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The National Motorists Association (NMA) released its list of the top seven locations to avoid over the Labor Day holiday. This year, the drivers’ rights group highlighted areas where heightened use of automated ticketing machines threaten those who are just passing through.
- Chicago, Illinois
The Windy City’s network of red light cameras operated by a for-profit Australian company, combined with short yellow warning times at intersections, has already generated $110 million worth of tickets. The city plans to double the installations and push the total impact of all taxes and fines on motorists to $567 million by the end of 2009. Chicago also earned a dishonorable mention for its parking meter privatization plan by which Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) covered up this year’s budget deficit. For the next 75 years, drivers will pay for this year’s budget balancing with quadrupled parking prices that will increase annually. - Chillicothe and Heath, Ohio
These two small towns earned the wrath of the motorists from collecting big cash from visitors. In less than a month, Australia’s Redflex issued 10,000 tickets in Heath, which has just 8800 residents. The number has since been reduced as a number of illegally issued tickets have been refunded. Chillicothe earned a rebuke for starting a camera program without bothering first to establish an ticket appeals process. Officials in both cities are facing a voter revolt November ballot initiatives set to determine the fate of photo radar. - Los Angeles, California
The NMA accused Los Angeles of being one of the first cities caught using “bait and switch” marketing to claim that red light cameras would stop straight-through red light running, even though eighty percent of tickets had nothing to do with this type of violation. Instead, the vast majority of tickets are issued to drivers who slowed to make a right turn on red, a maneuver which statistics show almost never causes accidents. - Duncanville, Texas
In this North-Central Texas city, a mere five percent of violations went to vehicles owners accused of straight-through violations. When a city councilman attempted to make this fact known during a public meeting, the mayor had him arrested and dragged out by force, with the incident documented on video. - Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona
State lawmakers desperate to raise money to solve an out-of-control deficit turned to photo radar to fill a $165 million gap. Dozens of fully automated Australian mobile speed camera vans, in addition to fixed camera units, were added to the freeways in addition to existing cameras on city streets. This weekend, however, the state reacted to the NMA warning and cut speed van deployments to a handful, according to the group CameraFraud.com. - Washington, DC
The nation’s capital, with its ticket camera-equipped street sweepers, 49 red light cameras and dozens of speed cameras has been looking to boost revenue to new heights. Since 1999, the District’s private ticketing contractors have issued 4,019,023 tickets worth $305 million. - Entire State of Florida
The NMA referred to Florida as a “disaster” for jumping into an unrestrained use of speed cameras and red light cameras even though, as even Redflex admits, the best legal opinion suggests that photo ticketing is illegal absent the explicit approval of the state legislature. Cities facing tight budgets have defied an attorney general opinion (view ruling) stating this fact. The NMA’s Speed Trap Directory website also lists over 25,000 conventional speed traps operating in the state.
9 Comments on “National Motorists Association: Worst Labor Day Speed Traps...”
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Mayor Green needs a retirement.
I’ve noticed that the stop bars at several intersections where I live have been moved back from the intersection so you have to cross them to make a safe right turn on red. In theory this move would help protect nonexistent pedestrians. Yellow light times also appear to have been shortened. Anyone else seeing these types of changes that have the effect of increasing the number of red light violations?
On a positive note, the speed limit on the President George Bush Turnpike and northern parts of the Dallas North Tollway have just been increased to 70mph.
http://www.ntta.org/NR/rdonlyres/60659628-D501-4A53-842A-79C81A6C4D72/0/SpeedLimits_raisedonPGBTDNT_FAQ.pdf
http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa080424_mo_ntta.989440dd.html
From WFAA story: “By Texas law, a speed limit is set by stringent safety standards that include a speed study, which determines the top speed a reasonable driver will go when the weather is good and traffic is light.
“If you set the speed limit lower than that, you’re actually punishing prudent, reasonable drivers,” said Kelly Selman, TxDOT’s Director of Transportation.”
Now that I have left chicago, I spend my weekends OUT of illinois — 15 min to the border of WI!
Chillicothe and Heath, Ohio
Yeah, Ohio.
I have told you many time before. Ohio is a cop ridden hell hole, avoid it if you can.
Asking local governments to not go for the free money speed cameras provide is like putting an oxy fiend in charge of a drug store.
We need a Federal law banning the use of traffic enforcement for increasing revenue. Something that would allow a defense against situations like quotas, absurdly low speed limits, and shortened yellow times. This sort of law wouldn’t be perfect, but it could give us a little more leverage than we have now in fighting a ticket.
Write the law to require proof that there was a clear safety issue that needed to be addressed. Sort of codifying what some of the better cops already do. For example, 10 mph over at 3am in the morning on a deserted interstate could be thrown out. Or, in the case of red light cameras, if the cameras were actually increasing the number of accidents at the intersection, the tickets could be thrown out since there was no safety benefit.
We also need to require these companies (including speed gun manufacturers) to be licensed with a clear process that would allow citizens to file complaints against the manufacturers license. Require them to file a report for all of their repair and calibration incidents along with legal challenges and make the database available for free over the internet. For example, you would be provided with the serial number of the speed gun that nailed you and you could look up it’s calibration and repair record. The database would be funded through their license fees.
In other words, we need more tools at the Federal level to help fight this rubbish.
Tell me about it… I just got back in after cruising more than a few miles of I-75 from northern Ohio to SW Ohio and while it is a holiday weekend, the sheer number of police bordered on a police state! Of all of the places I’ve lived/driven through, I thought nothing would beat the PA Turnpike in police per 10 miles but we have a new winner with the entire state of Ohio…and watch out for those planes and the wide stripes on the road.
Chillicothe is primed to be a speed trap. It’s right smack in the middle of (somewhat) south central Ohio crissed crossed by multiple non-Interstate highways where people can cruise at speed all day.
…and doesn’t Jack live either near/in Columbus? Given all of the speed traps, I wonder how many high speed chases he’s had with the local authorities! Given his car collection and driving skills, I think he’d win that race.
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Robert Schwartz :
September 7th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Chillicothe and Heath, Ohio
Yeah, Ohio.
I have told you many time before. Ohio is a cop ridden hell hole, avoid it if you can.
I actually ended up (unfortunately) driving in ILLINOIS to visit a sick friend. There were cops EVERYWHERE with I-355 the worse. I saw 6 cop cars with lights flashing who had a victim — all about 300-500′ apart from each other! 4 on the northbound side, 2 on the southbound.
The city of Garland, Texas is operating an illegitimate (and very profitable) speed trap on eastbound Highway 190 by enforcing speed limit signs which are placed improperly according to explicit state and federal guidelines. The improper signs are attached to posts which support the overhead signs for the Highway 78 interchange where the speed limit drops from 70mph down to 55mph.
The “Texas Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices” (http://www.dot.state.tx.us/txdot_library/publications/tmutcd.htm) states in section 2E.10:“Regulatory signs, such as speed limits, should not be used in conjunction with overhead guide sign installations. Because road users have limited time to read and comprehend sign messages, there should not be more than three guide signs displayed at any one location either on the overhead structure or its support.” The signs on Highway 190 violate both clauses as there are three overhead guide signs plus two speed limit signs. The Federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices has the same restrictions in section 2E.11. (http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/pdfs/2009/pdf_index.htm)
WFAA reported that Garland made $400,000 in one year by ticketing motorists on 190 (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/dschechter/stories/wfaa080501_mo_speedtraps.bc781247.html).
They are making money hand-over-fist from drivers who are not being properly notified of the speed limit change. My thoughts go out to anyone injured in traffic accidents at that location where excess speed was ruled a contributing factor as Garland is responsible, perhaps along with the North Texas Tollway Authority. It is Garland’s duty to properly inform drivers of dangerous situations, not to prey on innocent and unsuspecting drivers by enforcing speed limit signs placed where there own regulations say they won’t be seen. Garland should be held accountable for its dangerous dishonesty.