Yesterday, voters in the UK city of Manchester overwhelmingly rejected a congestion charging plan. Officials had spent millions promoting the scheme. And yet, with over one million votes counted, all ten boroughs said no to the plan– despite the promise of £2.8b ($4.2b) in mass transit spending from the central government upon approval. The final tally stood at 79 percent against and 21 percent in favor. Officials had hoped to have the complex congestion tax infrastructure in place by 2013 so that they could charge commuters an initial rate of £5 (US $7.50) to drive into Manchester city center during work hours. The average motorist would have paid an extra £1250 ($2500) per year, although once in place the rates would likely have increased.
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Most of the attention drawn to Rod R. Blagojevich’s arrest has focused on the Illinois Governor’s attempt to sell the Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat. Also according to the indictment, on October 6, a wealthy contractor for the the giovernor’s “Tomorrow’s Transportation Today” promised to make a $500k donation to the Friends of Blagojevich campaign account. Nine days later, the governor announced the $1.8b program. It’s centerpiece: the addition of High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes to the Illinois Tollway. “I could have made a larger announcement but wanted to see how they perform by the end of the year,” Blagojevich said in private conversation. “If they don’t perform, fuck ’em.”
Three years ago, Texas researchers discovered that the most common form of High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) or carpool lane was associated with a significantly higher risk of injury accidents. A recent University of California study now suggests a remedy intended to reduce HOV lane risk may actually be making the already dangerous lanes even less safe. Researchers with California Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways (PATH), a joint venture of the state Department of Transportation and the University of California, looked at accident data for two types of carpool lanes in California. They considered 279 miles of “continuous” HOV lanes, primarily in the northern part of the state, where drivers can enter or exit the HOV facility at any point. The report then analyzed another 545 miles of “limited access” lanes that used either painted stripes or flexible plastic barriers to restrict cars from entering or exiting except at pre-determined locations. Although the limited-access lanes promised smoother travel with fewer interruptions from general purpose traffic, they also delivered deadlier travel. “Rear end and sideswipe collisions together comprised over 90 percent of all collisions in both facilities,” the report stated. “Higher Property Damage Only collision rates were observed in both the HOV and left lanes of the HOV facility with limited access. The combined injury related collision rates for the HOV and left lane was higher for the limited access.”
The European Union is spending 8.1m Euros (US $10.3m) on wireless tracking systems designed to allow authorities to issue automated tickets. Pilot projects underway in Finland, France and Germany use systems designed by the VTT Technical Research Center of Finland as part of a project called ASSET-Road. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a key component in achieving the goal described as “traffic violations detected in a flash.” “The intention is to elaborate for public authorities new innovative solutions and technology to gather traffic data and utilize it in traffic enforcement and surveillance,” VTT explained in a statement. Prototype units of the Finnish technology issue automated tickets commercial vehicles for violations. Last month, Arizona-based camera vendor American Traffic Solutions (ATS) announced it would begin selling a similar system to jurisdictions interested in ticketing truckers.
On Wednesday, Arizona state police arrested a man suspected of whacking a speed camera with a pickaxe. The incident took place in the city of Glendale just before midnight near the 59th Street overpass on the Loop 101 freeway. Police estimate the camera was hit at least six times in an attack quite similar to one that took place in the Czech Republic last month. Arizona Department of Public Safety officials wasted no time in exploiting the incident to discourage anti-camera activism. “From criminal damage charges to charges related to interfering with judicial proceedings that can carry lengthy jail terms and hefty fines, the ramifications a person could face for tampering with a photo enforcement site are extremely serious,” DPS Director Roger Vanderpool said in a statement. “DPS Officers will continue to be vigilant at all hours of the day and night and stand ready to respond quickly to reports or first hand observances of persons tampering with or vandalizing photo enforcement sites in any manner.”
Protesters organized by camerafraud.com gathered outside the main Arizona office of photo enforcement vendor Redflex Traffic Systems yesterday to urge the company to pack its bags and “return to Australia.” About three dozen activists armed with signs stood out in front of the speed camera company’s posh new Phoenix suite at 23751 North 23rd Avenue to hold signs while passing motorists honked in approval. The group is preparing a statewide ballot initiative giving Arizona residents a chance to ban photo ticketing. Observers now wonder whether the legislature will act before the ticket ban initiative even qualifies for the ballot. The photo radar program’s staunchest defender, Governor Janet Napolitano (D), is leaving the state to head the US Department of Homeland Security. Her successor, Secretary of State Jan Brewer (R), has been snubbed in the past by Redflex.
Facing a budget deficit that could reach $800m, Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen (D) is looking at all options to bring the books back into balance. Bredesen’s former legal counsel, Robert E. Cooper, Jr. was appointed state attorney general two years ago. Last week, Cooper did his part by issuing a ruling designed to promote the use of photo ticketing by taking on constitutional arguments commonly leveled against such programs. “It is an accepted principle that enactments of the General Assembly are presumed constitutional,” Cooper wrote. “Whenever the constitutionality of a statute is attacked, courts are required to indulge every presumption in favor of its validity and resolve any doubt in favor of, rather than against, the constitutionality of the act.”
On November 23, the U.S. Treasury announced it had “invested” $20b in Citigroup in addition to “protection against the possibility of unusually large losses” on $306b in bad debt. Just one week after receiving support from U.S. taxpayers, Citigroup announced it will spend $10b to acquire a debt-laden Spanish toll road group. Citi Infrastructure Partners will hand over $3.6b in cash and assume $6.3b in debt from Sacyr Vallehermoso, the parent company of the Intinere Infraestructuras toll road group. Itinere operates 32 toll roads in Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Portugal, Spain and Ireland. Another twelve concessions are under construction. Sacyr today issued a statement to Spanish investors noting that the company succeeded in offloading 37 percent of its total debt to the U.S. firm. “With this transaction, the group reaps the value that Itinere accumulated for its mature concession assets and strengthens its financial situation by considerably reducing its indebtedness,” the statement explained.
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) spends more than $10m a year on public affairs. Using documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, the San Antonio Express News found TxDOT assigned 63 employees to the Government and Public Affairs division, at an annual cost of $6.5m. Another 67 employees perform “media relations” duties, at a cost of $4m per year. The employee count does not include private contractors hired as lobbyists paid to wine and dine lawmakers in the hopes of landing earmarks, a controversial tactic that spawned at least one lawsuit. These efforts– indeed, the majority of TxDOT’s PR activities– have been primarily aimed at promoting toll roads. Last year, the agency delivered a report to the Texas legislature entitled “Forward Momentum,” designed to convince federal officials to give TxDOT the authority to toll existing freeways. Massive public protests, most prominently against the Trans-Texas Corridor, forced TxDOT to change tactics. Since May, they’ve backed off from promoting tolling as the solution to Texas’ transportation problems.
Last week, in south Essex, UK, speed camera protesters set a “scamera” alight with a gasoline-soaked tire. The fire destroyed the £40k ($60k) device on Long Road– despite the camera’s proximity to the Canvey Fire Station (whose inhabitants eventually managed to put out the blaze). According to the Echo newspaper, the incendiary incident follows a prior arson attack on a speed camera on the A127 in Southend. In the past year-and-a-half, eight south Essex speed cameras have been targeted by vandals. Meanwhile, in Queensland, Australia, on November 5, persons or persons unknown spray painted a new laser camera’s lense during testing on the Maroondah Highway in Croydon. Ten days later, three citizens tied a chain to the replacement camera and tore it from the ground.
Another top elected official in Arizona has spoken out against photo radar in response to increasingly vocal resistance from the driving public. State Treasurer Dean Martin (R) on Monday wrote to the state’s solicitor general instructing her to side with the League of Cities and Towns — and against himself — in a lawsuit brought against the state budget. As custodian of the state’s monies, Martin is a defendant in the suit which argues that several of the revenue-raising provisions in the $9.9 billion budget adopted in June were unconstitutional. “The governor and legislature cannot raise taxes or ‘log-roll’ provisions into the budget that violate the constitution,” Martin explained in a statement. “These laws are unconstitutional since they did not receive the 2/3 majority vote of the legislature which is required to raise taxes.”
Fire and pickaxes were used to damage speed cameras in Italy and the Czech Republic this week. On Tuesday, a speed camera was set on fire on the Boulevard D’Annunzio near the Tuscan seaside resort town of Marina di Pisa. The profitable device has been issuing at least one hundred tickets per month over the last year and a half. Firefighters arrived on the scene quickly enough to extinguish the blaze before the camera was destroyed, according to a report in La Nazione. Vigilantes in Czech town of Moravske Budejovice attacked a Traffipax speed camera with a pickaxe. A video of the incident shows the device receiving five hits on the side, although photographs of the aftermath on autoforum.cz show additional hits to the front of the housing, including one to the camera lens. A group calling itself the “Crum Patch Team” took responsibility for the attack. Describing themselves as “polite and honest” people, the members issued a statement explaining how local politicians use photo enforcement for revenue, not safety, purposes. The group added that attempts to resolve the situation through the normal political process have failed.
Arizona’s ambitious statewide speed camera program faces increasing resistance both from the public and from state and local officials. At least half a dozen speed cameras have been temporarily taken out of service by ordinary citizens using nothing more Post-It Notes and silly string. A video released yesterday documented a speed camera having its lens covered with silly string. Vigilantes then labeled with signs variously reading, “scamera,” “scamera: ka-ching!” and scamera: smile.” Over the past month other cameras have had their lenses covered with multiple yellow notes with the phrase “honest mistake” written on them. This is a subtle dig at camera operator Redflex which had argued that the importation, marketing and use of certain radar equipment in violation of federal law was an honest oversight. The Post-It Notes refer to a July incident where Redflex angered the office of Secretary of State Jan Brewer (R) which had been investigating a citizen’s complaint against the company. According to Brewer’s office, a Redflex employee “wrote a short response to the complaint on a post it note,” making light of an official inquiry into the company’s falsification of legal documents.
At its annual shareholder meeting in Melbourne, Australia yesterday, Redflex announced it had become the largest photo enforcement vendor in the world. Redflex officials cited worsening US economic conditions as a key factor in its success, as municipal leaders across America face declining income and property tax receipts. Desperate to find new sources of revenue, mayors and city councils have sought out the company’s turnkey red light camera and speed camera systems. Redflex Chairman Chris Cooper told shareholders that such expansion in a down market was a sign of the company’s strength. “Clearly the world’s commercial situation is at this time extremely unstable and indeed to many nothing less than frightening,” Cooper said. “Despite this general scenario the good news is that Redflex continues to grow strongly in its business pursuits around the globe… with post-tax profit rising by a very pleasing 44 percent.”
The West Virginia Legislative Auditor announced yesterday that a performance review of the West Virginia State Police found significant evidence that the agency imposes traffic ticket quotas to boost the number of citations issued. Nearly a third of all troopers involved in patrol duties statewide told the auditors that troopers are punished if they failed to generate a specified number of citations each month. In Troop 4, one of the six surveyed, 55 percent of the law enforcement officers admitted that they were under a ticket quota. The auditor confirmed this admission with documents, including a September 12, 2005 memo from Troop 4 commanders that ordered supervisors to impose a quota.
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