NYC ticketed more than 1M drivers for running a red lights in 2010. The number of $50 red-light tickets citations almost doubled by 40% from 710,978 in 2009 to 1,000,598 in 2010. The city collected $55.4 million in red light tickets in 2010 which is up 70% from $32 million in 2009.  NYC secret camera locations (150) that we have in our database at PhotoEnforced.com catch an average of 2,741 drivers per day.  More cities like Rochester and Syracuse plan to follow the lead of NYC and will be installing up to 50 cameras throughout the city.  See the story in the WSJ.

In the first month, Haine City, Florida has ticketed 7,066 drivers for making illegal right hand turns or running red lights. At $158 the fines total approximately $1.1 million. In the month the red light camera photo enforcement system has been operating, the cameras have taken 20,756 photographs, and of those only 50% have captured violations.

Based on $158, $83 goes to the state while the city receives $75. The city leases the 10 cameras from Arizona-based Automated Traffic Solutions.  Florida's estimated that the red light camera's would bring in $29M in 2011 and nearly $100M in 2012 into state coffers, and would provide about $75M to local governments. Haines City projects the city could receive $5.4 million annually from the citation revenue at the current run rate.

Red light cameras net $1.1-million so far: MyFoxTAMPABAY.com

Red light cameras at four Pembroke Pines, Florida intersections have led to more than 1,500 tickets issued to drivers in the past six months which has generated $76,294 in revenue but the city's legal fees for enforcing the citations in Broward court have led the controversial program to lose cost more money than it generates.  This has forced city commissioners to defend the program as a lifesaver and not a revenue generator that cost the city $13,000.  The total cost of the program since July has been $83,347 with $50,158 going to American Traffic Solutions (ATS), the Arizona-based company contracted to install the cameras in Pembroke Pines; and the remainder going for legal fees.  Read more

We would appreciate your thoughts and comments below of other cities that are losing revenue on the cameras. What action is taken by the camera operators ATS and Redflex in cases like this?  Do these companies lower their fees to accommodate to the citations as a cost neutral or revenue generating entity?   Are they secreting paying off city officials or entertaining them?  These are the cities where you are likely to find the most corruption.  

Will More Cities Follow Victorville’s Lead and Start Dismissing Cases? At least three red light camera tickets issued in the city of Victorville have been thrown out by judges in San Bernardino Superior Court.

The city of Victorville has contracted with Redflex, an Arizona based, red light camera manufacturer, but as a result of court decisions proclaiming photographic evidence generated from the Redflex camera system as inadmissible evidence, the city is trying to get out of the contract. There are only 10 cameras left turned on in Victorville (out of the original 16) however if court decisions keep going the way they are going, Redflex may have to let Victorville out of its contract and Victorville could turn off the remaining 10 cameras making many citizens happy. In fact, according to the VVDailyPress.com, Victorville’s contract with Redflex allows Victorville to get out of the contract if “any court having jurisdiction over city rules...that results from the Redflex System of photo enforcement are inadmissible in evidence”.

A common factor in a lot of these Redflex camera ticket cases that have been dismissed is that no one from the Arizona based Redflex company attends the trials, the company instead sends a written statement as to how its systems work and an officer from the issuing city testifies on his training about how the system works and the photographic evidence presented. Many judges are refusing to consider this a proper way to authenticate the evidence (photos and videos). There is at least one published court case that discusses this same issue, People v. Khaled.

This leaves us to beg the question, will more and more judges follow the same lead these San Bernardino Superior court judges have taken and will more and more cities take Victorville’s lead in ending the use of these controversial camera enforcement systems?

Contributed by ticketbust.com, helping drivers contest and dismiss their traffic tickets.  If you get cited for a red light photo ticket, contact us at www.TicketBust.com or call us at (800) 850-8038. For Spanish, please visit www.Combatesuticket.com or call (818) 584-3689. For more information on how TicketBust can help to beat your cell phone ticket, visit www.fightcellphonetickets.com or call (800) 850-8038.

Every wonder why there are warning signs for red light cameras at some intersections but not all? According to VC§ 21455.5(a) (1), “Warning signs must be posted at each camera-equipped intersection and visible to traffic approaching from all directions, or at all the main entrances to town including, at a minimum, freeways, bridges, and state highway routes." The purpose of the law is obviously to make sure that drivers are warned in all instances where there is red light camera enforcement, and the seemingly most obvious way to warn a driver is to post a warning sign say overhead on a traffic signal head, but the law doesn’t require it.

The law does require that warning signs be posted, but the law gives cities the choice in where to post the signs and the law is vague as to how CLOSE to the intersection the signs have to be posted (provided the city decides to post the signs at the intersection). According to the Cal Trans design the signs must be at least 30 inches wide by 40 inches high and 6 feet off the ground but there is no requirement as to the distance a sign must be posted in relation to an intersection. Warning signs will not always be posted right at an intersection so drivers should be on the lookout for such signs when entering a city or exiting from a freeway off ramp. If you do get a red light photo ticket you should go back and search for warning signs and if you can’t find any where they are supposed to be or the signs are there but they are not the right size or are blocked or damaged in such a way that they are not visible, then take photographs so you can dispute the ticket. If the signs weren’t posted in accordance with the law (VC§ 21455.5(a) (1) ) then as a result you weren’t given the required notice and more importantly, a foundational requirement (warning signs) for the camera enforcement system is lacking. - blog submitted by ticketbust.com, helping drivers contest and dismiss their traffic tickets.

If you get cited for a red light photo ticket, contact us at www.TicketBust.com or call us at (800) 850-8038. For Spanish, please visit www.Combatesuticket.com or call (818) 584-3689. For more information on how TicketBust can help to beat your cell phone ticket, visit www.fightcellphonetickets.com or call (800) 850-8038.

Public sentiment for red light camera and speed camera use is overwhelmingly negative in the US.  Why? Because it lacks transparency about where the locations are and where the money goes. If the goal of using red light and speed cameras is to save lives and ensure compliance with safety measures.  Doesn't it seem logical that drivers and citizens should have access to this public information?   Drivers could be alerted to accident photo enforced locations and potentially hazardous areas.  Disclosure of locations is not about evading the law its about avoiding other idiot drivers.  As a taxpayer I would also like to know where the tax on bad drivers is going.  How about slush fund for schools who desperately need the revenue?

Car navigation systems have not integrated our data points into GPS vehicles thus far for two main reasons: locations change frequently and in some Countries such as Germany and Switzerland, it is illegal to have these locations in navigation systems.  We recommend that its time for law enforcement and city officials to be more transparent about their speed and red-light enforcement activities with the objective of building citizen support for the use of cameras for the enhanced safety of all.

Read more from Strategy Analytics: Red-Light, Speed Cameras: Damn Lies, Statistics Impede Progress. 

Dayton is one of just a few cities around the US that is beginning to use speed cameras. In Europe there are upwards of 40,000 cameras throughout the region. However, the United States has been slow to adopt the automated speed enforcement method.  We have all of Dayton locations and others around the US listed in our speed camera database. 

Dayton Ohio city officials are moving forward with plans to add photo speed enforcement cameras near 10 of the city’s most dangerous accident areas for automobile travelers. The automated cameras likely will be installed by late April or early May, and speeding drivers will be given a 30-day grace period. After the grace period ends an $85 fine will be issued.

Dayton will keep $55 of that fine and the rest will go to the camera company Redflex which is based in Scottsdale Arizona. Redflex is paying to install the equipment and will do the initial processing of the tickets before Dayton police will give final approval before the tickets are mailed.

Undercover Brother

Yes!  Even on-duty and off-duty police officers in marked and unmarked patrol cars aren't getting out of paying the fines for red light camera tickets. Maryland police jurisdictions are holding their officers and other emergency workers personally liable for tickets they receive unless they can prove they were responding to legitimate emergencies at the time.

Four Montgomery County Maryland police officers sued their department over speeding tickets and lost before the state's highest court, in a decision issued late last month. The ruling from the Maryland Court of Appeals was on a technical issue — whether the county had given the officers enough time to contest the tickets — but the effect of the decision holds police throughout the state accountable for following what the judges called "the rules of the road" like any other licensed driver.

Police union leaders say that rules requiring lights and sirens when responding to emergencies aren't always practical, or prudent. For example, cops don't speed to bank robberies or burglary calls with lights flashing and siren wailing, to avoid alerting the criminals they're coming, but they still need to get there fast.

A former homicide detective recalls getting nailed by the cameras while responding to murder scenes in his unmarked Chevy Lumina, and going to court to plead his case. He said most officers simply pay the fines rather than risk an internal investigation and questions about driving techniques that if not illegal, don't always conform to the letter of departmental rules.

Read more on the Maryland Police "No Break for Cops Caught on Camera".

State Laws vs City Laws

Here is a list of fifteen US States that have banned the use of red light cameras.  Most State laws prohibit the use of new photo enforcement locations by cities and municipalities who might be considering it.  However,  there are a few cities that were using cameras before the State law was passed and the camera usage maybe grandfathered in.  It remains to be seen what will happen if States begin to pass laws banning cameras if they will require cities to remove them.  For example, the state of Florida used the State law to ban the cameras but they are still widely used in many cities.  Could this be a dirty legal tactic for the States to get leverage in order participate in the revenue share with the municipality?  I suspect were are going to see more State legislatures passing laws that ban the cameras simply to use this as leverage to share in the State revenue with the City.   Here are the States below that have passed laws banning them from 1995 - 2010. 

Wisconsin 1995 
Utah 1996 
Alaska 1997 
Nebraska 1999 
Nevada 1999 
Arkansas 2005 
New Hampshire 2006 
West Virginia 2006 
Michigan 2007 
Minnesota 2007 
Indiana 2008 
Maine 2009 
Mississippi 2009 
Montana 2009 
South Carolina 2010  

Sioux Falls South Dakota

The South Dakota state House Committee on the Judiciary threw its support Monday behind a statewide ban on red light traffic cameras. The committee voted 10-3 to send HB 1161 to the full House. If passed, the bill from Rep. Peggy Gibson, D-Huron, would ban the use of automated traffic enforcement at all intersections in South Dakota. Fifteen states and at least 10 cities have banned the camera systems, and she argued that the people in South Dakota shouldn't have to wait for more cities to install cameras before acting in their interest.

Read more information about South Dakota's brewing State ban.

Ticketbust.com assisted in dismissing this red light camera ticket for a client who wanted to know how Tickebust got his ticket dismissed and you may want to know too!

Red light camera tickets are best dismissed if attacked from a technical based standpoint; after all it is a machine that ticketed you not an officer. And there are certain rules and requirements that are necessary to be present (or need to have been followed) in order for the red light camera ticket to be successfully held up in court against you.

For example there are rules regarding the length of yellow lights at camera enforced intersection, rules regarding how or when the actual notice of a red light camera violation is mailed out to the suspect violator, rules regarding what type of warning must be given about the presence or installation of a red light camera at an intersection, and rules regarding the types of fee arrangements cities having red light camera enforced intersections within their limits may have with private companies that manufacture and maintain the red light cameras.

At Ticketbust.com they understand how these red light camera tickets work and we know the ins and outs to maximize your chances of getting out of a ticket like this. In this client’s case, Ticketbust.com prepared a customized Trial by Written Declaration that discussed the rules and requirements of red light cameras, pointed out errors on the prepared traffic ticket he received in the mail, and reasoned that based on the surrounding circumstances at the time he was photographed turning, he could not have posed a safety hazard to anyone. All in all, Ticketbust.com was able to help him successfully contest and dismiss his traffic ticket without him ever having to step foot into court.

Ticketbust.com has helped over 27, 000 drivers contest their traffic tickets and just like this valued client, we can help you too. The next time you get a traffic ticket in California go to our web site at Ticketbust.com or call us at 800-850-8038.

What You Should Know About Red Light Camera Tickets

Next time you get a red light ticket remember this. Red light camera tickets are very different from say a red light ticket handed to you by an officer. With a red light camera ticket, there is no “your word against the officer”. With a red light ticket issued by an officer you have to try and convince the court that the officer did not have a clear line of sight to your car, to the limit line for the red light, or the red light itself, at the time you went through the light. Red light camera tickets on the other hand are best dismissed if attacked from a technical based standpoint; after all it is a machine that ticketed you not an officer. And there are certain rules and requirements that are necessary to be present (or need to have been followed) in order for the red light camera ticket to be successfully held up in court against you. 

For example there are rules regarding the length of yellow lights at camera enforced intersection, rules regarding how or when the actual notice of a red light camera violation is mailed out to the suspect violator, rules regarding what type of warning must be given about the presence or installation of a red light camera at an intersection, and rules regarding the types of fee arrangements cities having red light camera enforced intersections within their limits may have with private companies that manufacture and maintain the red light cameras. There is a lot of information out there available on the internet, so read about how these red light camera tickets work and learn what the rules are relating to them so that you can maximize your chances of getting out of a ticket like this. 

Contributed by ticketbust.com, helping drivers contest and dismiss their traffic tickets. If you get cited for a red light photo ticket, contact us at www.TicketBust.com or call us at (800) 850-8038. For Spanish, please visit www.Combatesuticket.com or call (818) 584-3689. For more information on how TicketBust can help to beat your cell phone ticket, visit fightcellphonetickets.com or call (800) 850-8038.

Anyone who has traveled to Europe understands the convenience of driving without traffic lights and the improvement in traffic flow.  Cities all over the US are beginning to convert traditional unsafe red light camera intersections to roundabouts for several reasons. Converting traditional red light camera intersections to roundabouts eliminates the need for traffic signals as well as cameras and has many benefits listed below.  It has been reported that conversion of traditional intersections to roundabouts reduces fatal crashes by 81-90 percent, injury crashes by 25-87 percent, and overall crashes by 37-61 percent. However, it is not feasible to replace every traffic light with a roundabout, and not every intersection is appropriate for a roundabout.  Ready more about roundabouts saving lives. 

1. Up to a 90% reduction in fatalities, 76% reduction in injury crashes, 30-40% reduction in pedestrian crashes
2. Reduces the severity of crashes
3. 75% fewer conflict points than four way intersections 
4. Drivers have more time to judge and react to other cars or pedestrians
5. Slower vehicle speeds (under 30 mph) 
6. Efficient traffic flow 30-50% increase in traffic capacity
7. Improved traffic flow for intersections that handle a high number of left turns
8. No signal equipment to install and repair savings estimated at an average of $5,000 per year in electricity and maintenance costs
9. Service life of a roundabout is 25 years (vs. the 10-year service life of signal equipment)
10. Aesthetic landscaping

There Is a Positive Outcome to Gridlock

Studies are revealing that higher population densities are associated with lower fatal crash rates at intersections.   The obvious explanation is that denser populations generally lead to lower travel speeds, traffic jams, grid lock and thus fewer fatal crashes.  Rates of fatal crashes during the baseline period were higher for cities that subsequently implemented red light camera programs than for cities that did not implement camera programs. It is to be expected that cities with larger red light running problems should have been more likely to implement camera enforcement programs.  Read more on the Effects of Red Light Camera Enforcement on Fatal Crashes in Large US Cities. 

Drives Should Be Wary of Short Yellow Lights at Camera Enforced Intersections

If you get a red light photo ticket one of the things you should do right away is go back to the location of the intersection listed on the ticket and time the yellow light. Many times cities employ too short yellow lights which results in more people running red lights (and increased revenue) because they couldn’t stop in time- and you need to make sure this didn’t happen to you.

Go back to the intersection with a stop watch and from the time it turns from green to yellow, begin timing until it changes from yellow to red. You’ll want to do this a few times for accuracy. Jot down the yellow time and then make your comparisons.

The length of the yellow light cannot be just arbitrary. The California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (“MUTCD”), prescribes uniform standards for all official traffic control devices in California and the MUTCD section 4D-10 and Table 4D-102(CA), sets forth the minimum time for traffic signal yellow light change intervals. Section 4D-10 also provides that the time for a yellow light change interval may be increased through field review and appropriate judgment of the local agency. The MUTCD is very clear that increasing the yellow light interval above the minimum prescribed in the same section is an option and in no manner a requirement. Decreasing the yellow light interval below the minimum however, is not an option.

Check the Table (Table 4D-102) to see if the yellow light change interval at your intersection is non- compliant. Here are a couple examples of minimum yellow light times:

• If the posted speed limit is 25 (or less) mph the minimum yellow interval is 3.0 seconds (this includes both right and left hand turns).
* If the posted speed limit is 35 mph the minimum yellow interval is 3.6 seconds.
• If the posted speed limit is 45 mph the minimum yellow interval is 4.3 seconds.

Contributed by ticketbust.com, helping drivers contest and dismiss their traffic tickets. If you get cited for a red light photo ticket, contact us at www.TicketBust.com or call us at (800) 850-8038. For Spanish, please visit www.Combatesuticket.com or call (818) 584-3689. For more information on how TicketBust can help to beat your cell phone ticket, visit fightcellphonetickets.com or call (800) 850-8038.