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| Jun 17, 2021 | House Transportation Committee Looking To Restart Federal Funding Of Red Light Cameras | Federal funds -- banned since 2015 from being used by states to purchase red light/speed cameras -- are possibly headed back to buying tech that hasn't done anything to make driving safer. |
| Jun 17, 2021 | House Transportation Committee Looking To Restart Federal Funding Of Red Light Cameras | Federal funds — banned since 2015 from being used by states to purchase red light/speed cameras — are possibly headed back to buying tech that hasn’t done anything to make driving safer. |
| Apr 1, 2020 | Virginia Court Reaffirms The Right To Give Cops The Finger | It’s pretty well established that giving the finger to cops is protected expression. Stopping or detaining someone for flipping you off violates their rights and the usual law enforcement excuses for unconstitutional behavior tend to perfor... |
| Apr 1, 2020 | Virginia Court Reaffirms The Right To Give Cops The Finger | It's pretty well established that giving the finger to cops is protected expression. Stopping or detaining someone for flipping you off violates their rights and the usual law enforcement excuses for unconstitutional behavior tend to p... |
| Jan 28, 2020 | Court Tosses Evidence From Pretextual Stop When Dashcam Shows Cop Had Zero Reason To Perform A Stop | The #BacktheBlue types like to say stuff like "If you don't want to get arrested, don't break the law." But breaking the law is never a prerequisite for a traffic stop, search, and/or arrest. The nation's top court ... |
| Jan 28, 2020 | Court Tosses Evidence From Pretextual Stop When Dashcam Shows Cop Had Zero Reason To Perform A Stop | The #BacktheBlue types like to say stuff like “If you don’t want to get arrested, don’t break the law.” But breaking the law is never a prerequisite for a traffic stop, search, and/or arrest. The nation’s top court has already said cops don... |
| Oct 29, 2019 | The Guy The State Of Oregon Said Wasn't A Real Engineer Just Helped Convince The Government To Extend Yellow Light Intervals | Longer yellow lights are on the way, thanks in part to a man a state government agency once forbade from criticizing red light cameras without a proper license. |
| Oct 29, 2019 | The Guy The State Of Oregon Said Wasn't A Real Engineer Just Helped Convince The Government To Extend Yellow Light Intervals | Longer yellow lights are on the way, thanks in part to a man a state government agency once forbade from criticizing red light cameras without a proper license. |
| Oct 2, 2019 | Court Tells Man $172 Red Light Camera Ticket Is Actually Less Than $100 And Can't Be Challenged In Court | Adding to the body of evidence showing that the use of traffic cameras is purely about revenue generation is this report from The Newspaper, which points out (yet again) how these systems are designed to eliminate due process and hasten the... |
| Sep 19, 2019 | Court Shoots Down Cop's Assertion That Driving Without Breaking Any Laws Is 'Suspicious' | Must be tough out there for cops. Literally everything is suspicious. And there are only so many hours in the day. Since no court is willing to end the tradition of pretextual stops, anything that can be described as suspicious has been use... |
| May 29, 2019 | Texas Cities Rush To Extend Camera Contracts Ahead Of The State's Red Light Camera Bans | Twelve years after first broaching the subject, the Texas legislature has finally killed red light cameras. This follows years of fraud, corruption, and contractual language negating prior ban attempts. The Newspaper reports on the good new... |
| Apr 23, 2019 | Watchdog Says Australia's Traffic Enforcement System Has Hits Hundreds Of Drivers With Bogus Fines | In Australia, the government has automated traffic enforcement, letting the machines do the work. It’s also automated the limited due process procedures, giving aggrieved citizens the chance to have their complaints and challenges ignored a... |
| Dec 5, 2018 | New York Court Tells CBP Agent He's Not Allowed To Pretend He's A Traffic Cop | In a short decision, the Supreme Court of the State of New York reminds federal agents what they can and can’t do while operating under the color of law. In this case (via The Newspaper) a CBP officer, who was supposed to be keeping an eye ... |
| Nov 28, 2018 | Ignorance Of The Law Is No Excuse, Court Tells Cop | We’ve grown accustomed to law enforcement being given a pass for not knowing the laws they’re enforcing. A 2014 Supreme Court decision made being ignorant precedential, providing cops with an out citizens can’t use. Ignorance of the law can... |
| Oct 29, 2018 | Court Tells Deputy He Can't Lie About Reasons For A Traffic Stop And Expect To Keep His Evidence | The nation’s courts don’t have a problem with pretextual traffic stops. Any traffic violation — real or imagined — can trigger an investigatory stop. There are limits, of course. The Supreme Court’s Rodriguez decision says officers can’t ex... |
| Sep 20, 2018 | New Jersey Judicial Commission Says State's Courts Are Maximizing Revenue, Minimizing Justice | If there’s something our nation’s courts do well, it’s make life as difficult as possible for anyone caught in its gears. The premise of “innocent until proven guilty” has been made a mockery by prosecutors who stack charges until defendant... |
| Sep 7, 2018 | Utah's Top Court Says Cops Can't Use Federal Loophole To Dodge Criminal Charge Requirement For Forfeitures | A win for at least one resident — and victim of shady forfeiture practices — has been handed down by Utah’s top court. Kyle Savely had $500,000 taken from him by Utah law enforcement during a traffic stop. No charges were filed and Savely w... |
| Aug 31, 2018 | Court Says Cop Gets No Immunity For Pulling A Man Over For Flipping Him Off | Expressing your displeasure with law enforcement via hand gestures is not an arrestable offense. It can’t even justify a traffic stop. Officers are learning this, one federal case at a time. |
| Feb 2, 2018 | Ohio Appeals Court Says Speed Trap Town Must Pay Back $3 Million In Unconstitutional Speed Camera Tickets | Drivers sent tickets by New Miami, Ohio speed cameras will be getting a refund. The state appeals court has upheld the ruling handed down by the lower court last spring. At stake is $3 million in fines, illegally obtained by the town. |
| Mar 2, 2017 | California City Finds Optimum Balance Between Safety And Profit, Trims Yellow Light Times To Produce Spike In Citations | If your city has red light cameras installed, the length of time that yellow lights stay yellow largely depends on how much revenue the cameras are generating, rather than how much safer the intersection is. |
| Feb 13, 2017 | Court Orders Small Ohio Speed Trap Town To Refund $3 Million In Unconstitutional Speeding Tickets | The state of Ohio has had its problems with speed cameras. Back in 2010, the city of New Garfield refunded $100,000 in fines collected in violation of its speed camera policy. The city told the public that drivers would only be ticketed for... |
| Oct 4, 2016 | Hackable Speed Cameras Highlight Risk Of Rush Toward IoT-Enabled 'Smart' Cities | We’ve been talking at length about how the lack of security in the Internet of Things space is seen as a sort of adorable joke, but isn’t always a laughing matter. While the hillarious stupidity of some of the “smart” products flooding the ... |
| Oct 4, 2016 | State Appeals Court Says Not Just Any Nonexistent Law Can Be Used To Initiate Traffic Stops | The US Supreme Court issued law enforcement fishing licenses with the Heien decision. Vehicle stops no longer needed to be predicated on legal violations. (If they ever were…) Law enforcement officers were no longer required to know the law... |
| Mar 30, 2016 | Appeals Court Says Indiana's Bad Anti-Texting Law Can't Be Used To Justify Stops Or Searches | This is refreshing. A very stupidly-written law is the basis for evidence suppression in a drug arrest. Not only does the conviction vanish, but so does the law (more or less), thanks to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. |
| Feb 25, 2016 | Court Says Cops Can't Testify In Case After Destroying Footage Of DUI Arrest | Cops like cameras. |
| Feb 24, 2016 | Arizona Legislators Trying (Again) To Ban Traffic Cameras | Seven years after the idea was first proposed, it finally appears as though the state of Arizona might be on the verge of a traffic camera ban. |
| Nov 17, 2015 | Missouri Court Upholds Right Of Citizens To 'Vote' Traffic Enforcement Cameras Out Of 'Office' | Citizens don’t care much for red light/traffic cameras. These revenue generators do little more than turn moving (or parked) vehicles into ATMs for the governments that deploy them. Obviously, local governments love them. They love them so ... |
| Jun 23, 2014 | FOIA Request On Effectiveness Of License Plate Readers Greeted With A Blank Stare By Virginia Police Department | Law enforcement agencies are generally pretty happy with their automatic license plate readers. It allows them to harvest millions of plate/location records without having to exit their vehicles, much less slow them down. It also allows the... |
| Apr 10, 2014 | Indiana Supreme Court Declares An Officer's Testimony Is More Reliable Than Video Evidence | Seeing how often official reports by law enforcement are contradicted by video recordings, you’d think judges would have become a bit more skeptical about the supposed “superiority” of officers’ recall powers. But that’s apparently not the ... |
| Aug 7, 2013 | Speed Cam Contractor Responds To Challenged Tickets By Cropping Photos, Moving Cameras | While the discussion over whether red light and speed cameras are helping or hurting continues, there’s no denying they’re very profitable. In most communities, the beneficiaries of the additional income are extremely reluctant to unplug th... |
| Aug 6, 2013 | Lawmakers Issued License Plates That Make Them 'Invisible' To Traffic Cams And Parking Tickets | There are rules for the common people and rules for their “leaders,” and only in rare cases do the same rules cover both. Chris Morran at the Consumerist points out how politicians (yet again) are being allowed to ignore the same laws that ... |
| Jun 19, 2013 | New Orleans Cops Caught Filling Their Pockets With Red Light Camera Cash | Red light cameras have proven popular in certain communities (mainly the “law enforcement community”). They’re a rather painless way to generate cash, both for the city itself and for the private contractors chosen to install and maintain t... |
| Mar 23, 2012 | US licence plates to get chipped | US licence plates to get chipped
Connecticut's Senate Transportation Committee has passed a bill to implement radio
RADIO The radio interoperability solution provided by Omnitronics has been proven in a variety of operating environment... |
| Apr 20, 2011 | Michigan State Police Say It'll Cost $545k To Discover What Info It's Copying Off Mobile Phones During Traffic Stops [Updated] | Apparently, the state police in Michigan are using devices that allow them to slurp all sorts of data off your mobile phone. Various courts over the years have taken up the question of whether or not it’s okay for police to search your mobi... |
| Apr 19, 2011 | ACLU Looking Into Mobile Phone Scanner Being Used By Michigan Police | Now, although there is likely to be a little flare-up of concern regarding this issue over the next couple days, it’s not so much the potential privacy breach I’m worried about as not knowing what tools the police have at their disposal. In... |
| May 7, 2010 | Italian Officials Charged For Corruption In Red Light Camera Deal | Over and over again we’ve seen cases where cities clearly put in red light cameras not for safety purposes (despite that being the “official” reason), but to increase revenue. For example, many cities have been caught decreasing the time of... |
| Oct 9, 2009 | Yet Another Redlight Camera Program Found To Be Illegal | Jeff Nolan points us to the news that yet another redlight camera program in California has been struck down as illegal, this time in San Mateo (right up the road from where I live). The details are a little technical, but effectively, Cali... |
| Sep 29, 2009 | Despite All Sorts Of Laws And Automated Ticketing Cameras… Car Injuries Increased In The UK | With so much effort put towards new laws banning mobile phone use while driving, and installing speed cameras and redlight cameras, you would think that places that were quite aggressive in doing so would see a decrease in the number of aut... |
| Sep 14, 2009 | Red Light Camera Vendor Not Doing So Well With Public Opposition Driving Down Its Revenue | There’s been significant growing opposition to red light camera programs, which have a long history of showing absolutely no safety benefit, and are often run for-profit by local governments in combination with private companies. That oppos... |
| Jul 22, 2009 | UK Police Issue Copyright Takedown Over Speed Camera Photos | Another day, another example of copyright being misused. This one, sent in by JJ, involves police in the UK demanding that certain speed camera photos be taken offline as copyright violations. They’re apparently pissed that a guy who used t... |
| Dec 22, 2008 | Students Using Speed Cameras To Frame Other Kids | In general, we have trouble with things like speed cameras and red light cameras — both of which don’t tend to do much of anything to make the roads safer (rather, there’s evidence that they lead to more accidents). The reality is that they... |
| Sep 18, 2008 | Traffic Camera Companies Looking To Give Gov't More Ways To Spy On You As You Drive | There’s been plenty of backlash against red light cameras (which often increase the number of accidents) and speed cameras (which seem to have problems with accuracy). However, that’s not stopping the manufacturers of those cameras from try... |
| Apr 14, 2008 | Red-light camera monkey business may be a national trend | reader comments with 0 posters participating
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Red-light cameras are often billed as a great way to improve traffic safety and prevent speeding. A few cities across America, ... |
| Oct 29, 2007 | Daylight Savings Day Massacre… Part II | Back in the spring time, we noted how there was as lot of hype coming in the press about how the change in when Daylight Saving Time started would be just like another Y2K. In the end, it turned out to be pretty much exactly like Y2K: a lot... |
| Aug 17, 2005 | Speed Cameras Increase Freeway Accidents 31-55% | Bob Dole writes “Illinois readers should pay special attention to an official newly-uncovered study that the UK government never wanted you to see. It shows that injury accidents increased 31 percent when speed cameras were used on freeways... |
| Jul 11, 2005 | Cops Spy On Anti-Speed Camera Website, Make Arrest | Bob Dole writes “Watch out what you say online, because the police are apparently out to get you — in the UK, at least. A London couple has been tagged with Martha Stewart-style electronic monitoring bracelets after the guy bragged online a... |
| Jun 23, 2005 | Human Error Plagues UK Speed Cameras | Bob Dole writes “”The camera never lies” is the favorite cliche of speed camera fans. They assume because machines don’t make mistakes, the systems are without fault. Accuracy assumptions aside, this train of thought neglects the key role h... |
| May 12, 2005 | California Supreme Court Smacks Red Light Cameras | Bob Dole writes “With just one tiny word (“no”), the California Supreme Court may have dealt a multi-million dollar blow to the 66 California cities that use red light cameras. In February, a lower court decision that cost the City of Costa... |
| Apr 27, 2005 | RFID In Cars Update: Texas Senate Approves Bill | Bob Dole writes “Apparently, after news of the plan to mandate RFID chips in all Texas cars hit the net, the state representative who introduced the bill was so swamped with complaints that he decided to drop the RFID provision. Ah, we can ... |
| Apr 11, 2005 | Spy Copter Tickets You From The Sky | Bob Dole writes “The problem with red light and speed cameras, from the police side, is that not everyone speeds or runs red lights. Plus, people figure out where the cameras are located and avoid getting tickets. To solve this dilemma, UK ... |
| Apr 6, 2005 | Texas Bill Would Put Transponders In Every Car | Bob Dole writes “The vice-chairman of the Texas House Transportation Committee has figured out how to do away with those nasty camera tickets. He has introduced a bill to require all state inspection stickers to store and transmit informati... |
| Apr 5, 2005 | Connecticut Supreme Court Slams Rental Car GPS Spy | Bob Dole writes “A few years ago, it was the latest thing for rental car companies to use GPS to spy on their customers. Most of these outfits got the hint and quickly dropped the concept after a torrent of bad publicity. But just in case a... |
| Mar 30, 2005 | Illinois Speed Cameras Will Take Your License Away | Bob Dole writes “If you ever happen to drive through Illinois, but skipped any of the Techdirt items about how inaccurate speed cameras can be — you better go back and read up. That’s because the state has announced that it will begin using... |
| Mar 29, 2005 | Yet Another Study: Red Light Cameras Are Dangerous | Bob Dole writes “How many studies showing that red light cameras increase accidents does it take? Yet another study, this one from Ontario, Canada, represents the fourth major report concluding that there’s an increase, not decrease in acci... |
| Mar 9, 2005 | Study: Better Alternatives To Red Light Scameras — Increase Yellow Time | Bob Dole writes “Sometimes technology creates problems in search of a solution. As regular readers know, yellow signal timing is closely related to red-light running. A recent study by the Texas Transportation Institute shows just how essen... |
| Mar 2, 2005 | The Stationary Brick Wall That Is Moving At 58 MPH | Bob Dole writes “Cameras never lie, right? Well, if they don’t then someone needs to explain how brick walls can move at 58 MPH and stationary cars can be clocked at 4 MPH. A British laser expert explains that if a laser speed gun operator’... |
| Feb 23, 2005 | Cameras Used To Tow Cars For Overdue Library Books | Bob Dole writes “If you thought allowing cameras to enforce traffic laws wasn’t a problem, you better check and see whether you have any overdue library books. Next month, Arlington, Virginia will use a camera system called BootFinder to sc... |
| Feb 16, 2005 | States Reject Red Light Cameras | Bob Dole writes “With all the recent bad news (like this and this) about red light cameras, it’s nice to know that someone is paying attention. Nineteen cities will likely be forced to terminate their camera programs by year’s end following... |
| Feb 14, 2005 | New Privacy Issues With Camera Enforcement | Bob Dole writes “If you get a camera ticket in the District of Columbia when you weren’t driving, you’ll not only have to finger the person who was driving, you’ll need to provide his driver’s license number as well according to a new city ... |
| Jan 27, 2005 | Virginia Gov't Admits Traffic Cameras Increase Accidents | Bob Dole writes “Although less than 4 percent of traffic accidents are caused by red light running, cities and the insurance industry insist there is an urgent need for automated camera enforcement for safety purposes. Yet according to a a ... |
| Oct 15, 2003 | Speed Cameras Don't Work | Bob Dole writes “A think tank down under released a study today (summary only) that examines speed camera use. It finds that despite the hype that the devices save lives, the introduction of cameras in the UK actually interrupted a downward... |