Driving News Roundup: November 2, 2012
This is a weekly feature on the NMA Blog, running each Friday, where we highlight seven of the most interesting driving news stories of the week.
Louisiana: Traffic court judge had license plate cover blocking cameras
An investigation has found potential traffic code violations on several public cars driven by New Orleans officials. And these officials are the very people responsible for holding motorists to task for the very same violations – the judges of traffic court.
U.S. looks to replace human surveillance with computers
The U.S. government has funded the development of so-called automatic video surveillance technology by a pair of Carnegie Mellon University researchers who disclosed details about their work this week — including that it has an ultimate goal of predicting what people will do in the future.
California: Red-light camera bans often pass
Voters in Murrieta will decide on Tuesday whether to switch off red-light cameras at three intersections in that Riverside County city. Measure N, which recently survived a court challenge, would end the ticketing program and ban it in the future. The campaign has been waged almost single-handedly by resident Diana Serafin. Of the 18 ballot measures seeking to ban red-light cameras over the last four years nationwide, only one didn’t pass.
New Mexico: Speed limit increases to 75 mph
New speed limit signs have been going up as of Monday along Interstate 10 from the state line up to Mesquite. The change in speed limit comes after the New Mexico Department of Transportation conducted a speed study and determined it would be safe to increase the limit from 70 up to 75 mph.
Texas: Constable’s former employees allege ticket quotas
Former deputies of a Precinct 3 constable say they were told to write a certain number of traffic tickets each month or they could be fired. The former constable and another say all officers at Precinct 3 were ordered to write a set number of traffic citations; but none of them complained for fear of being fired. The goal of the constable’s office was for each officer to reach at least 160 tickets each month.
New Jersey: Traffic camera companies join to fight class action
Redflex Traffic Systems and American Traffic Solutions (ATS) have been bitter enemies in the courtroom, spending millions in an attempt to use the law to gain a competitive advantage against one another. They are now looking to team up to defend against eleven class action lawsuits seeking refunds for red-light camera tickets issued to New Jersey vehicle owners.
California: Riverside – Eleven red-light cameras removed, 18 remain
Red-light cameras are being removed from nine Riverside intersections, shrinking the city’s program from 29 to 18 cameras. A contractor for camera operator Redflex Traffic Systems has been taking out cameras for several days. The 11 cameras planned for removal have been switched off since Sept. 30. In early October, a split council voted to keep 18 of the cameras but to put the issue on the June ballot for voters to decide.
To see more stories like the ones above, check out our NMA Driving News site. Each weekday we update the site with news stories that are interesting and/or informative for drivers like you.
You deserve every speeding ticket you get. You can complain all you want after the fact, but it's true. Find out why.
It's one of the "great" American past times: complaining about unfair speeding tickets. There are two types of people when it comes to complaining about this particular type of traffic ticket. Which group are you in?
