Among the 15,000 Maryland state employees who drive on area toll roads without paying are judges, lawmakers and powerful bureaucrats. The Maryland Politics Watch website used a freedom of information request in August to discover that 128 of 188 legislators took advantage of a perquisite giving officials a scrutiny and bill-free E-ZPass transponder—despite already receiving a $600 yearly travel expense allowance from taxpayers. After being exposed, the General Assembly leadership moved to limit the fallout by abruptly canceling the program on September 25.

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An early look at the performance of the red light cameras in Temple Terrace, Florida shows that they have done nothing to improve safety. Instead of merely repeating city claims on the topic, investigative reporters for the Tampa station WFTS ordered accident reports and checked the data for themselves. Although the program has been operational for a year, police only released enough data to produce a limited snapshot of the effect on accidents. Over the first five months of the program, accidents decreased citywide by 13 percent compared to the same period a year earlier without cameras. At intersections with cameras, however, the number of accidents more than doubled from six to fourteen. Contrary to claims that red light cameras decrease accident severity, the average police estimate of damage costs for each accident increased by twenty percent after cameras were installed.

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California motorists hit with massive fines for minor, alleged toll infractions won a settlement last month from the Orange County Transportation Agency (OCTA) and Transportation Corridor Agency (TCA). The toll road operating entities agreed to pay $1.4 million in restitution and waive $41 million in unpaid toll penalties after admitting the fines were “excessive” and that the denial of due process to the accused was “unconstitutional.” Over a dozen motorists sued in 2007 claiming that fines of up to $123,000 for skipping tolls were outrageous. In several cases, such as that of Stephanie and Brian Young, the violations were inadvertent. The couple racked up $580 in unpaid tolls in 2003 after the credit card linked to their toll transponder account expired. For this mistake, OCTA demanded that they pay $53,550 in fines. Similarly, Maria and Pablo Gonzalez allegedly failed to pay $60.14 in tolls and were billed $78,780.

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Voters in three cities sent a clear message to local lawmakers yesterday by adopting charter amendments that ban photo enforcement. In addition to kicking two camera supporters from the city council, 72 percent of those voting in Chillicothe, Ohio approved a total prohibition on the use of red light cameras and speed cameras. In College Station, Texas the vote was much closer, but at the end of the night 52 percent wanted the red light cameras to come down. In Heath, Ohio 51 percent voted against the cameras. A total of nine cities nationwide have used the initiative process to ban camera enforcement since 1991, with camera proponents never having won a public vote.

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Maryland cities will create brand new “school zones” in an attempt to issue speed camera tickets on roads that previously had no need of the designation. When the state legislature authorized speed cameras six months ago in response to a $690,506 lobbying campaign from photo ticketing and insurance companies, lawmakers mandated that the cameras could only be used within a half mile of a school zone. Baltimore is among the first to admit that it will bypass that restriction. “You asked if the locations for speed cameras were all pre-existing school zones,” Baltimore engineer Rainna P. Strauss wrote in an email exchange obtained by the StopBigBrotherMD.org website. “No they were not.”

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According to a speed camera citation that landed in his mailbox on October 10, motorcyclist Paolo Turina blasted past a speed camera at 616km/h (383 MPH). Last month, Turina had been riding his Moto Guzzi motorcycle in the municipality of Cernusco Lombardone in Lombardy when a Telelaser Ultralyte device recorded him passing by. The letter from the municipal police suggested that Turina had exceeded the fastest recorded MotoGP race speed of 217 MPH, set in June by Dani Pedrosa at the Mugello, Italy, by 166 MPH. Municipal police admitted the speed may have been printed on the ticket in error, but that the citation itself was valid.

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Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick (D) on Thursday outlined his plan to reduce the state’s $600 million deficit and help struggling municipalities by, among several other revenue raising measures, installing red light cameras. The governor’s proposed fiscal year 2010 budget amendments would eliminate an existing state law forcing police officers to issue traffic citations personally. Under the new legislation, any jurisdiction in the commonwealth could give private, for-profit companies the right to issue $100 traffic tickets.

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Some of America’s most recognized corporations are growing increasingly involved in providing equipment and services to the automated ticketing industry. In many cases, these Fortune 500 firms play a behind-the-scenes role, without actively seeking publicity for their connections to controversial programs. Imaging giant Kodak did announce that it would be demonstrating a new CCD image sensor at a trade show in Germany on Tuesday. This sensor was specifically designed to work in red light camera and speed camera applications. The company claims the unit doubles light sensitivity, allowing a substantial increase in the number of tickets that can be issued in bad weather conditions.

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The AP reports that Johnson City, TN police have arrested Christopher Walls on two counts of theft under $500. The Volunteer State po-po said the 41-year-old mechanic was tampering with parked cars at restaurants, then charging helpless, hapless owners to help start their sabotaged whips. “Police said Walls charged between $40 and $200 to get the vehicles running again. “Police suspect there are other victims. They’re urging anyone else who thinks they were scammed to call them.” They also said that anyone who receives an offer of on-the-spot mechanical assistance should be wary, and that a call from the Fraternal Order of Police asking for a contribution is in no way a similar sort of deal. Just kidding. They didn’t say that. At all. Wouldn’t even think to make the connection. Obviously.

Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska meets with Fritz Henderson, German Gref of Russia’s Sberbank and Siegfried Wolf of Magna. The state department had previously denied Deripaska a US visa for undisclosed reasons, but according to the WSJ, the FBI arranged for Deripaska to visit the US because “they were getting interesting information from him.” Deripaska denies any cooperation with US authorities.

As Redflex Traffic Systems fights a shareholder revolt at home in Australia, the speed camera vendor is simultaneously battling a public revolt against photo ticketing in two Ohio cities. Next Tuesday residents of Chillicothe and Heath will have the opportunity to vote on citizen-led initiatives that would ban the use of red light cameras and speed cameras. Redflex has poured substantial cash into an advertising blitz covering both towns. “Vote NO on Issue 5 and keep Heath safe,” read a Redflex brochure sent to Heath voters this week. “In the last four months alone, at enforced intersections in Heath… red light running has reduced by almost half… 90 percent of speeders are not Heath residents.”

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Sometimes, I come across a quote that is, in or itself, perfect. Like this one from 11alive.com, re: the theft of seven Shriners parade cars.

What these burglars have done is really set the organization back in terms of our parades. Our next parade would have been the College Park Parade, in College Park. And without our cars, it’s just real difficult. So me and the other members of the Temple, we’re going to have to come up with a plan and see what we can do to try to put ourselves back in the parades…. The Temple has clowns. But if you didn’t have the mini-cars, I mean, to me, it’s not a parade.

Anyone with coulrophobia, a kind heart or both can send your donations to Nabbar Temple Motor Unit, 330 Auburn Ave., Atlanta, GA 30312. Meanwhile and in any case, click here for my favorite Shriners’ Mini car site.

In the state of Texas, the right to a meaningful appeal in a red light camera case does not exist. While several states have allowed photo enforcement tickets to be appealed to the highest level — Minnesota’s highest court ruled on a photo ticket in 2007 and a red light camera case is currently pending before the California Supreme Court — several Texas municipalities are using an ambiguity in state law to deny challenges beyond the lowest level of the court system. “Under the current red light ordinance there is no right to appeal beyond municipal court,” College Station Municipal Court assistant Wanda Lapham wrote in a letter to Jim Ash (view letter).

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The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) announced last week that the experimental increase in the state’s maximum speed limit to 80 MPH has been a success in terms of safety. UDOT Deputy Director Carlos Braceras testified before the state Interim Committee on Transportation that that there has been no increase in accidents as a result of the higher number printed on the speed limit signs on certain stretches of Interstate 15. In 2008, the state legislature granted UDOT permission to test higher limits on rural sections of the road. Using crash histories, engineering studies, UDOT carefully selected the areas that it believed would best handle the increased limit. The department then conducted before and after surveys of speeds and traffic volume on the three sections where the limit was changed. Although the signs permitted another 5 MPH in speed, the results showed that drivers did not ‘take advantage’ of the new limit to drive significantly faster.

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Officials in College Station, Texas used $20,000 in taxpayer funds in an attempt to influence residents to vote against a referendum that would ban red light cameras from the city. The city mailed to every voter a multi-color, bilingual brochure entitled “Red Light Cameras: Voter Education” in the hopes of convincing them to support a program that generated $905,688 in revenue for fiscal 2009. “A petition was filed by a citizens’ group asking the city council to let voters decide whether to keep or eliminate the red light camera system,” the brochure explained. “This item will be on the November 3 ballot.”

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