As TTAC readers know, the city of Houston kicked its red-light cameras to the curb in Tuesday’s election. Another city, Baytown, voted in a clever ordinance that requires the physical presence of a police officer at any intersection where red-light ticketing is taking place. The voters have spoken… but the municipalities in question may not listen. At least not yet.
The Houston Chronicle reports that Houston’s contract with camera supplier ATS requires 120 days’ notice before turning the cameras off. Paul Kubosh, the attorney who pushed for the new legislation, stated that
…City Council members who vote against immediately canceling the contract would be signing their “political death warrants“ and would face the ire of thousands of residents who receive tickets during the 120-day termination phase. He said if the termination clause in the existing contract is too expensive for the city to violate, those who made the bargain should be fired.
Meanwhile, neighboring Baytown is trying to determine if it can afford to station a police officer at all seven of its intersections with red-light cameras, as required by newly approved legislation. Don’t look for that to actually happen.
Perhaps the most chilling statements came from a company and an elected official who seem to be simply unaware of how the legislative process works in this country:
“Now that the voters of Houston have spoken we have reached out to city officials for their guidance on the steps ahead,“ the ATS statement read.
Houston police Chief Charles McClelland, a supporter of red-light cameras, said it is premature to comment on the demise of Houston’s system. “Once we’ve reached some conclusions, I’ll discuss those outcomes,“ McClelland said.
Perhaps Chief McClelland’s next statement will be something along the lines of cake-consumption recommendation?
Nobody likes to get their cash cow gored…wonder what the outcry will be over that cartoon…actually pretty low because red-light camera issues generate really low comment rates. Which is too bad because this technology is just the beginning of the end for automotive autonomy. People should be up in arms over this kind of stuff, yet a mock picture of Obama or a George Bush reference generates more discussion…Kudos for TTAC to continue to run them…most organizations would shelve these stories for something with more response. And to think there are those who are happy that their car will “vindicate” them of wrongdoing by the police being allowed to snoop into their car ECU-whether you want them to or not. Yeah, there is a real compelling reason to drive pre-OBDII stuff…
And hey! That guy with the T on his hat sort of looks like the Pope. I’m outraged!
g2h, you raise a good point about the end game for all of this surveillance technology. But, as you already pointed out, no one’s worried about this stuff. They’re too busy getting up in arms over meaningless politicians and pictures of… someone that sort of looks like a politician.
Seriously, I loved the cartoon.
I think the reason there are so few comments on automated traffic enforcement issues here is because the stories are generally about how bad they are and efforts to stop them. Stories like that are totally non-controversial here. Now, if TTAC were able to wrangle an interview with RedFlex or ATS CEO’s I bet the comments would burn up the server.
agreed, and if you’ve commented once or twice on the issue there’s really little more to say beyond that. I enjoy reading them, even if I almost never comment.
Gotta hand it to Lego. Even when he’s about to get his neck stretched, he’s still smiling. Guess he know what was coming, being a Legoman…
To the point, it sounds just like someone trying to cancel a cell phone contract, or one of those door-to-door gas/electricity “deals” that you should never have signed. Even in defeat, ATS still has their customer by the nuts, and won’t let go without one last good hard squeeze.
Meanwhile, neighboring Baytown is trying to determine if it can afford to station a police officer at all seven of its intersections with red-light cameras, as required by newly approved legislation. Don’t look for that to actually happen.
Well, why not? Just pump up those property taxes a little bit to cover the need for “additional law enforcement coverage”. What are the people of Baytown gonna do, not pay their property taxes? *snort* Let us all know how that works out for you.
Supposedly death by guillotine is one of the most humane methods of smiting a human.
Not that I know this from personal experience and none of the heads I retrieved from rolling across the trampled dirt had an attached air supply to activate the vocal chords to accompany the quiver8ing lips so the mystery remains.
The LEGO victim is smiling because he knows that his feet are stuck to the floor and that he won’t fall through the trapdoor as advertised…
If the cams have to stay active for a 120 day notice period for contract termination, I say put them on all roads leading to/from Gallery Furniture, for owner Jim McInvale’s participation in the “Keep Houston Safe” PAC supporting the red light cameras. After all, wouldn’t he want his customers and truck drivers to be extra safe?
That cartoon is fantastic.
It’s kind of the same style as Perry Bible Fellowship, except that it doesn’t make you want to stick your head in the oven and die.
Add five seconds to the green, reset all yellows to a minimum of 4.5 seconds, and delay camera activation until 1.5 seconds after the red has reached full illumination. Study and publish the before and after results.
The results of over forty highly-regarded studies already tell us what the results will be but apparently the City of Houston needs to see it first hand.
CarPerson has the lowest cost solution. Don’t break the terms of the ATS contract, but instead set the intersection and camera timing so it’s damn near impossible to get a red light camera ticket. With no revenue, see how long it takes for ATS to remove the cameras early.