--- From: "Diamond, Richard" <Richard.Diamondat_private> Subject: CA Camera Report: Privacy Problems, Short Yellow, Revenue Motive Date: Wed, 24 Jul 2002 20:35:41 -0400 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. Here's the data: <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> Percentage of Citations Occurring Within One Second of the Red Light <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Fremont* 88% Long Beach 84 Los Angeles 86 Oxnard 73 Sacramento 82 San Diego 57 San Francisco 72 Source:Vendor data since the inception of each program. However, San Francisco is 2001 data only. *Fremont data are for violations captured by red light cameras rather than citations issued. [ 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. Please note that even this chart is as pro-camera a statement of the facts in California as you can get. We would be happy to provide the *real* criteria San Diego used to choose intersections, from memos released at trial (hint: short yellow, downhill approach and high volume are the key criteria). Finally, let's address some problems in the report. Although the report does a good job of hiding the extreme profit generated by the $270 red light camera ticket (highest in the nation), the fact is that the following entities are huge amounts of money: The State of California Insurance Companies (California assesses points to licenses) Camera vendors like ACS, Nestor, etc. Just because a few cities haven't gotten the money-making formula down quite right yet, that shouldn't distract from the the millions generated by the cameras. Also, the accident statistics are quite selective, leaving out the massive increase in rear end collisions caused by the cameras. The report makes it look like San Diego had an accident decrease. That's inaccurate -- look at the facts: http://freedom.gov/library/multi/bejarano.asp Richard Diamond Office of the Majority Leader U.S. House of Representatives 202-225-6007 / www.freedom.gov ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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