Resources & Articles;
Latest news;
8-28-10
Another city caught shortening yellow lights after installing red light cameras.
http://www.kgun9.com/Global/story.asp?S=12976216
8-27-10
Santa Fe institutes speed cameras after doubts about their red light camera program. Tickets dismissed after months of no appeal process at all!
http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/on_assignment/santa-fe-closing-gap-in-speed-cameras
8-26-10
Traffic cop initiates "just gimme a second" campaign to increase yellow light timing.
http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/08/26/just-gimme-a-second/
8-24-10
Red Light Camera Vote gets Green Light
http://baytownsun.com/news/article_6f61fc2a-aff4-11df-951f-001cc4c03286.html
8-21-2010
Baytown Red light camera company front group calls Baytown Police department prepared red light camera accident report data "misinformation". Claims certain accident type increases of as much as 400% merely a "modest uptick". False personal attacks on veterans continue;
The Arizona based red light camera vendor for Baytown Texas must not like the latest TXDOT mandated accident report released by the Baytown Police Department which shows a dramatic increase in accidents at camera locations this past year during a general decline in citywide accidents. A statement on the red light camera company's Baytown front group's website says the data we duplicated directly from the official Baytown Police prepared report without any changes whatsoever is "misinformation". We believe that the Baytown Police Department fulfilled their obligation to the state admirably, we accept the reported increases in numerous types of accidents at face value and believe them to be a true and accurate evaluation of the red light camera program in Baytown. We do not agree with Mr McGrath that the Baytown Police Department accident report to TXDOT is an example of misinformation. The news that accidents were up at Baytown red light camera locations was reported around the country in several sources. In response to this bad publicity, paid spokesperson for the red light camera funded front group in Baytown, Jim McGrath, who has received over $35,000 in red light camera money immediately went into attack mode to try to spin the obviously alarming increase in accidents at camera monitored intersections. On their wesbite set up and paid for by vendors of the red light camera company Mr McGrath says;
Let's take a look at McGrath's spin here. According to numerous statements from red light camera companies the main goal of red light cameras is to reduce right angle collisions CAUSED BY RED LIGHT RUNNING. This fact seems to be suddenly vacant from Mr McGrath's memory as he ignores the fact that "red light related" right angle collisions (those caused by red light running) actually INCREASED 37% this past year! (11 in 2009 and 15 in 2010). In typical paid PR fashion, in one breath Mr McGrath seems to credit a reduction of 5 non red light related t-bone accidents to red light cameras, but in the next breath dismisses the increase of 20 dangerous rear end accidents because they weren't classified as red light related! Note McGrath does not deny the undeniable, that total accidents at camera locations are up 40%, accidents caused by red light runners are up 12%, injury accidents are up 75% and injuries are up 39%. He merely is trying to pick a diamond from a dungheap. McGrath claims that these sharp increases in injury accidents and injuries are merely a "modest uptick" in data "related almost totally to rear-end accidents not involving red lights." I am sure the families injured in accidents caused by the red light cameras are able to sleep better at night because their injuries were just a "modest uptick". At least Mr McGrath does admit there was an increase in collisions and injuries at these camera monitored intersections, of course we aren't supposed to look at those types of crashes and injuries because Mr McGrath thinks those injuries and crashes (required to be reported to TXDOT by any city with red light cameras) aren't important. We should just look at the data Mr McGrath wants us to see.
Next Jim McGrath switches to a sleight of hand trick to try to claim that total accidents now are lower than they were before the camera installation 2 years ago. According to the data filed by Baytown PD in their "pre installation" report to TXDOT, total accidents for the required 18 months of preinstallation were at 57 per year when annualized. Total Accidents in the 2010 Baytown PD report were at 70. To most people 70 is more than 57. Not in the world of PR I guess. Mr McGrath writes that total accidents pre installation were at 31 and post installation for 2010 were just 20. He then claims, based on these numbers, that;
"Total collisions down 35.5 percent between 2008 and 2010 "
So how does McGrath get a totally different number from what is ACTUALLY in the Baytown Police department's report? First he changes the time frame for the pre installation data set. he uses "12 months preceding the installation of the intersection safety cameras" when the official report to TXDOT reports 18 months of preinstallation data. That's right, McGrath didn't like the real report so he created his own! He picked the 12 months he wanted to talk about and ignored the 6 months he didn't want to talk about! He calls the actual data from the Baytown police department created report "misinformation" but creates his own report to somehow create a positive spin and that is supposed to be trusted? Note that in our analysis of the data we simply put the actual numbers from the real report and included the actual source documents. The only documents that McGrath included are the ones he created himself! No reference to the actual police report and no disclosure that he changed the data! Clearly this shows that the red light camera company that has already spent about a quarter million dollars to keep Baytown and Houston from having a vote on the red light cameras will say or do ANYTHING to save their lucrative camera contracts.
McGRATH CONTINUES FALSE PERSONAL ATTACKS
Despite having their false claims about our citizen led effort to rid Baytown of dangerous red light cameras soundly rebuked by the Harris county DA and a district court judge who found their claims didn't even warrant proceeding to a hearing, Mr McGrath continues to claim that we submitted "falsified information to the City of Baytown" in our petition. The city clerk has evaluated and certified our petition as being valid, fulfilling all requirements and having more than enough signatures to proceed to a vote. The city attorney, by allowing the petition to proceed to the city council has approved the language of our petition as consistant with the city charter, and the city council has seen our initiative ordinance, accepted the certificate of sufficiency and is expected to schedule a November election based on what they saw.
Jim McGrath continues to attack anyone that supports a vote on the red light cameras including veterans, law enforcement officers and firefighters. A few weeks ago on 740 KTRH Jim McGrath personally and publically attacked Roger Schirmbeck, a local Baytown voter and businessman and treasurer of our PAC. Mr Schirmbeck is a Viet Nam veteran and has received the purple heart for his service to our country. Mr McGrath claimed Roger Schirmbeck is financially motivated by his support for a vote on the red light cameras and is "anti law enforcement" despite offering no evidence whatsover for his untrue claims. We notified Mr McGrath weeks ago by certified letter that his claims were unfounded and insisted he issue a public retraction or offer proof of his allegations, to date he has offered neither. This isn't the only time McGrath has attacked veterans, we had a large amount of members of the Baytown VFW enthusiastically sign our petition to call for a vote on the cameras as well as law enforcement officers, firefighters and medical professionals. Mr McGrath implied that petition gatherers and those that sign the petition are anti law enforcement and want murderers and drunk drivers to go free by falsely claiming our petition would do away with other forms of video surveillance. While these attacks on those that defend our rights and safety are disgusting on their own, the worst attack Mr McGrath has done is in his defense of the red light camera company's numerous attempts at voter intimidation and their attempt to subvert our constitutional right to petition our government and our right to vote. Many of the veterans who support our efforts and signed our petition fought to defend these most basic constitutional rights, many of their friends and brothers died to preserve those rights that Mr McGrath and the camera company that pays him are fighting against. We understand that Jim McGrath's client, the red light camera company, does not want the people to vote on the cameras because every time they have had the chance to vote the cameras have come down, but we urge Mr McGrath to restore some decency to his client's campaign, to stop putting his paycheck over principles no matter how much money he stands to make peddling the camera company's warped positions.
8-20-2010
Red Light Cameras Increase Accidents in Baytown, Texas
http://thenewspaper.com/news/32/3236.asp
8-16-2010
Texas: Red Light Camera Company Spends $230,648 to Fight Public Vote
http://thenewspaper.com/news/32/3232.asp
8-14-2010
California, Tennessee: Bogus Red Light Camera Tickets
http://thenewspaper.com/news/32/3230.asp
8-7-2010
Washington: Judge Tosses Attempt to Block Public Vote on Traffic Cameras
http://thenewspaper.com/news/32/3223.asp
7-13-10
Baytown Sun Letters to the editor
http://baytownsun.com/story/51912
Baytown
There’s no data to support red light cameras
Chris Buckner wrote a column stating his disdain for those who are opposed to red light cameras, but it lacked any data from any source that supports the claim that red light cameras help cut down on accidents. Red light cameras have become a cash cow for many municipalities across the country as cities struggle to balance budgets.
With this abundance of cameras throughout the country, surely there must be some studies that support or validate that red light cameras reduce accidents at intersections. The only studies I’ve seen to date were done in Houston after they installed cameras and it was less than overwhelming in supporting the argument that cameras cut down on accidents. Cross traffic accidents showed a slight decrease,but was negated by an increase of rear-end accidents. If red light cameras cannot be proven to increase public safety, they should be abolished.
Larry Tidwell
Baytown
7-9-10
Baytown Sun Letters to the editor
http://baytownsun.com/story/51885
Cameras have no effect on traffic
Regarding Red Light Cameras:
On the issue of effectiveness I tend to believe that the cameras have at best no effect on traffic safety once the pluses and minuses are considered. I’ve seen data supporting both sides, depending on who’s controlling the measurement parameters.
I mostly see the program as a revenue raiser, a tax on the population that doesn’t require voter approval. It’s amazing to me how much compassion and concern our local government can gin up for it’s citizens when a few hundred thousand dollars are at stake!
These issues aside, this big brother type infringement on citizens’ rights just seems wrong to me. I wonder if proponents of red light cameras would also support a transceiver in you car’s computer that would automatically send you a ticket if you speed? Or a “restaurant-cam” that would send you a ticket for smoking closer than 15 feet from the entrance, or even a “bedroom-cam” that would fine you for tearing off the “Do Not Remove Under Penalty of Law” tags from your mattress?
Could our streets be safer? Certainly they could. That is as true after the cameras as it was before the cameras. Unfortunately, to me, too many people seem to believe that we are only one more new law away from Heaven on Earth. That with enough laws a utopian world can be legislated into existence.
Larry Armer
Baytown
Camera is catching law abiding drivers
Has anyone noticed that the red light cameras, north and south, on Garth Road at IH 10 are taking pictures of vehicles, supposedly, turning right before they come to a complete stop? I’ve personally seen those cameras go off on vehicles before the vehicles even get to the first solid white line when they are trying to make a right turn! In my eyes this is a travesty and it’s a money making scam. I thought one had to stop BEFORE getting to the first solid white line to not get flashed? People are getting flashed when making a slight turn right and then stop BEFORE they get to that white line. I know this because I’ve seen it happen just about every day I come through that area. Someone needs to look into that money making scheme.
Glenn Guillory
Baytown
Drivers just find another way around cameras
Guess what? The drivers who are determined to not get caught by one of the red light cameras when turning right on red are now cutting through the corner stores avoiding the light and cameras altogether. However, they are posing an equally dangerous situation driving fast in and around gas pumps, parked cars and people. So now we need corner store cut-through cameras.
Stephen Koenig
Baytown
7-9-10
Survey shows 70 percent of residents don't want red light cameras
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=390698&src=5
"Changes are in store for red light cameras in Kane County after more than 70 percent of local residents voicing an opinion on the devices want officials to pull the plug. "
"County officials will investigate further, particularly the touchy subject of tickets given while making right turns. The county board's Transportation Committee said any significant changes in the use of the cameras may result in the cameras disappearing completely.
"The question I would have is if we start limiting turns and so forth, what company is going to want to put in the red light (camera) if all we're going to do is have left-hand turning violations?" committee member Cathy Hurlbut asked.
"Generally, that's true," responded committee Chairman Bill Wyatt. "(The companies) are in it for the profit, and the profit generator of a red-light camera is the whole right turn on red stuff. If you take that out of the equation, we'll find that these people all of a sudden don't see a viability."
There's already some evidence of that. When Libertyville officials tried to install red light cameras, but let it be known there would be no tickets issued for turning right on a red light, the camera company backed out of the deal. The company didn't specifically say why. "
7-5-10
Backlash growing against red light cameras;
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/state&id=7538130
DALLAS, TX -- Public support for the use of red light cameras in Texas and across the country could be switching from green to yellow.
The Dallas Morning News reported Monday that three states banned red light cameras last year while six others have considered similar proposals.
In Texas, voters forced College Station to take down its cameras last fall while opponents in Houston say they have enough petition signatures to put the cameras to a vote this fall. Camera opponents in the Texas Legislature say they plan again to try to pass a measure phasing out the cameras statewide.
But cities using the red camera systems, which capture images, and sometimes video of drivers running red lights, insist they have reduced intersection accidents and saved lives.
7-4-10
Baytown Sun Column;
http://baytownsun.com/story/51808
Red light tickets should be up to BPD
Baytown Sun Letter to the editor;
http://baytownsun.com/story/51783
"It literally scares and angers me to think of what the people of this country are allowing to happen in the name of safety and security over freedom and liberty. It is to our benefit and the protection of our freedom and rights that those we elect to govern are commended. The red light camera issue is a prime local example of what “We the People” have been sitting by and allowing to happen for too long now in our country."
Mystery of how red light cameras came to Texas solved!
http://thenewspaper.com/news/31/3189.asp
"For years it had been a mystery how the Texas House of Representatives, 83 percent of whose members voted to ban photo enforcement, could nonetheless endorse the use of red light cameras. An ethical storm that broke around state Representative Linda Harper-Brown (R-Irving) last month provides the answer. Harper-Brown, a Transportation Committee member, accepted unreported gratuities from a traffic camera firm in return for playing the decisive role in establishing the automated ticketing industry in the Lone Star State."
Camera company starts front group in Baytown, gets busted with false endorsements
http://thenewspaper.com/news/31/3118.asp
New Mexico bans cameras on state roads after no safety improvements
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/30/3084.asp
Houston drivers issued red light tickets for turning right on green
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7339290
Journal of Trauma; "no statistically significant reduction in the number of accidents."
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/30/3088.asp
Louisiana politicians caught in camera kickback corruption
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/30/3097.asp
Red light camera petition turned in! Also there is info on the accident descrepencies in the same article
http://baytownsun.com/story/48984
Short yellow times boost revenues in Texas
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/29/2992.asp
Recent public debate on red light cameras
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/29/2969.asp
LAPD caught fudging accident statistics, Montclair, Upland, El Monte and Fullerton California discontinue red lights partially because of increased accidents http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2009/11/accidents_up_near_red-lig.php
Accidents at Corpus Christi red light camera intersections increased
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/corpus-christi-texas-red-light-cameras-increase-accidents/
Lubbock city council votes out cameras after accidents went up
http://www.kcbd.com/Global/story.asp?s=7875071
Baytown police study shows accidents up after camera installation at Garth and West Baker
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/29/2971.asp
Baytown's short yellow lights and other problems;
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/28/2827.asp
http://baytownsun.com/story/45108/
http://blogs.chron.com/eastharris/2009/07/redlight_cameras_a_new_wrinkle.html
http://baytownsun.com/story/46231/
http://www.baytownsun.com/story/47764
Petition Efforts in Houston;
www.nocamerashouston.com
www.houstoncoalition.net/
Other petition efforts around the country;
http://www.theeagle.com/local/Traffic-cameras-voted-down--
http://baytownsun.com/story/48120
http://www.civilviolation.com/
http://camerafraud.wordpress.com/
Studies on red light camera safety;
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/04/430.asp
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/02/243.asp
Here are the scans of the raw data for accidents from pre and post installation click below to download them. Add them up yourself, unlike the city we won't hide anything from you.
WB 146 @ Alexander
EB Baker @ Decker
NB Alexander @ 146
SB Garth @ 146
WB 146 @ Wyoming
NB Garth @ I-10
SB Garth @ I-10
Garth @ Baker see scans on home page
Why did the city turn down $10,000 or a reduction of 50% in red light violations? See the NMA Red Light Camera Challenge the city won't consider.
The National Motorist Association has a standing challenge. They will reduce red light camera violations at any intersection monitored by a red light camera by at least 50% through engineering methods only or give the city $10,000. Why would the city turn down either outcome? Could it be because they know that we could get better results with engineering methods instead of cameras but don't want to risk giving up their money making program? I offered this challenge to the city when I spoke to them this summer and privately to more than one council member yet they will not take the NMA up on their challenge, WHY?????????????
http://www.motorists.org/photoenforce/home/10000-ticket-camera-challenge/
More to come
