At least 3,000 drivers will get money back for red light tickets in South San Francisco, thanks to an error in finalizing the contract with the company that installed the cameras. Officials in this San Francisco suburb say the city council neglected to ratify the contract with American Traffic Solutions Inc., which installed the cameras last summer. That means the city could not legally operate the automatic cameras. The contract was finally ratified Jan. 27.
Mayor Mark Addiego says the city contacting motorists caught by the red light cameras between Aug. 15 and Jan. 27 to pay back the $446 fine or the cost of traffic school. Officials say the refund will cost the city at least $1.4 million, in addition to thousands in staff costs needed to help figure out whom to refund.
First Driver-to-Driver Network Answers the Question “What is The Driver Ahead of Me Experiencing?”
News Facts
• Aha Mobile, Inc., the company that keeps drivers informed about the world around them by safely connecting them to each other and to relevant information from the Web, has launched its first consumer experience - the Aha application for iPhone users.
• The company, which soft launched its application two weeks ago in Los Angeles, San Diego and the San Francisco Bay Area, has expanded road and traffic coverage in the following major metropolitan areas: Dallas and San Antonio, TX, Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Miami Beach, FL, Seattle, WA, Washington D.C. The company will continue to add road and traffic coverage in more cities in the coming months.
• The free application is now available for download in the iTunes App Store.
• Aha’s application is the first driver-to-driver network that answers questions such as “What is the driver a mile ahead of me seeing out his window?” and “What is traffic like now on my route to work?”
• Aha’s application is designed for use at 65 MPH and gives you information, either audibly or in an at-a-glance format, about the roads and photo enforced camera locations nearby.
• It also connects drivers to personalized Web data about nearby services and destinations, such as restaurants, coffee shops and bathrooms.
• Aha is not a navigation application but is instead designed for daily use when you already know how to get to your destination.
Unique Product Features
• Get “Nearby” Alerts for Things You Care About: Are you hungry, want to grab a cup of coffee, or need to take a bathroom break? Select “yes” to any of those questions and Aha’s “Nearby” function alerts you to places along the way, like restrooms from SitOrSquat or highly rated restaurants from Yelp. Aha will also alert you to red-light and speed cameras as you approach them, using data from Photoenforced.com. At 65 MPH, less is more, so Aha only gives you the relevant results pre-filtered for your preferences and location.
• Listen to Live, Personalized Traffic Channels: Like a radio station dedicated to the roads you care about, Aha lets you listen to traffic “Shouts” (or voice notes) from other drivers without taking your eyes off the road. Aha also uses best-in-class INRIX traffic data to tell you how traffic is flowing and alert you to congestion or accidents on the major road segments around you, without requiring you to study a map.
• “Shout” Out Your Own Traffic Reports: With Aha, every driver is a virtual traffic reporter. Simply tap the microphone icon to record and share a 15-second traffic report to help the drivers around you. Your Shout automatically feeds into the road and city-specific Shout Rooms based on your current location.
• Be Entertained in the Car! Aha also wants to make driving fun. For example, the “Caraoke” Shout Room lets you send out a 15 second recording of your radio sing along, then get rated by other drivers. In the “#%& Drivers” Shout Room, let off steam by venting about a bad driver or your frustrating commute. Executive Quotes
“Aha is uniquely delivering information that every driver wants in a new and better way that doesn’t involve studying tiny maps while you drive. Sometimes you want to hear a live traffic report from a driver ahead of you, and other times you want relevant information from the Web, like a nearby coffee shop,” said Robert Acker, President and CEO of Aha Mobile, Inc.
“Regardless of the source, Aha filters and customizes the information you want based on your preferences and location, presenting it in a format that limits driving distractions and helps you make smart choices along your familiar routes.” User Quotes
“I frequently run into traffic in my patrol car, particularly on event days at the Del Mar fairgrounds,” said Aha beta tester and San Diego Deputy Sheriff Marshall Abbott. “Even with some state-of-the-art tools at my disposal, I turn to Aha for the latest conditions on the roads I drive daily. I use it to know when traffic is backed up a few miles ahead of me so I can decide if I should bail for another route. Aha’s at-a-glance information is a very efficient way to get me the information I need.”
“Every day when I get in the car, I run Aha to check the Los Angeles freeway traffic before I leave my driveway,” said Aha beta tester David Whelan. “It quickly gives me a good idea of which route to take to work - in typical LA fashion, I have many routes to choose from. Then, I flip into "Nearby" mode while I drive to get alerted to coffee shops and other places I want to know about along the way. I have found that Aha is far less distracting and more efficient way to get this information than the in-car navigation system in my BMW.” Images, Assets and Product Demo Video
Aha improves your driving experience by keeping you informed about the world around you while you are on the road. To do this, we built the first driver-to-driver network that connects drivers to each other and to relevant information from the Internet. You can record and share your own personal traffic reports to help those around you, or listen to a customized traffic channel on the roads you travel. Aha also alerts you to the nearby things you need – like a great cup of coffee or a restroom. With Aha, drivers share their experiences with one another and help each other on the road.
Founded in 2008, Aha began by building a connected back-end platform that can power any number of devices – from portable electronics to in-car systems. Through our first application, designed for the iPhone, we created a 65 MPH interface (information is delivered audibly or in at-a-glance visual formats) that gives drivers the answers they need while minimizing driving distractions.
Based in Palo Alto, CA, Aha is backed by Venrock and led by a team of executives with nearly four decades of experience developing automotive and location-based services applications.
Drivers in a Class Action Law Suit seek more than $23 million in reimbursements, the amount that the cities paid to the contractor. The California Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether tens of thousands of drivers in San Francisco and other cities can seek partial refunds of the fines they paid for running red lights before 2004, when the private contractor that operated traffic cameras at intersections got a cut of the money from each ticket. ACS State and Local Solutions, typically got about one-third of each red-light fine. That fine is now $380 but was less during the years covered by the case. The Legislature has prohibited such fee arrangements since 2004 and instead requires cities to pay contractors a flat rate for their work, regardless of the number of tickets issued or fines collected. The court case involves tickets issued during the preceding four years.
The case is a consolidation of suits filed on behalf of about 300,000 ticketed drivers in 14 cities and Los Angeles County, plaintiffs' lawyers said Thursday. The cities include San Francisco, Santa Rosa, Redwood City and Cupertino.
More than 850 people die and and about 170,000 are injured each year in crashes caused by drivers running red lights, the National Highway Traffic Safety Adminstration says. The Philadelphia study, conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), an industry group, examined red light violations using a two-step approach. First, researchers found that violations dropped by 36% after yellow lights were extended to give drivers more warning that the light was about to turn red. After red light cameras were added, remaining violations dropped by 96%. The popularity of the cameras is growing rapidly despite oppostion that centers on constitutional grounds. About 250 communities around the USA use the devices, according to the Insurance Institute. Just 10 years ago, only New York and San Francisco had them.
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.
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