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".

Red Light Cameras Reek of Corruption

Photo enforcement has never survived a public vote. Voters again rejected the use of photo enforcement in five more municipal referendum elections in November of 2011.  So what is motivating city officials to go against the will of the people they represent?  Money under the table and corruption?  You might have to start asking yourself some common sense questions why there are so many red light cameras in the US when the citizens overwhelmingly object to them. We estimate there are over 1,200 municipalities who have installed almost 7,000 red light cameras in the last 15 years.

In Mukilteo, Washington 70% of the voters banned the cameras and in Anaheim, California 73% voted against them. Earlier in 2010, 61% of Sykesville, Maryland voters overturned a speed camera ordinance. In 2009, 86% of Sulphur, Louisiana rejected speed cameras. The November 2009 elections included three votes: 72% said no in Chillicothe, Ohio; Heath, Ohio and College Station, Texas also rejected cameras. In 2008, residents in Cincinnati, Ohio rejected red light cameras. 66% of Steubenville, Ohio voters rejected photo radar in 2006. In the 1990's, speed cameras lost by 66% of the vote in Peoria, Arizona and Batavia, Illinois. In 1997, voters in Anchorage, Alaska banned cameras even after the local authorities had removed them. In 2003, 64% of voters in Arlington, Texas voted down "traffic management cameras" that opponents at the time said could be converted into ticketing cameras.

This smells like corruption at its finest. Red light camera companies like ATS and RedFlex have poured millions of dollars into campaign slush funds supporting politicians who back them. Sounds pretty dirty to me when the business of taxing citizens is almost a $1B revenue per year business.

We would like to ask for your help and leak tips to us on which city officials might be guilty of taking money under the table to get cameras passed.  We will post your tips and let Federal Officials begin to look into the corruption.  There is only one way to curb this corruption and that is to make the information public.

State Map	Red Light Camera Fine $	Red Light Camera Points	Speed Camera Fine $	Speed Camera Points
Alabama	$50
Arizona	$180	no Points	$250-$250	2-3 Points
Arkansas	$50
California	$446	1 Point
Colorado	$90	4 Points	$40-80	4 Points
Delaware	$75-$230
District of Columbia	$75	2 Points	$75	2 Points
Florida	$75-$125
Georgia	$70	3 Points
Hawaii	$77
Illinois	$100	20 Points	$250 or 25	20 points
Indiana	$100
Iowa	$45-$150		$45-$150
Kansas	$100
Louisiana	$100-$140	No Points
Maryland	$100	2 Points	$40 - $1,000	No Points
Michigan	$100
Minnesota	$130
Mississippi	$100
Missouri	$100
Nevada	$600-$1,000	4 Points
New Jersey	$75	No Points
New Mexico	$70-$250		$70-$250
New York	$50-$100	3 Points
North Carolina	$75-$100	3 Points
Ohio	$100-$200		$100-$200
Oklahoma	$100
Oregon	$355		$355
Pennsylvania	$100	3 Points
Rhode Island	$85
South Dakota	$89	No Points
Tennessee	$50-$100		$50-$100
Texas	$75-$200	No Points	$75-$200
Virginia	$100 - $200	4 Points
Washington	$124		$124
West Virginia
Wisconsin	$75

Please make suggested updates of information in the comments section below.

Photo enforcement of illegal right turns is starting to become very popular among city's. Illegal right turns are made when a sign clearly states "no right on red" or "after stop a right turn is permitted on red."  Illegal rolling right turns are when a driver does not come to a "complete stop" before making the turn. Illegal right turns are when the driver makes a right turn on red regardless if they camer to a complete stop.  Its a very grey area what a complete stop is but I have been told its anything under 7MPH.    We would appreciate any feedback from drivers around the Country to clarify this below under comments.

City's are using traditional red light camera technology and you can get a photo enforced ticket for an illegal right turn and they are cash cows.  Its by far the biggest money maker for most cities.   The fines in California are $159 and right turn cameras are also being used in Missouri $100), Tenessee ($100), Texas ($75) and Maryland ($75).

These right turn photo enforced intersections often surprise drivers because there are not very many intersections currently regulated. These intersections usually prevent drivers from turning right who might have limited visibility 0t mighy be moving at a speed that is unsafe. I still haven't figured out why rolling right turns are such a big deal that they have to be photo enforced. Its possible that bikers or pedestrians often are frequenting the sidewalks or streets and the cities want drivers to be extra cautious.

PhotoEnforced.com today added a new category of photo enforcement "Right Turn Cameras" to compliment our growing list of "red light cameras" and "speed cameras." As of today we have added 44 locations where illegal right turns are photo enforced from around the U.S. and will be adding many more as the data starts to trickle in from users.

We are starting to see a growing number of right turn cameras popping-up around the U.S. that use traditional red light camera technology to enforce illegal right turns. These new cameras are typically enforcing illegal right turns red or rolling right turns. Illegal rolling right turns are when a driver does not come to a complete stop before making the turn. Illegal right turns are when the driver makes a right turn on red regardless if they camer to a complete stop. The fines in California are $159 and right turn cameras are also being used in Missouri $100), Tenessee ($100), Texas ($75) and Maryland ($75).

These right turn photo enforced intersections often surprise drivers because there are not very many intersections currently regulated. These intersections usually prevent drivers from turning right who might have limited visibility 0t mighy be moving at a speed that is unsafe. I still haven't figured out why rolling right turns are such a big deal that they have to be photo enforced. Its possible that bikers or pedestrians often are frequenting the sidewalks or streets and the cities want drivers to be extra cautious.

Speeding fines are the same whether motorists are stopped by a deputy or get a citation in the mail through the photo radar program. Fines are $135 for exceeding the speed limit by 10 mph; $183 for 11-15 mph; $202 for 16-20 mph; $222 for 21-25; $235 for 26-30 mph; and $356 for 31-45 mph. Drivers could be arrested for going more than 46 mph over the posted limit. Photo enforced locations are set to trigger a picture flash for 11 MPH over the speeding limit.

Arizona leads all U.S. States with a total of 51 active photo enforced speed camera locations that are currently in our database. From this we can reasonably assume that Arizona has nearly 1/3 of all speed cameras that currently exist in the U.S. Here is a summary of our current totals that are in our database.

State	#	%
Arizona	51	30.00%
Maryland	21	12.35%
Ohio	16	9.41%
Washington	16	9.41%
California	15	8.82%
New Mexico	10	5.88%
District of Columbia	9	5.29%
Tennessee	8	4.71%
Iowa	7	4.12%
New York	3	1.76%
Missouri	2	1.18%
North Carolina	2	1.18%
Colorado	2	1.18%
Florida	1	0.59%
Georgia	1	0.59%
Idaho	1	0.59%
Pennsylvania	1	0.59%
Texas	1	0.59%
Utah	1	0.59%
Virginia	1	0.59%
Delaware	1	0.59%
	170

PhotoEnforced.com has launched new regional maps of Red Light Camera locations for Washington DC, San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County and Riverside. More regions will be launching soon.

The Washington DC Metropolitan Police Department collected a record $3.3 million in fines from its automated speed cameras in March -- increasing the five-year-old program's total revenue to more than $100 million. The program began with six cruisers outfitted with cameras and now has 10 cameras at fixed locations and 12 camera-equipped vehicles rotating through nearly 80 enforcement zones. The speed-camera program is part of the District's expanding automated traffic-enforcement strategy that has collected more than $138 million since 1999. The city's 49 red-light cameras have generated more than $35 million, including $5.2 million last year.

The new contractor behind Annapolis, Maryland's five cameras is a for-profit company, the CEO of Scottsdale, Ariz.-based American Traffic Solutions said . . .
"If we don't show results, people won't contract with us," said Jim Tuton, whose company runs cameras in New York City, Philadelphia and Laurel. "It is very rare the cameras don't result in a rapid reduction in accidents." "Our technology is very advanced and catches more than the old system," said Mr. Tuton, predicting more tickets will be issued with the new cameras. He said unlike the old film cameras, the new digital cameras can monitor all travel lanes in a given direction, instead of just one, and offer higher resolutions. The new cameras also record video as well as two still photos, showing exactly what happened when the car ran the red light. That means people can't blame an ambulance or funeral procession for making them run the light unless that truly is the case.