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Resistance See other Resistance Articles Title: Opposition To Red Light Cameras- A Personal View August 4, 2008 "Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground" -Frederick Douglas (1857) We have cameras stalking our every move, nanny state cops peering into everyone's windows to see if their belt is latched or if they 'dare' to talk on the phone. Of course it's 'for our best interest' because after all, the benevolent pappa state has only our best interest at heart, right? :::::::: I had a newspaper reporter e-mail me last week because she was writing an article on red light cameras and told me she had found my website http://NoTrafficCameras.Info opposing the cams. So she called me up and we chatted about the cams for about 20 minutes. I then e-mailed two guys I know who do great work on this issue. Geo McCalip who runs the awesome website HelpIGotATicket.com (I very highly recommend this site, which taught me how to beat tickets. It's a piece of cake. I've beaten 6 tickets and had 2 friends beat theirs too.) Another activist runs http://HighwayRobbery.net, which is probably the most comprehensive website on red-light traffic (s)cameras in California. Geo called the reporter up and she included him in the article as well. The article ran Sunday in the Press Enterprise newspaper. The primary problem with the article, as I see it, is the lying headline, which claims these cams reduce accidents, when actually the exact opposite is true; a simple google search will reveal thousands of official city, state and fed documents outlining how these cams actually cause acccidents and increase danger to motorists, not to mention increa$e revenue for the cities. For example in San Diego, their own traffic engineers admit that the cameras cause a 62% INCREASE in rear-end accidents! [see link below]. This study is one that I referred to and the reporter had the link. Did she include mention of it? No. However, at least she did include mention of some 'resistance' to these cameras. I'm also disappointed that she didnt mention my site by name so that people could verify what I say about the cameras and verify the data for themselves, since I source everything that is on my page. However she did mention helpigotaticket.com which will in itself probably cause the loss of thousands of dollars in state revenue if even just a few people go look at the site. ;-) One last thing. Often times when I tell people about how I beat tickets they will say "HOW DID YOU GET AWAY WITH IT!?" I point out that I didn't quote "get away" with anything, that it is encumbent upon the state to prove your guilt, not vice versa, and that we have the presumption of innocence, not guilt, in this country. A citation is not a conviction, merely a request to appear. Try not appearing and they will lock you in a cage. This is why i resist every ticket and force the state to comply with their own laws. In my experience, they fail nearly every time. I recently had a friend, Sylvia, who had fought a ticket for the first time, after I told her about my success using the free info on helpigotaticket.com. She beat an almost $600 speeding ticket, without taking ONE MINUTE off work, (she did whats called a TRIAL BY DECLARATION, through the mail) and she didnt spend ONE PENNY. (she had gotten a 'bail waiver'). When I saw her the next time she had a smile from ear to ear and told me "I won! I beat the ticket!" and gave me several high fives. I asked her , "now Sylvia, will you ever plead 'guilty' to any ticket again?" To which she replied, 'HECK NO!' It is so beautiful and meaningful to see the fires of liberty and resistance lit in a person new to the freedom movement. To me, this was better than a team 'winning the superbowl' or other such nonsense. Traffic tickets may seem petty but actually most of it is for revenue and is therefore by it's very nature, tyrannical. A petty tyranny, perhaps, but a tyranny nevertheless. These tickets costs motorists thousands, once their insurance goes up for three years if convicted, and thus oppresses families. This is why we should make the state prove their case every time. We have cameras stalking our every move, nanny state cops peering into everyone's windows to see if their belt is latched or if they 'dare' to talk on the phone. Of course it's 'for our best interest' because after all, the benevolent pappa government has only our best interest at heart, right? The article link is below. Also, links to some of the data included on my site. Keep up the good fight, Martin Hill "Figure 2-12 shows that, after photo enforcement, the average RE [rear end] accident rates increased by 62 percent for the enforced movement and by nearly 43 percent for the non-enforced movements, respectively. Photo enforcement resulted in significantly higher RE accident rates at photo-enforced intersections where a THM [through movement] was enforced, especially for the enforced THM movement." ["City of San Diego Enforcement System Review Final Report", PB Farradyne Inc., January 14, 2002, Chapter 2 "Red light Running and Accidents", page 17] (enforcement programs that increase accidents of any type and cause harm to the public in any way are not acceptable as public policy under any circumstance) SOURCE: San Diego Photo Enforcement System Review PB Farradyne January 14, 2002 Chapter 6 Traffic Engineering and Traffic Operations Improvements SECTION 6.1.2 LONGER YELLOW CHANGE INTERVALS FIGURE 6.1 PAGE 79 http://www.sandiego.gov/police/pdf/photochap6.pdf July 24, 2002 - CA Camera Report: Privacy Problems, Short Yellow, Revenue Motive By Richard Diamond, Office of the Majority Leader U.S. House of Representatives 202-225-6007 / www.freedom.gov A new report by the California State Auditor proves several important points:(1) Most red light camera violations happen within the first second of yellow; (2) Serious privacy problems exist; (3) Revenue is officially one of LA's camera motives. The report can be found here: http://www.bsa.ca.gov/bsa/pdfs/2001125.pdf [ 1 ] Cities banking on inadequate yellow time According to the report, "a significant percentage of the issued citations are for red light violations that occur within one second of the light turning red." (p. 43). What this means is that if the yellow light is extended a mere second, the majority of the red light running problem goes away, as we have found happen in several communities including San Diego, and Fairfax, VA. [ 2 ] Privacy Problem "Our review found at least two instances where vendors misused photographs taken by red light cameras. In one instance, a photograph that showed a bicyclist being struck by a vehicle in San Francisco was posted in the hallway of the San Diego Police Department." Page 21 [ 3 ] Los Angeles Admits Money is their Motive Page 26 has a chart that indicates "Increased revenue" is a criterion for intersection selection for Los Angeles. In Inland area, more accident-reducing red-light cameras on the way 06:56 PM PDT on Sunday, August 3, 2008 By GENE GHIOTTO and PAIGE AUSTIN The Press-Enterprise EXCERPT: Critics say the cameras generate revenue for a city under the guise of safety. Supporters say the cameras cut down on broadside collisions. ... Martin Hill has devoted a Web site aimed at fighting the spread of red-light cameras in his city. The cameras violate privacy and prompt drivers to slam on their brakes, triggering rear-end accidents, he said. Similarly, Geo McCalip operates helpigotaticket.com, a Web site he said is devoted to debunking the devices and helping motorists fight tickets. The purpose of the cameras is to generate income for a city under the guise of safety, he said. "It's strictly revenue," McCalip said. "It's all about money. If it were really about safety, they'd increase the yellow lights." However, an opinion issued in June by the 4th District Court of Appeal, Division One, in San Diego, upheld a San Diego County Superior Court ruling that red-light cameras are legal. For many Inland law enforcement officials, the safety improvements justify the cameras. Authors Bio: Catholic paleo-libertarian from California Back
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#1. To: Artisan (#0)
Good job, and thanks for this reminder.
While I am firmly opposed to the intrusion of the red-light cameras - I am willing to share my 100% guaranteed secret for avoiding red-light tickets! here's what I do - I slow down in residential areas and I stop before the light turns red. That's right! 1. slow down 2. stop before the light turns red 100% guaranteed!
Paris / Rihanna 2008
they rig the cameras so that they will get you anyway. also they give tickets for right hand turns, and now theyre amping up for 'speed' cameras. all this nonsense ia an abomination and an anatehma. the fines are obscene and the whole thing by its nature violates due process rights.
MY REPLY TO ZEITGEIST: 1John Chapter 2: "21 I write to you not because you do not know the truth but because you do, and because every lie is alien to the truth. 22 Who is the liar? Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Whoever denies the Father and the Son, this is the antichrist." thanks
MY REPLY TO ZEITGEIST: 1John Chapter 2: "21 I write to you not because you do not know the truth but because you do, and because every lie is alien to the truth. 22 Who is the liar? Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Whoever denies the Father and the Son, this is the antichrist." There are probably more than a dozen of these things here in Columbus - I drive through intersections which have the cameras every day. I've never received a ticket. I only make right-hand turns legally and as I mentioned before - I slow down. As a matter of fact - I make a conscious effort to stay off the accelerator to save fuel. (my gas mileage has increased by 5 miles per gallon. As to you assurtion that the cameras are "rigged," I'd need a lot more proof before I supported that premise.
Paris / Rihanna 2008
theyre admittedly rigged. and also, they admittedly cause accidents, not reduce them, as admitted by traffic engineers throughout the country. these are traffic enginneers who work for the very cites who love and put up the cameras! a google search will reveal that thousands of these scam tickets have been tossed out by courts in class action lawsuits across the country. san diego santa ana and costa mesa CA are a few of the notable cases here. or you can check notrafficcameras.info for summary of compiled info. also, highwayrobbery.net is another great site. the larger point, as evidenced by your doubt , is that you seem to not see government for the obvious inherent rot that it is.? these cameras are a corporatist scheme that can even legitimately be referred to as fascist since corporations, in this case lockheed martin who uses the sub name ACS, works with cities in plush contracts to increase the fat of the city coffers while they knowingly cause accidents (in one city, an increase of literally 82%, in san diego, by 62%).
MY REPLY TO ZEITGEIST: 1John Chapter 2: "21 I write to you not because you do not know the truth but because you do, and because every lie is alien to the truth. 22 Who is the liar? Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Whoever denies the Father and the Son, this is the antichrist." Oh I see plenty of rot in city government. I just don't see these red light cameras as much more than an annoying source of revenue for city government. Which might not be so bad, because the increased revenue might prevent other tax increases. these cameras are a corporatist scheme that can even legitimately be referred to as fascist since corporations, in this case lockheed martin who uses the sub name ACS, works with cities in plush contracts to increase the fat of the city coffers while they knowingly cause accidents (in one city, an increase of literally 82%, in san diego, by 62%). I think the "fascist" claim is quite a stretch. You mention "fat" city coffers, my friend, here in the 15th largest city in the nation (Columbus OH) the city is laying off and cutting expenses (quite overdue!) The revenue collected from careless drivers pays for the cameras, enforcement, signs, etc. the balance goes into the general fund. Hardly a jackpot of cash flowing in. As for your traffic accident claims, please cite your source. It seems to me that this increase in accidents must be from rear-end collisions? Don't blame the cameras - blame the drivers who are following too closely at too high a rate of speed. Do yourself a favor - start riding the bus, you'll have a lot less stress in your life. Best wishes
Paris / Rihanna 2008
hehehe http://www.speedcam.co.uk/gatso2.htm
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