Autoblog http://www.autoblog.com Autoblog http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.autoblog.com/media/feedlogo.gif Autoblog http://www.autoblog.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[NYPD arrests couple for stealing traffic cams w/cherry picker]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2009/07/25/nypd-arrests-pair-for-stealing-red-light-cameras-w-cherry-picker/http://www.autoblog.com/2009/07/25/nypd-arrests-pair-for-stealing-red-light-cameras-w-cherry-picker/http://www.autoblog.com/2009/07/25/nypd-arrests-pair-for-stealing-red-light-cameras-w-cherry-picker/#commentsFiled under: ,



One of the more controversial developments in traffic safety enforcement in recent years has been the deployment of automated speed and red-light cameras, which use radar sensors to nab alleged scofflaws and ticket them via mail. According to the NYPD, pair of thieves allegedly spent the better part of a month trolling the city in a pickup truck with a cherry picker, raiding red-light camera for their valuable innards, including the Nikon cameras that actually take the photos. Police arrested the pair, identified as Brooklynites Anthony Cintorrino and Tara Laburt, after recovering some of the stolen items from a reseller and tracing them backwards from there. Following the couple's arrest, police found more stolen items in their homes, and reportedly expected to recover everything. All told, over $88,000 of equipment was swiped. Cintorrino apparently knew what he was doing -- in the past, he had worked as a contractor for the firm that installs and maintains the cameras for the city. Now, if you live in New York, don't go around thinking you start running red lights without getting snagged. The city claims all of the cameras were replaced within 48 hours of the thefts.

[Source: The New York Post | Image: Wikimedia Commons]

NYPD arrests couple for stealing traffic cams w/cherry picker originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 25 Jul 2009 12:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>red lightred light camerared light camera theftsred light camerasRedLightRedLightCameraRedLightCamerasRedLightCameraTheftsSat, 25 Jul 2009 12:17:00 EST<![CDATA[Houston study lauds red light cameras despite uptick in accidents]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2008/12/30/houston-study-lauds-red-light-cameras-despite-uptick-in-accident/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/12/30/houston-study-lauds-red-light-cameras-despite-uptick-in-accident/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/12/30/houston-study-lauds-red-light-cameras-despite-uptick-in-accident/#commentsFiled under: ,

We all know we shouldn't mess with Texas. And Houston, Texans shouldn't mess around with statistics, because the folks running the show are going to come to any conclusions they want no matter what the statistics say. This is the easy part: a study of red light cameras in the city shows that accidents have actually increased at intersections with the cameras.

These are the parts that are open to interpretation: most intersections only have one camera looking at one (out of four) directions of traffic, but the accident rate went up for traffic in the other three unmonitored directions; and, in the one monitored direction, "accidents remained relatively flat or showed only a slight increase." What do you make of that?

Mayor Bill White and the study authors say the city in general is experiencing a swell in the number of collisions, and claim that collisions at the monitored intersections haven't risen as much as the wider municipal rate. Yet they have no data to back up an increase in citywide collisions, and no year-on-year accident data at intersections (let alone an explanation for the uptick). White said that a 40-percent year-on-year drop in red light citations in the month of October shows the program is working and keeping drivers more safe. Critics say that the program is nothing but a cash register for city government. The study's authors plan to study insurance industry findings to come up with more substantive conclusions.

[Source: Houston Chronicle]

Houston study lauds red light cameras despite uptick in accidents originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>governmenthoustonred lightred light camerasRedLightRedLightCamerasrevenuesafety cameraSafetyCamerastudytexasticketstraffic cameraTrafficCameraTue, 30 Dec 2008 16:31:00 EST<![CDATA[Irony: Red light cameras a safety impediment]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/#commentsFiled under: , ,



Red light cameras are nothing more than a surreptitious tax. Oh sure, they're sold to municipalities as a safety benefit, but what else would you say if you wanted to be paid to install, administrate, and monitor your little ticket-writing bots? The cities and towns that put the cameras greedily snap up the extra revenue generated by dangerously short yellow lights and overzealous cameras. Patrick Bedard has been poking holes in the theory that traffic cameras are the salve for behind the wheel idiocy, and a recent study by the University of South Florida Public Health agrees that the cameras actually cause accidents. Other studies also back up the findings that drivers are quicker to slam on their brakes at yellow lights when they spot the cameras. While it should not play out with a rear ending, nobody maintains a safe following distance, or even pays attention. In some cases, the rate of red light running is low enough that the cameras cause a spike in incidents, proving that the cure can sometimes be worse than the sickness.

[Source: Kicking Tires, Photo: Morning Chu Hi]

Irony: Red light cameras a safety impediment originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 14 Mar 2008 09:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>accidentaccidentscameracrashfloridainfractionred lightRedLightrevenuesafetystudytickettraffictraffic cameraTrafficCameraviolationFri, 14 Mar 2008 09:58:00 EST<![CDATA[They do it different in Texas: Speed cameras banned statewide]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2007/05/23/they-do-it-different-in-texas-speed-cameras-banned-statewide/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/05/23/they-do-it-different-in-texas-speed-cameras-banned-statewide/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/05/23/they-do-it-different-in-texas-speed-cameras-banned-statewide/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Finally, someone's fighting back against the fleecing of the general populace. Famous for liking things big, Texas lawmakers have laid the smackdown on red light and speed cameras in a large manner. HB.922 states "A municipality may not implement or operate an automated traffic control system with respect to a highway under its jurisdiction," which means that cameras, automated radar or laser, or anything else designed to snag an image of a car, driver, or license plate and record its speed is now forbidden. The even larger racket of red-light cameras have had the brakes applied by HB.1052, which requires giving motorists notice of the devices at least 100 feet out.

These bills have passed through the legislature and are awaiting Governor Rick Perry's inscription. If the measures do make it into law, we hope that other states follow suit. Ticketing egregious speeders and actual red-light scofflaws is one thing, but the systems have been calibrated in a cynical manner to generate loads of revenue (and kickbacks) for the companies that sell and administrate the systems for municipalities. Rather than keeping people safe, random ticketing amounts to a tax, and that really sticks in our craw. We're pleased beyond words that Texas has taken up the motorists' cause, and we hope that the new legislation can stand as a precedent.

Thanks for the tip, Dylan!

[Source: caradvice]

They do it different in Texas: Speed cameras banned statewide originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 23 May 2007 09:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>automatedcameralightredred lighred lightRedLighRedLightspeedspeedingtexasticketWed, 23 May 2007 09:37:00 EST<![CDATA[Townsfolk react to red light rigger on video]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2006/04/20/townsfolk-react-to-red-light-rigger-on-video/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/04/20/townsfolk-react-to-red-light-rigger-on-video/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/04/20/townsfolk-react-to-red-light-rigger-on-video/#commentsFiled under: ,

The story of the Colorado man who got fined $50 for using a device to change traffic lights on his way to work from red to green has made its way around the internet already. As much fun as it is to read about the man's eventual capture after two years of playing god in traffic, it's more fun to watch this CNN video of townspeople pissed off that the guy got off virtually scott free. Hilarity also ensues watching the authorities explain how after fielding two years of complaints about an unexplicably long red light at this particular intersection they finally went to the tapes and noticed a reoccurring Ford Ranger pickup that never got caught... by the light, that is.

[Source: CNN via AutoSpies]

Townsfolk react to red light rigger on video originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 20 Apr 2006 16:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ambulanceemergency vehicleEmergencyVehicleEMTfineOpticonpolicered lightRedLighttickettraffic lightTrafficLightThu, 20 Apr 2006 16:06:00 EST<![CDATA[Man fined $50 for using device faster than the speed of light(s)]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2006/04/19/hey-baby-watch-me-change-the-light/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/04/19/hey-baby-watch-me-change-the-light/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/04/19/hey-baby-watch-me-change-the-light/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Sister site Engadet has posted a report of a man busted for using an Opticon, a device used by public safety like firefighters, to change streetlights to his advantage. He continued to do so for two years until the Boys (and gals) in Blue noticed the pattern and tracked him down.

The man, Jason Niccum of Longmont, Colorado was fined the princely sum of $50, which has got to strike the offender as value-for-the-dollar.

Niccum had purchased the Opticon for a $100 on eBay.

[Sources: CNN via Engadget; Getty Images]

Man fined $50 for using device faster than the speed of light(s) originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 19 Apr 2006 13:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Jason NiccumJasonNiccumLongmontOpticonRed LightRedLightWed, 19 Apr 2006 13:28:00 EST<![CDATA[Minneapolis judge orders 'lights out' for traffic signal cameras]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2006/03/16/m/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/03/16/m/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/03/16/m/#commentsFiled under:

A Minneapolis, Minnesota area judge has given red-light cameras a taste of their own medicine. Hennepin County District Judge Mark Wernick has put the red light on the county's automated traffic signal cameras installed this past July.

The judge found legal fault with the county's 'Stop On Red' program, which (like virtually all red-light camera programs) tickets the owners of the offending vehicles, not the drivers themselves. As Minnesota state laws put the responsibility for light violations on the driver, Wernick threw out the challenging ticket, saying that Minneapolis lacks the authority to make law an ordinance that would hold vehicle owners responsible.

The motorist who brought the case to court was represented by an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) volunteer attorney, Howard Bass, who argued that the ordinance was unconstitutional, though Judge Wernick didn't comment on that facet of their case.

The city is mulling whether to appeal the decision, but the case could set an important legal precident nationwide, as it is estimated that as many as 160 other cities employ red light cameras.

[Source: Associated Press via KMSP Fox 9 News]

(Top tip, Jenni!)

Minneapolis judge orders 'lights out' for traffic signal cameras originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 16 Mar 2006 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ACLUHennepinMark WernickMarkWernickMinneapolisPhoto CopPhoto RadarPhotoCopPhotoRadarRed LightRed Light CameraRedLightRedLightCameraSpeed CameraSpeedCameraStop On RedStopOnRedThu, 16 Mar 2006 08:00:00 EST