Essential Material For Ticket Camera Activists
By Gary Biller, NMA Executive Director
The effective way to defeat red-light and speed camera initiatives in your community, or to mount effective opposition to existing installations, is to ratchet up the pressure on local politicians. It takes a strong grassroots effort to overcome the appeal of a proven revenue generator to financially-challenged municipalities.
The NMA now provides a platform for those grassroots efforts. Permanently linked on our website, in the photo enforcement section, is “Essential Download for Ticket Camera Activists”. The download consists of a PDF file with several one-page components which can be presented to decision-makers to educate and inform them of serious issues surrounding the use (and misuse) of ticket cameras.
You can view and print the information packet directly from this page.
The key ingredient to the opposition effort against ticket cameras resides with the community activists who are leading the fight. They are encouraged to get local signatures, whether by petition or letters, and present this evidence of a constituency opposition to each politician along with the NMA information packet. A sample petition in the information packet is provided as a signature-gathering aid.
“Essential Download for Ticket Camera Activists” is not just for the use of NMA members. Fighting the unfair use of ticket cameras impacts a large segment of the driving public, and we are making this information available to anyone who is mounting a fight against photo enforcement. Spread the word about this information to friends in other cities who are unhappy about existing or proposed ticket camera programs.
The single-page documents in easily-viewed PDF format are listed below. The executive summaries are designed for efficient review, but also provide web addresses to enable the reader to delve deeper by reading the full studies.
- Traffic Ticket Cameras – NMA position paper, and checklist for other documents
- Red Light Cameras Increase Accidents (Washington Post) – executive summary
- Investigation of Crash Risk Reduction Resulting from Red-Light Cameras in Small Urban Areas (North Carolina A&T State University) – executive summary
- Red Light Running Cameras: Would Crashes, Injuries and Automobile Insurance Rates Increase if They are Used in Florida? (University of South Florida) – executive summary
- 6 Cities Caught Shortening Yellow Light Times for Profit
- Traffic Ticket Camera Incidents, Part 1 – a compilation by the NMA
- Traffic Ticket Camera Incidents, Part 2 – a compilation by the NMA
- Sample Petition Form To Ban Ticket Cameras
Grab your copy of the entire package here.
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I just noticed a debate going on over My email, recieving a ticket on a 2.5 amber making a right turn. I will try to be more specific for the “person not getting it!” sounds like a local Policeman, or camera rep to Me! I appreciate the debate. Thanks! I wrote the City and sent them My video of the 2.5 second arrow.They know it! I have it documented so now I’ll be specific..
The speed limit in Algonquin, Ill on Randal Rd. is 45 mph. way to fast anyway for all the traffic and shopping center intersections with no lights.
At 62 and Randall are cameras. The speed limit coming up to the light is 45mph.
SO I was approaching the intersection which had a green arrow as I came up yes going the speed limit of 45 and slowing to make My turn on Green arrow, as I approached, still going, with momenteum obviously, the arrow turn amber perhaps 50 ft lets say before I got to this turn, it went amber as I approached closer and quickly went to red as I made My turn. It doesn’t take an engineer to figure out that its a trap. Even the way the lights change, is weird..I saw My video
before going into The Kangaroo Court and reveiwed with “The wanna Be judge” I know this as A lawyer Friend of Mine ‘s Son who is a Lawyer , gets hired by a city to do this, They are not Judges, they are hired hit men! for the citys! Anyway
its a scam and a racket. You can bet that the camera companies, offer the city free cameras and kickbacks to get them installed, That is why the camera Companies do the billing, as they obviously get a cut, no doubt , they ain’t doin it for free!! So if You think the city’s are doin this for safety, You need therapy!
It’s another Government Power and control over Us, thier “peasants” It really sucks and Im not the type that will say,” Oh its okay…its not okay..and like unfair
Property Taxes, if You don’t fight back they just keep taking more…So I have a ticket I didn’t pay and its on My credit report..Oh Im soooooooo frightened about that….Ya right , who cares…..I don’t need credit…….I have no debts!!! Wake Up people its getting worse and worse…Do You really think the Cops ARE HERE TO SERVE AND PROTECT? oR PERHAPS, Power and control? Trust me….they are all worse than Us, except they have a badge to flash and get out of there speeding and traffic infractions…come on! Its the Buddy system…I know enough Cops to know how it works…They are the worst…and they are not for us but against Us…think of That? Yes sometimes they have to work and do something during a crisis, but for the most part, they are just lookin for ways to take Our money…
for looking cross eyed at them…I will admit, there are some good cops around, But not enough, ITS ALL ABOUT POWER AND CONTROL AND MONEY!
Do you know that .6 g turn you would have a hard time hanging onto the steering wheel?
Wow, randy, way to pussy out like a woman. An old woman. With osteoporosis. And cancer.
Jack I was talking to George. From the way he talks he is at least 80.
As for .6Gs being a routine turn then that is why they need speed cameras and red light cameras and speed traps. If a hard braking is .7 Gs then a .6 G turn should be illegal.
Randy, you should watch MotorWeek. That is plenty watered down.
Look when they do stopping tests, like 60mph to naught.
120 feet is 1g. All-season tires can do that. (brake assist, EBD, ABS, etc.)
MotorTrend magazine has tested a Viper [a while back], with Michelin PS2 tires, stopped from 60 to naught in about 100 feet, 1.2g outstanding.
Automobile magazine, also a few years back, had a comparison where they published maximum acceleration ‘g force’. I think that the Mitsubishi Evo pulled almost 1g forward (no word on the condition of the clutch)
Randy you missed the point-that you can use a substantive fraction of your vehicle’s maximum cornering power, and be WAY under the speed limit, because you missed the physics that lateral acceleration is dependent on the tightness of the turn.
No George I do not miss the point. The point is that you say you like high speed turns which should be illegal. You forget that I do own and ride a motorcycle. If you count on perfect pavement all the time you will crash. What happens if there is any dirt or a small amount of gravel or oil on the pavement? You crash.
True, if you speed, you /will/ crash, and you /will/ die.
Randy, you only said you own a motorcycle.
Also, how will you define the legality of lateral acceleration? You haven’t provided an objective metric.
George there is no need to define it. It is already called reckless driving. Driving outside of safe procedures.
Yes, what constitutes ‘reckless driving’ when you are under the speed limit, fully in control of your vehicle, and not being rude by making tire noises?
Sounds like class envy.
Again George you are an idiot. Class envy like when a 4 wheel drive truck flies by you on snow and ice cover roads only to later see him in an accident with another vehicle or in the ditch.
Most pickup trucks are not four wheel drive, they do not have a center differential. (where is the nv244 transfer case in the new Dodge Ram?)
They have off-road drive, where the front driveshaft is coupled to the rear.
Yes that gives good traction for forward motion, but don’t try to turn.
Here, I wish explain. You see a fancy car with nice summer tires going quickly around a corner. S/he isn’t over the ‘speed limit’ and the tires are not making any noise, yet you want to ticket them.
For what? For having a better grasp of physics, or having a different station of life.
Dang George you are an idiot. It does not matter if a 4 wheel drive truck is trying to go straight or turn if you get on anything close to ice going the speed limit you are more than likely going to crash. The same thing for a car if you are trying your 1 G turn in your high performance car you will crash if there is any kind of debris on the pavement. You are an idiot and if you drive like you talk you should be locked up. I know better though. You are a person that does more reading and dreaming about high performance cars and trucks rather than driving them. If you drove them like you said, you would be killed.
George one thing I left off, why is it that there are far more percentage of high performance cars that have accidents than the not so high performance cars you detest?
I am opposed to so-called “red light camera” spying on American citizens. It is important to obey speed laws, that I accept, but I do not like my privacy to be invaded by spy cameras. Particularly ones that are controlled by so many political and otherwise variables.
The only exception I can rationalize are security cameras at institutions requireing them.
David Gibson the only problem with your analysis is that you are hundreds of times more likely to be killed by a reckless driver than at any institution.
Don’t mind Randy, he just like’s to troll.
No facts, just asinine crap.
Ok George. I will bite. where are those facts that I just gave wrong? It is true you are hundreds of times more likely to be killed by a reckless driver than inside any institution.
He said you have no facts, not that they are wrong. As such, you know, he knows, we know, that you cannot show them to be wrong. Because they dont’ exist.
I would like to know the steps in Suing a City for amber light trapping. I believe I have a case in a certain town. I timed the
amber at 2 seconds after a green arrow..with a speed limit of 45 mph. Its impossible to make the turn with out geeting trapped during the 2 seconds. I went to court, lost. Its their turn now to lose. Im in the Chicago area, Im goin to be non specific. I am searching for an attorney for the case and the steps in filing. Has any of You gone through the process of suing a Village for a Illegal Light trap?
Thanks markcasa@comcast.net
Did you give your evidence of short yellow lights to the city officials and the highway department and the police? If not, you would not have a case to win any lawsuits in my opinion unless you can prove that they did it on purpose. Also, why would you be turning at 45 mph? Hopefully you turn a lot slower than that unless it is a high speed interstate turn. If you are turning at 45 mph then I would talk to George because he is the expert at you being able to do a normal .5 G turn without going over any speed limits.
Since when did Randy become a law expert?
Randy is niether a law expert, nor a physics expert.
.5g’s is easy below the speed limit, since g’s are dependent on the severity of the turn, not the speed of it.
@mark, start with appealing the ruling of your case w/ a lawyer.
james how severe would you have to make a turn at 10 mph to make .5g’s? If you are doing .5g turns you should be given a ticket and could be ticketed for reckless driving. I am an expert that almost no turns should be done at 45 mph unless they are a high radius turn but never a sharp 90 deg left turn. I do know enough about the law that you can not sue someone without being injured in some way whether physical or financially and also need severe negligence or an on purpose event.
a = V^2/R
a = .5 g * 9.8m/s^2 = 49m/s^2 lateral acceleration
v = 10mph = 4.47 m/s
49 = (4.47)^2 / R
R=.4 meters. Car’s don’t have that small a turning radius. So lets retry with the numbers in question: the speed limit.
25mph =11.18m/s, (11.18^2)/49=2.5m Doable, if you are harsh about it.
Since we know you are bad at math,
45:8m (26 feet. Twice the minimum lane width. Sounds like a normal stoplight, doesn’t it?)
65:17m (55feet)
Oh, and I take stoplights @ 30mph or more, there are few that they timed wrong so the choice is take them fast or wait 10 minutes.
Tickets are financial harm, and illegally short yellows are negligence. Sounds like a case to me.
Mark, I don’t fully understand your situation?
Are you referring to light that goes from Green [straight] & Green left turn to yellow (skipping the yellow left turn)?
If that was so, you were coming down the left turn lane, fully anticipating turning left, then the dedicated arrow goes away, and now you have to either: stop from the speed limit to the solid white line, or make the turn?
And you chose to make your left turn because stopping from your legal speed in such a short distance wasn’t feasible?
and somehow the SCAMeras caught you in the intersection turning left?
Randy, thanks again for the strawman. You made up turning at 45mph, Mark only said the speed limit to the intersection was 45mph. You slow down before the turn, say 30mph before a 100 foot turning radius, for 0.6g lateral acceleration.
Acceleration[centripetal]=velocity squared / radius
Tires don’t even squeal at 0.5g
The whole ticket camera thing is fraud, racketeering, maybe larceny [they certainly are stealing your time], perjury (for those elected servants who took an oath).
The public is the aggrieved party.
George you are showing that you are an idiot. Who takes a 100 feet turning radius on any roadway? Do you know that .6 g turn you would have a hard time hanging onto the steering wheel?
The radius of the turn is decided upon by civil engineers. We are not talking highways here, were you can have a 1000 foot radius (and introduce banking)
Though if you decide to not turn into the near lane, you can make your turning radius larger.
0.6g, yes you can hold onto the steering wheel.
There are plenty of cloverleaf entrance/exit ramps in northern Illinois.
Learn some damn science Randy!
George You miss the point. Mark said that there was a 45 mph speed limit and thought that a left hand turn yellow light should be based on 45 mph. I think your Viper would have a hard time doing that on a short radius left turn at 45 mph and I know any cop would not appreciate the driving too well. Only an idiot would enter an intersection at 45 mph when they plan on making a left hand turn even if they were hitting the brakes when they enter the intersection. That type of driving is what brought on red light cameras.
Another reason why they have red light cameras is because of people like James who says: ” there are few that they timed wrong so the choice is take them fast or wait 10 minutes”
He thinks that you must drive fast into an intersection so he does not have to wait. Exactly what red light cameras were put into place for.
Right, so because I’m arriving at the speed limit quickly and then continuing at said limit through green and turning-yellow lights, we need red light cameras and speed cameras. That will totally fix the problem of me not breaking the speed limit and not running red lights. If I had said “They mistimed the lights so I just drive through the red lights at 80mph” – then you might have a point. But people don’t tend to do things that will kill them, so I don’t think anyone will say that.
I think that I must drive fast into the intersection, not someone else. Come on, at least give your straw men the right identity.
Oh, and for the record, a viper will pull a full lateral g, so it should have no problem with our theoretical not braking through red light cameras.
Mark never clarified his situation.
If he was referring to a dedicated yellow arrow, then yes it should be based upon the speed limit of approaching traffic, because such a situation is perfectly feasible. (happens all the time)
Red light cameras are for raising revenue. I have yet to see a red light camera for people turning left through an intersection, but lets not count out Redflex.
George all I can say is go to http://www.youtube.com and do a search on red light runners and then come back and say it is all about raising revenue. You are an idiot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr9sQwVn4BA
Dozens more where that came from. You may have to replay the video if it loads too slow it may not show the accident.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xzz8MhM338&feature=related
Randy, you have a lot of work ahead of you. You going to have to call all 61% who believe that redlight cameras are for revenue ‘idiots’
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi090908redlight-poll_gfx,0,2356127.graphic
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-red-light-graphic,0,1829472.htmlpage
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-poll-red-light-08-sep08,0,5117710.story
I’d bet ALL would support correctly timed lights, via correctly posted speed limits. But no, the redlight cameras will protect us. In redflex we trust
George some people believe the US set up bombs in the World trade Center and that we never landed on the moon.
It is all on the videos. Go to youtube and look for yourself. There are dozens of crashes caught on tape of people running red lights and causing accidents. It has also been shown that after a few months the red light runners being ticketed with red light cameras drops drastically. That shows that more people are following the law and the stop lights. It does not matter how many surveys are taken. There are people like you pumping lies and not showing actual facts. If people were following the lights there would be no reason or benefit in installing cameras and no profit as you say is the reason for installing them. If there was a problem with yellow light timing years ago it is still being promoted by you and others here even though it has been corrected or was even corrected before the cameras were being used in a couple of cases.
If there is a problem with any yellow light timing then post it here and have others check it out and get it corrected. There is nothing like that here though because no one here has come up with a problem except for Mark but we do not even have all the facts there. Mark is looking to make money by suing the city rather than going to authorities or the news to get it corrected.
Did you really just try to refute an opinion poll with a few outliers? That’s impressively ballsy. Or clinically retarded. And try to recover by discrediting the vox populi? This is a representative democracy, the will of the people is to be done, and it is governmental corruption when this is not the case. Please, if you want to have a big brother making your decisions for you and keeping you safe… I hear Saudi Arabia and Dubai are great at that.
Yes, people learn to stop when they get a ticket. However, accidents have gone up, even with the underreporting / reporting only certain classes of accidents that occurs due to politics. TheNewspaper.com has reported on this phenomena multiple times.
James the newspaper.com is the most biased and untruthful site there is on the internet.
James do you say it is fine to run red lights and thus causing serious accdidents? One of the major reasons red light cameras started was that dangerous drivers think they can do whatever they like and you say that government is corrupt? What about the idiots that are driving dangerously, do you condone that?
I believe running red lights can be done safely, and often is. Right on red? at an empty intersection? After slowing down below 5mph? That’s where most of the tickets come from. That and in the tenths of a second after a change, when the light is at red-red. Both of those are safe.
I like how you don’t argue the rest of my points. Smooth. And even if the site is biased, it links to studies done by the DOT & similar agencies. Surely you don’t think they are biased too? Maybe everyone is biased against you. That means that everyone else’s opinion doesn’t count. We should just put you in charge of everything!
Randy, are you a 9/11 myther (oh scary osama bin laden)? See nanothermite.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX7lkFpacS4
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8182697765360042032&ei=ReqvSuHAOqiSqgLpofSEDg&q=richard+gage&emb=1#
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4801566025292753615&ei=VuqvSv3sPKb0qgLssvWGDg&q=gordon+ross&emb=1#
The US did not want to tip their hand to the Russians regarding the level of scientific/technological development during the Cold War, so that is why they, NASA, ran a program to confound the Russians. They would ‘make it’ or ‘fake it’
There is a retroreflector on the Moon, I wonder how that got there?
Look up the Hegelian dialectic
problem, reaction, solution.
Problem: speed limit is under posted, so the yellow duration is too short. People run red lights, and accidents result
Reaction: government, do something!
Solution: [not fixing the cause of the problem] put in red light cameras. City rakes in $, rear end collisions skyrocket, traffic flow is still terrible, some people take alternate routes.
I’m done.
George I should have known you were a conspiracy theorist. That is why you are hung up on every government official out to get your money one way or the other. You are a true idiot.