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Chicago Sends More Than 100,000 "Bogus" Camera-Based Speeding Tickets
Ars Technica, based on an in-depth report (paywalled) at the Chicago Tribune, says that the city of Chicago has been misusing traffic cameras to trigger automated speeding tickets. In particular, these cameras are placed in places where there are enhanced penalties for speeding, putatively intended to increase child safety. The automated observation system, though, has been used to send well over 100,000 tickets that the Tribune analysis deems "questionable," because they lack the evidence which is supposed to be required -- for instance, many of these tickets are unbacked by evidence of the presence of children, or were issued when the speeding rules didn't apply (next to a park when that park was closed).
word of the day
False. It can clap a number on any car going by.
Problem is that speeding and red light cameras are easily abused. I remember talking with someone related to this, and even though it shouldn't be possible, he said that the red light cameras he put up had the ability to flip a green light red, pop the picture, flip it back to green, as well as just have varying yellow light timings, so one car may have four seconds... another, late at night, may wind up with a direct green -> red transition and a ticket.
Once you have a private party that can allege something that can't be disproven, it is ripe for abuse.
The computer doesn't lie about the speeding. People are afraid of these traps exactly because they work so well. (and they drive like a-holes)
When the sign says "Speed limit 25 when children are present" then it's not speeding to go 30 when no children are present. People are afraid of these traps because they don't want their money stolen from them by government thugs under the pretense of "safety".
Well, if the signs say "speed limit is x between the hours of y and z", and the ticket is issued at z+c ... then the ticket isn't valid.
I'm not saying people don't speed (not even a little). But I will readily believe these things don't align with the law, and give tickets which are incorrect because they aren't accounting for time of day.
Often these are set up to just call everything a ticket, and collect extra revenue. If that's by policy or incompetence that's not always clear.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
(1) go to the local police station, city offices, courts, city hall and make a note of a bunch of license plates in the employee lots.
(2) print out paper license plate sized versions of the plate numbers
(3) park a car at the speed sensor.
(4) tape a paper copy on the back of the car
(5) cover a softball with tin-foil
(6) play catch in front of the speed sensor
(7) repeat for all your fake license plates
(8) ?????
(9) Profit!
http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/publications/pdfs/ontario-road-safety-annual-report-2012.pdf
Read the reports, especially page 35 of the PDF, sum the total of accidents and the reason for them, realizing that "speed too fast for conditions" means going at or below the speed limit when the road is not safe for that speed, typically due to ice or heavy rain (ie: For conventional speeding, focus on the "Speed too fast" statistic). Tell me where speeding fits. Well, I'll do it for you. It is the third LEAST likely cause of a collision. The only items ranking below it are, ironically, speed too slow, and driving against traffic.
Those stats are from the government itself, and the government of Ontario along with police officers is working to lower speed limits ostensibly because they are too high and are the largest cause of accidents. Yet their own evidence suggests the opposite.
Now have a look at the most likely cause (other than driving properly), following too close. Ask yourself *why* that happens. Because someone is pissed off at someone driving too slowly for them! Psychologically, excessively low speed limits are increasing the number one cause for accidents.
It seems that most jurisdictions have got around the right to face our accusers and cross examine them in court by modifying the statue and removing the criminal penalties for moving violations which makes it strictly an administrative/civil matter. Since there are no longer criminal penalties all of those pesky constitutional guarantees fall to the wayside.
Oh, you didn't pay your ticket? Well the vehicle that the ticket was issued against can't be registered and will be impounded on sight - and the owner driver's license can't be renewed either until the (increasing amount of) fines are paid in full.
Contrary to popular belief, whether or not something can be sourced has no bearing on whether it is actually true.
So, you're just making facts up and when someone calls you on it, you dismiss it with a pithy (and profoundly stupid) remark? Might I suggest a career with Fox News or the Daily Mail?
Yeah, one of the things we've heard cities do is make the length of yellow lights shorter so they can maximize revenue at the red-light cameras.
I once got an automated ticket for running a red light.
Essentially I was doing the speed limit (it was a 4 cylinder Jeep, speeding wasn't really an option) ... when the light went yellow I was close enough to the intersection I had to decide if I would slam on my brakes and make a panic stop, or acknowledge no way in hell I can stop.
At the time I decided in the remaining 30 feet or so no way I could safely stop.
By the time I'd got 35-40 feet, the light had already changed to red. That triggered the threshold for the red-light camera ... it doesn't care, you passed the line after it went red. There was less than 3 seconds between the yellow coming up and the red coming up, and not nearly enough space to stop in.
The problem with law enforcement by automation is there is zero room to say anything about it, or point out how the light was impossibly short.
And then people are left trying to explain how it simply wasn't getting the whole idea of what happened because it's a simple binary decision.
It's actually scary to see how short some yellow lights are, especially when there is a traffic camera involved. It's like they know damned well you have no chance in hell of stopping, but since it generates more revenue they should keep doing it.
With a human police officer I could say "look, I was here, I was going this fast, stopping would have been unsafe and dangerous". Instead you have a computer which spits out something which says you're guilty, and has no context for anything else.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
They're betting on the fact that it will usually be more expensive for you to challenge the ticket than to pay it. Even if you convince the judge to throw it out, you're still out the time spent fighting it, which is the better part of a day if you're lucky (worse if not).
Furthermore, they really don't care at all about safety. Studies have shown that while this sort of thing reduces T-bone incidents (which were rare to begin with), they cause a much greater increase in rear-end accidents because people wind up slamming on the breaks to avoid the sudden red light. Studies have also shown that there's a much more effective way to increase intersection safety, such as longer yellow lights, and/or a 1 to 2 second "all red". Of course, neither of those generate tons of money for the municipal government, let alone the camera company.
One of the best perks of living in MN: :)
These got their day in court a number of years ago and LOST! Photo traffic enforcement is unconstitutional according to MN's version. A real cop has to do his job for you to get a ticket.
When I drove for UPS they teach you to always be wary of "stale" green lights.
That is, if you didn't see the light go from red to green, you have no idea how much time is left on the clock and should be prepared to stop.
So they taught us to take our foot off the gas and be ready to apply the brake up until about 30 feet before the light, then, if it still had not changed to yellow, clear the intersection by scanning both directions, then accelerate slightly to the other side of the intersection.
Of course, we were also taught that ALL accidents are your fault no matter percentage the law may assign to an outcome.
My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
It only took 1 ticket to convince me to keep the bike rack on my car at all times...
A traffic engineer once explained that the American highway system was designed so that cars would be able to go 100 MPH safely (with regard to curves, etc.) And that was using assuming the tech of the time.
Your ad here. Ask me how!
The most effective way to improve safety is to do what Austria does - a blinking green light indicating it is about to turn yellow, and an appropriately timed yellow for the speed limit of the road. Note that Austria also has no "All Red" lights. When the light turns yellow, those waiting also get a yellow, like the countdown to green for a drag race.
The one thing I'll note - very very few red light runners in that area of Europe. Oh, they also use red light cameras, and the "entered on a yellow" is not an excuse, but an admission of guilt.
The cesspool just got a check and balance.
Fun story, I lived in crook county for a time, whilst going to school. One day I received a letter informing me of a parking ticket, alleging a vehicle with my plate number blocked a receiving dock at some theater I've never been to, and that they were going to send it to collections for being unpaid. I called the campus cops to dispute the ticket, and they wouldn't have any of it.
Fortunately, I was at work l that day, and had my time sheet as evidence. They still gave me shit.
In Montgomery County MD they use traffic camera vans that they drive out and park on the side of the road. Locals obviously know but outsiders do not. Any ways, out in Poolesville, MD they took the plate off of the traffic camera van, put it on a similar van, and sped past many times racking up huge points and fines.
Chicago is the "Fuck you! Give us our money!" capital of Illinois, the "Fuck you! Give us our money!" state.
Contrary to popular belief, organized crime in Chicago wasn't stamped out in the 20's and 30's.
Nope. All the crooks went into local government because there were more (and more lucrative) opportunities to steal, legally.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!