov 14, 2009 at 3:43 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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The discussion about stop signs would fit better in one of these: Traffic Laws & Enforcement Tactics Improving our Drivers, Roads, Speed Limits and Enforcement |
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There is a thing called "mission creep". Once the safety argument is used to blind people at large about the real intent of cameras, along comes a new development like this: from: http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/27/2791.asp Texas Senate Endorses Freeway Spy Cameras Legislation mandating federal and state police surveillance cameras on Texas state highways nears passage. The Texas state Senate voted Monday to give federal, state and local authorities the ability to track and identify every passing vehicle on state highways. The provision calling for "automatic license plate identification cameras" was slipped into the Senate version of the must-pass Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) reauthorization bill. The provision was not part of the bill introduced in the state House of Representatives, whose less sympathetic members will have to accept or reject the entire 1274-page compromise hammered out by a conference committee. The House voted yesterday to instruct its conferees to insist that the House-passed ban on red light cameras remain in the final text. The Senate's surveillance camera proposal promises taxpayer funds to the same private companies that operate photo radar and red light camera systems threatened by the House bill. License plate readers use the same basic technology as automated ticketing machines. Instead of tracking, for example, only those who exceed a certain speed threshold, the plate readers will store a video image of the front passenger compartment and rear license plate of every single passing vehicle. Optical character recognition software identifies the registered vehicle owner and allows for easy indexing of the time and location of travel for each person identified using the highway. The Senate-passed bill gives police broad authority for the first time to use this information to prosecute any state or federal crime, as long as it is not a traffic violation "punishable by fine only." The bill also specifies that the cameras may be used to find suspects in amber alert cases, missing senior citizens and those accused of killing a police officer. The capability to search for suspects is exactly what troubles one civil rights group. "Proponents will argue the readers are looking for bad guys -- drug smugglers and other criminals -- but the cameras cannot distinguish between your SUV and a drug smuggler's SUV," the Texas branch of the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement. "The readers are technology and as with any technology, they have a tendency to make errors. In this case, the implications are traffic stops of drivers misidentified as suspects wanted for serious crimes." In some cases, those errors can turn deadly. On May 19, 2008 a Northumbria, UK police officer received an Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) alert about a passing Renault Megane automobile. Believing the vehicle could be driven by a dangerous criminal, the officer began following the Renault and hit speeds of 94 MPH in a residential neighborhood without using his siren. After cresting a hill, the police Volvo slammed into and killed sixteen-year-old pedestrian Hayley Adamson who did not see the police car coming. It turns out the database was wrong and the driver being chased was completely innocent. (View video of the incident up to the moment of the crash). British authorities have been using ANPR for several years, working to centralize ANPR data to allow police to keep tabs on criminals and political opponents. A data center in North London offers real-time, nationwide tracking capability. Australian and American red light camera companies hope to offer the same centralized tracking services in the US. The license plate provision attached to the TxDOT sunset bill passed the full Senate last month without debate as Senate Bill 1426. The language was drafted by state Senator Tommy Williams (R-The Woodlands). View the full text of the surveillance camera provision in a 90k PDF file at the source link below. Source: House Bill 300 excerpt - Senate engrossed (Texas State Legislature, 5/28/2009)
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Replying to: vcheng (May 29, 2009 4:00 am) That is very scary. But, maybe precedence already set by some cities, such as Chicago, having cameras placed in various parts of the city that have high crime rates. Innocent and law abiding citizens walking through these areas are watched and probably recorded. Believe that the Chicago cameras send images to a monitoring site where presumably there is some recording and retention of video. Mayor Daley authorized these. Never heard that former Chicagoan Obama, Constitution expert and now President, protested this camera system as violation of Constitutional rights. Must be OK.
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Replying to: xrunner2 (May 29, 2009 5:28 am) This affects us ALL, and we ALL better have an input into the process or we will ALL regret the consequences for a loooooong time to come. |
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| Maybe Orwell just had the date wrong? | |
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The lure of easy money is a corrupting influence on the legal process for sure! We cannot assume that our local officials are so saintly that it will not happend here. It already is! from: http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/27/2795.asp Italy: Police Raid Speed Camera Company in Fraud Scandal Italian police find 81,555 speed camera tickets worth $16 million were fraudulently issued. Italian police yesterday raided the Brescia headquarters of a speed camera manufacturer accused of fraud involving seventy municipalities throughout the country. Officers from the Guardia di Finanza, the law enforcement arm of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, seized computers, cameras, sensors and fifty speed cameras as evidence. Salerno prosecutor Amato Barile ordered the raid after discovering evidence that Velomatic 512 photo radar units bearing the same individual serial number were being used by different municipalities located hundreds of miles apart. Under Italian regulations, each camera used for issuing citations must be properly calibrated and approved. By cloning serial numbers, the company avoided testing requirements. Prosecutors also believe that some of these cameras were calibrated in such a way that motorists adhering to the speed limit would receive citations. As a result of a criminal conspiracy, 81,555 tickets worth 11.3 million euros (US $16 million) fraudulently issued between 2007 and 2009 have been canceled, refunds will be given and license points will be removed. The consumer watchdog group Codacons wants permanent changes in the law, including banning the ability of municipal governments to pad general funds with photo ticket revenue and a minimum five-second yellow warning time at intersections. In January, the makers of the T-Red brand of red light cameras were similarly arrested for fraud after prosecutors found motorists were being trapped at signals with short yellows with improperly certified equipment. "That yet another seizure has happened on the national territory demonstrates how municipalities are using illicit means and violating the law in order to make cash," a group press release stated. Yesterday's raid was given the code name "Operation Devius." The investigation is ongoing. |
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Some states see the light before others, but they will all come to the same conclusion in the end I think. from: http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/27/2796.asp Maine Bans Photo Enforcement Maine governor signs into law a total ban on red light cameras and speed cameras. Maine last week became the fourteenth state to ban the use of red light cameras and speed cameras. Governor John Baldacci (D) signed into law a bill introduced by Representative Richard Cebra (R-Naples) that prohibits the use of a "traffic surveillance camera to prove or enforce a violation" of traffic laws. Cebra's measure sailed through the legislative process with almost no opposition at any stage of the process. "While on the surface these cameras may appear to increase public safety, recent studies have shown that they actually increase the occurrences of accidents at intersections where the public is aware that there is a camera," Cebra said in a statement. "The placement of these cameras is also a civil rights issue, creating the issuing of a summons and possible fines and jail time to the owner of a vehicle and not necessarily the actual driver of the vehicle. In many places around the country, these cameras have become nothing more than a money-maker for municipalities." The issue of automated enforcement was first raised in March by state Representative Donald Pilon (D-Saco) who wanted to give municipalities the right to install red light cameras throughout Maine. His idea backfired. When Pilon's bill came before the Joint Standing Committee on Transportation, not one member voted in favor of the proposal. Cebra followed up with his prohibition measure which was greeted with unanimous committee approval in April. It cleared the full state Senate under a suspended rules procedure used for non-controversial measures, but an amendment was added in the House to allow the use of toll road cameras. Thus modified, the legislation cleared both chambers on May 21 with overwhelming support. The law formally takes effect ninety days after the legislature adjourns, which would be September 15 according to the latest schedule. Earlier this year, Mississippi and Montana enacted photo enforcement bans. View the full list of states that ban traffic cameras. Article Excerpt: LD 1234 An Act To Regulate the Use of Traffic Surveillance Cameras Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: Sec. 1. 29-A MRSA Section 2117 is enacted to read: Section 2117. Use of traffic surveillance cameras restricted The State or a municipality may not use a traffic surveillance camera to prove or enforce a violation of this Title. For purposes of this section, "traffic surveillance camera" means a device that, in conjunction with a lighted traffic-control device or a lane direction control device, as described in section 2057, subsections 1 and 3, or a speed measurement device as described in section 2075, subsection 4, automatically produces one or more photographs, one or more microphotographs, a videotape or any other recorded image of a vehicle at the time the vehicle is operated in violation of state law. This section does not apply to a photo-monitoring system, as defined by Title 23, section 1980, subsection 2-A, paragraph B, subparagraph 4, used by the Maine Turnpike Authority for toll enforcement purposes. Effective 90 days following adjournment of the 124th Legislature, First Regular Session, unless otherwise indicated. |
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"Opponents and backers of speed cameras both suggest that eventually speed cameras will become the norm on U.S. freeways. But just how likely is a nationwide roll-out? And what factors stand in the way? We take a look. Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley signed into law on May 19 Senate Bill 277, allowing the use of speed cameras in highway work zones and within a half-mile radius of schools, which means that they can be placed on freeways under these conditions." Speed cameras on U.S. highways? (CNN) |
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.... does having a speed camera on a restricted access interstate unlucky enough to be within half a mile radius of a school help with safety of the kids on their way to and from school? Just more evidence that it is about the money grab hiding behind an argument for safety that only the gullible could believe in, methinks. 
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