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California: Another City Dumps Red Light Cameras

El Monte, California votes to eliminate red light cameras after study shows they did not reduce accidents.

Following San Jose, California's recent decision to reject red light cameras, the Los Angeles suburb of El Monte yesterday decided to put an end to photo ticketing after five years of use proved disappointing.
www.thenewspaper.com/news/25/2559.asp

With a unanimous vote, the city council declined to renew its contract with Australian camera vendor Redflex because, according to police, the cameras failed to produce any reduction in the number of intersection accidents. More importantly, however, the devices failed to produce revenue.

"We're spending a lot of staff time on this just to gain $2000 a month," City Manager James W. Mussenden explained. "It doesn't reduce accidents -- that's what our studies and results have come back."

Data obtained by www.highwayrobbery.net suggest the loss in revenue could be related to changes in intersection signal timing. On April 12, 2004 the city increased the yellow warning time to 3.5 seconds for the left turn movements at the intersection of Peck Road and Ramona Boulevard. The results were immediately felt. In March 2004, before the increase, Redflex mailed 665 tickets. In May, the first full month after the increase, citations dropped to 265. This small engineering improvement cut the photo enforcement system's total profit by $1.4 million.

This result is also consistent with the Texas Transportation Institute finding that increasing the yellow signal time beyond the bare minimum amount can decrease violations by 53 percent (view report).
www.thenewspaper.com/news/02/243.asp

The disappointing lack of violations gave the police department a green light to announce that the program had failed to save lives.

"A comparison of traffic collisions at Redflex monitored intersections vs. non-Redflex monitored intersections revealed that there is no statistical difference in the number of traffic collisions because of Redflex monitoring," Police Chief Ken Weldon wrote in a memo to the council.

As a result of the council's action, the city's two red light cameras will be disconnected by November 30. A copy of the police memo is available in a 43k PDF file at the source link below.

Source: Redflex Update, City of El Monte, California, 10/22/2008
www.thenewspaper.com/rlc/docs/2008/ca-elmonte.pdf

www.thenewspaper.com/news/25/2574.asp

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BBC Speed Camera Crash Video Uncovered



BBC video shows driver panic reaction to presence of speed cameras causing crashes.

A British Broadcasting Corporation News broadcast that showing speed camera traps causing crashes has now been made public. The April 21 BBC report was meant to highlight government efforts as part of a European "crackdown on speeding" using video excerpts from the Norfolk Speed Camera Partnership. The excerpts unintentionally showcased the panic reaction some motorists have when surprised by police operating from a freeway overpass.

"He jams on his brakes when he sees the speed truck," BBC News reporter Mike Cartwright said in describing an October 3, 2005 incident. "He smacks into the barrier and amazingly slides in between those two cars there and nobody was hurt -- a very lucky escape indeed for all the drivers involved in that."

A second video taken June 18, 2007 showed a vehicle surprised by a speed camera on a wet road.

"And the same thing here," Cartwright said. "The guy jams on his brakes and he goes up the embankment."

Shortly after the news program aired, the BBC removed all copies of the footage from its website. Motorist Keith Jones had seen the video and enlisted the help of the Association of British Drivers to urge the BBC, the Norfolk Speed Camera Partnership and the UK Information Commissioner to release the publicly funded tapes under open records laws. The government authorities refused to do so, citing "technical difficulties."

In frustration, Jones created a humorous cartoon mocking the BBC for hiding its own news broadcast.

View cartoon:

The animation succeeded in raising awareness of the incident and an individual who had taped the news program came forward with a copy of the censored video.

A UK Department for Transport-funded report suggests that the panic braking seen in the Norfolk footage may not be an uncommon response. A study of speed camera usage in 29 highway construction zone projects over 450 miles of road from November 2001 to July 2003 showed that accidents increased by 55 percent in the locations where speed camera vans were used.

The DfT unsuccessfully attempted to prevent publication of the report (read report).
www.thenewspaper.com/news/06/602.asp

www.thenewspaper.com/news/25/2576.asp

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Arrid extra dry, Mikey.

More range, faster and slightly more discreet.

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
I just bought 1000 rounds of 7.62x39 for $161 out the door - over one-third less than I paid last month ($125 for 500 rounds).

And before anyone starts freaking out about "overkill", no, I don't *NEED* a thousand rounds of ammo for any particular reason,

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Originally posted by Kirkules:

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
I just bought 1000 rounds of 7.62x39 for $161 out the door - over one-third less than I paid last month ($125 for 500 rounds).

And before anyone starts freaking out about "overkill", no, I don't *NEED* a thousand rounds of ammo for any particular reason,

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You're one of them there Consecutive whack job religious extremists, don't deny it. That's the only possible reason anyone would need 1500 rounds(you thought we couldn't add) of "Assault Rifle" ammo. I'll bet you're siting in your bunker/compound right now reading the Bible and wacking off to Tammy Faye Baker photos.

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