American Traffic Solutions (ATS) and its subcontractors have spent $230,648 in an effort to deprive voters in Baytown and Houston, Texas of a chance to decide whether red light cameras should be used in their city. On November 2, residents will likely have the chance to adopt charter amendments banning the use of automated ticketing machines, although ATS lawyers are working overtime to attempt to have the courts overturn the citizen-led petition drive. Earlier this month a similar ATS-funded legal attack failed in Mukilteo, Washington, but the company last year had some success finding a judge in College Station willing to overrule the public.
According to a poll released last week by the Liverpool Victoria Insurance Company, UK motorists drive more erratically in the presence of speed cameras. The firm, which insures 3.8 million in England and Wales, commissioned ICM Research to survey how the driving public responds when automated ticketing machines are present. The firm concluded that, since 2001, photo enforcement may have contributed to thousands of accidents that would not have otherwise occurred.
Via Slashdot comes the latest word in your vehicle’s vulnerability to hackers: Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems. According to Goodgearguide.com, researchers from Rutgers and the University of South Carolina have found that wireless communications between tire-mounted sensors and and on-board computers can be intercepted by hackers, resulting in the ability to track your movements. According to researchers,
If the sensor IDs were captured at roadside tracking points and stored in databases, third parties could infer or prove that the driver has visited potentially sensitive locations such as medical clinics, political meetings, or nightclubs… Such messages could also be forged. An attacker could flood the control unit with low pressure readings that would repeatedly set off the warning light, causing the driver to lose confidence in the sensor readings, the researchers contend. An attacker could also send nonsensical messages to the control unit, confusing or possibly even breaking the unit.
Researchers note that such attacks would be expensive and complicated to pull off, but that even a simple encryption algorithm would shut this latest window of opportunity for hacker attacks. Says Wenyuan Xu of the University of South Carolina
If no one mentions [such flaws], then they won’t bother with security… The consumer may be willing to pay few dollars to make their autos secure
Making a recording of a police traffic stop is not a crime in the opinion of Maryland’s attorney general. In a ruling issued last month from the state’s top law enforcement office, Chief Counsel Robert N. McDonald found the legal grounds weak for felony wiretapping charges of the type brought against a motorcyclist who posted a video of himself being arrested on YouTube. Maryland State Police had taken advantage of ambiguity in the law to prosecute Anthony Graber, 25 for the April 13 recording.
Ridgeland, South Carolina wants to deploy a speed camera to ticket out-of-state drivers as they pass through the seven-mile stretch of interstate within the tiny town’s limits. The plan angered the state legislature to such a degree that it unanimously enacted legislation in June to prohibit photo enforcement — except during declared state emergencies (view law). The Ridgeland town council refused to back down.
Koua Fong Lee, who had spent over two years behind bars for his role in a collision that killed three people, was freed today when a judge vacated his sentence. The reason: ineffective legal counsel, and evidence that suggested Lee’s 1996 Toyota Camry could have been driving out of control. The Ramsey County (MN) prosecutor has decided against re-trying Lee, making him a free man. Meanwhile, the fact that 1996 Toyota Camrys have not been recalled for faulty brakes or throttle units leaves a huge question mark hanging over this case. (Read More…)
One million Texas voters are likely to be given the option of reducing the number of red light cameras in the state. Later today, activists in Houston plan to submit over 30,000 signatures — more than is needed — on a petition to place a photo enforcement ban on the November 2 ballot. In the nearby suburb of Baytown, organizers responded to a notice that a previously submitted petition had fallen short of the requirement by twelve names by turning in an overwhelming 747 more last week.
When a police spokesman is quoted in a newspaper or on a radio program regarding photo enforcement, everything he says is carefully scripted by the private company dependent on the survival of the program for its revenue. This became clear after a Maryland activist yesterday released contract documents that outline the role of Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) in creating the sales pitch delivered to the public by Montgomery County officials. StopBigBrotherMD.org obtained copies of the contract in which ACS receives a cut of every ticket the company issues, promising in return to control all aspects of communications regarding the program.
The city of Mukilteo, Washington filed papers Monday hoping to thwart the attempt of a traffic camera company to deny residents the chance to vote on banning automated enforcement. Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Michael T. Downes on Friday will hear arguments in the case filed by an American Traffic Solutions (ATS)-funded front group to protect the company’s ticketing contract from the fate such agreements have shared in all ten cities where the public has forced a vote to toss out the cameras. The sponsors of Mukilteo’s initiative — Nicholas Sherwood, Alex Rion and Tim Eyman — filed a more comprehensive legal brief as intervenors tearing apart the ATS-backed case.
Unlike a Texas appellate court, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled last Wednesday that reaching one’s own driveway during a traffic stop can avoid more serious consequences. In November 2007, Officer Blood of the Cornelius Police Department attempted to stop Richard Chaves Gonzales for a traffic violation. Gonzales was just two or three blocks from home, so he did not stop until he reached his own driveway. Blood wrote Gonzales a ticket for driving on a suspended license and began searching the car without a warrant after declaring that he was going to impound the vehicle. Blood insisted that the search was valid.
Red light cameras are becoming less popular among municipal leaders in California. On Monday, the Yucaipa city council voted unanimously to cancel its photo enforcement contract with Redflex Traffic Systems of Australia. The previous week, Costa Mesa officially pulled the plug on its automated ticketing machines.
Officials in Tasmania, Australia last week reluctantly admitted that some of its speed cameras produced unreliable readings. The automated ticketing machines on Tasman Bridge were found to be issuing speeding tickets to vehicles that were not speeding, forcing a refund of 440 tickets issued between June 5 and July 5. According to The Mercury, a test of the device against a handheld speed gun showed inaccurate readings.
California’s second highest court on Wednesday upheld the publication status of a key decision that called into question the legitimacy of red light camera evidence. The state Court of Appeal rejected the request of the cities of Santa Ana and Menlo Park to depublish a May appellate ruling of the Orange County Superior Court (view the California v. Khaled decision) that found the red light camera photographs presented as evidence in court were inadmissible hearsay.
American Traffic Solutions (ATS) is following the playbook from its failed attempt to defeat an anti-red light camera referendum in College Station, Texas. The company on Monday used its law firm, Stoel Rives LLC, to file a lawsuit under the name of Christine Preston, a local resident seeking to prevent Mukilteo residents from having any say in whether automated ticketing machines are deployed on their streets.
“A controversy exists between plaintiff and defendants regarding whether the subject matter of proposed Mukilteo Initiative No. 2 is within the scope of the initiative power,” the ATS law firm’s complaint stated. “Proposed Mukilteo Initiative No. 2 would improperly interfere with the exercise of a power delegated by state law to a local legislative authority.”
A pair of Cuyahoga County, Ohio cities are likely to have a public vote on banning red light cameras and speed cameras in November. A sufficient number of residents in Garfield Heights and South Euclid signed a referendum petition that organizers expect to turn in this week, as early as today. Once approved, these municipalities will join Anaheim, California; Baytown and Houston, Texas; and Mukilteo, Washington in voting on the future of cameras on November 2.
Recent Comments