Driving News Roundup: September 7, 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.

California, Tennessee: More cities terminate traffic cameras
Photo enforcement programs are being dropped at an increasing rate. On Tuesday, city leaders in Corona, California and Red Bank, Tennessee will vote to send their automated ticketing machine vendors packing.

India: Government plans pre-fitted GPS devices on vehicles to check speed
Private vehicles in India will soon come fitted with a GPS-based speed limiting device already in use abroad, where it is called Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) system, designed to prevent motorists from breaching legal speed limits. Once made mandatory by the government, automobile manufacturers will have to kit out vehicles with the device on the factory floor before selling them to buyers.

New York: Mercedes owner accuses NYPD of taking his car for joy ride while he was in jail
Who could resist such a sweet ride? While a fraud suspect whose Mercedes convertible was seized by cops rotted in a jail cell, an NYPD employee jumped behind the wheel of the sexy sports car and took it on a wild joy ride around Manhattan.

Tennessee: Lawsuit involving Bluff City speed cameras dismissed
A federal judge has dismissed a $6 million class action lawsuit filed against Bluff City, its mayor and an Arizona-based traffic camera company regarding tickets issued from two speed-enforcement cameras. The lawsuit claimed Bluff City and ATS conspired to violate the Fair Debt Collections Act, state law and the city’s own ordinances by imposing an administrative fee of $40 on top of the $50 fine imposed for motorists allegedly captured on the city’s two speed-enforcement cameras.

Washington D.C.: Former officer sentenced to probation for falsifying logs
A former D.C. police officer who pleaded guilty to charges related to falsifying logs of District speed cameras was sentenced Thursday to two years of probation, according to court records.

Texas: Ready. Set. Go! Texas to open toll road with 85 mph speed limit, the highest in the US
Most highways in the U.S. top out at 75 mph, and there are no longer any roads in the U.S. with no speed limit like Germany’s autobahn. Some highways in rural West Texas and Utah have 80 mph speed limits. The Texas Legislature last year approved 85 mph limits for some new stretches of road.

Are traffic cameras dying a slow death?
Camera use is up across the country. Speed cameras have been installed in 93 communities since 2005. But will it stay that way? New Jersey is conflicted on the topic; some municipalities continue to add cameras, but the state considered a law earlier this year to pull all of them down.

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.

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