It doesn’t take long for vehicles traveling north on South Memorial Drive from 61st Street to get moving.
Cresting a small hill and urged along by a four-lane road with no stop lights for a mile, the 40 mph speed limit can come quick.
Vehicles on that road travel at speeds that easily average 50 mph, said one woman who works on South Memorial Drive. “I see excessive speed. I see drag racing,” said the worker, who asked not to be identified. “They are coming down the hill and they just aren’t watching their speed.”
But someone is.
A six-block stretch of South Memorial Drive between 51st and 61st streets ranks as the No. 2 spot for Tulsa police to write speeding tickets during a four-year period ending in May. The 2,321 speed-related tickets written in that area are among the 100,000-plus speeding citations written by Tulsa police in the last four years.
The No. 2 ranking for South Memorial Drive is among the findings in a Tulsa World analysis of traffic citation data made available to the public by Tulsa police as part of a federal racial discrimination lawsuit involving the Black Officers Coalition.
The data, which dates to 2004, is maintained on the TPD Web site and includes information about thousands of citations issued by police, including the race and date of birth of those cited, as well as where the violation occurred. The analysis excludes speeding citations that resulted in an arrest.
But while that portion of Memorial Drive keeps police busy, anyone who has driven the Broken Arrow Expressway near downtown enough times has probably seen where police are the busiest. Nestled in the median between the 1300 and 1700 blocks of the expressway, police stake out the area and snare motorists exceeding the 55 mph speed limit. Over the past four years, the near-downtown stretch of the Broken Arrow Expressway ranks as theNo. 1 area in the city for TPD speeding tickets, with 3,739 citations issued during the past four years.
Video evidence shows a San Bernardino, California red light camera operating with a yellow time so short it violates state law.
A brand new red light camera on California’s historic Route 66 is already generating thousands in revenue for San Bernardino, but the biggest lawbreaker in these cases may turn out to be the city itself. Since September 25, a photo ticketing device has watched over the intersection of Mount Vernon Avenue and 9th Street, trapping motorists caught by a yellow light that is so short it violates state law.
Truck driver Raymond Chacon discovered this last month while taking a training course to help him upgrade his commercial driver’s license. Under the supervision of an instructor, he came to the intersection behind the wheel of a big-rig tractor trailer. He entered just a split-second after the light had turned red. After successfully completing the course and passing the Department of Motor Vehicles Class A license test “with flying colors,” Chacon received a $400 red light camera ticket in the mail. Chacon immediately began investigating what might have happened at that location. He turned to the highwayrobbery.net website, which encouraged him to check whether the city used yellow signal timing that conformed with state guidelines.
Video from the intersection in question confirms that drivers are given only 3.0 seconds of yellow, even though the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) insists that 35 MPH intersections have a yellow of no less than 3.6 seconds. While this 0.6 second shortage appears insignificant, it can represent the difference between a ticket and no ticket for thousands of motorists. This is even more true for truck drivers like Chacon.
Romulus, Michigan police officers are being so aggressive that another police agency is warning drivers to be wary of a so-called “speed trap.”
Detroit Metropolitan police are outing Romulus officers who are pulling over drivers for speeding in the area of Interstate 94 around the airport.
“Under the bridge might be an unmarked Dodge Charger that’s there to nail you,” said airport spokesman Mike Conway. Conway said Romulus police are pulling over record-number of drivers in an effort to raise cash.
“To us, it’s more of a revenue generation for the city of Romulus than traffic safety enforcement,” he said. Conway said court records show the city has written ten thousand tickets since July 1st.
The Wayne County Airport Authority has even begun circulating fliers that read, “The Romulus Police Department has dramatically increased its patrols at the entrances and exits to Detroit Metropolitan Airport, using unmarked vehicles. Please be careful to observe all speed limits and traffic laws.”
Airport officials said they plan on turning the flier into a billboard and will leave it up until the Romulus police stop targeting those entering and leaving the airport.
The airport police chief sent out an e-mail to officers telling them to park in front of a Romulus police patrol car if you see one and turn on overhead lights to warn drivers to slow down.
Romulus police said they are just doing their job and patrolling all of Romulus, including the area around the airport. “We’re going to be looking at those areas to make sure people are not speeding, to target traffic enforcement efforts in those areas to maintain safety and keep people safe on the roads,” said Romulus Lt. John Leacher. “That’s our goal.”
Texas district court judge finds red light camera company guilty of operating without a license.
Dallas, Texas based Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) earlier this month became the second major photo enforcement camera company to be busted for operating without a license. Proceedings are scheduled to continue today in a Dallas County courtroom as 192nd Civil District Court Judge Craig Smith decides the appropriate remedy for the situation.
On November 19, Smith issued an order declaring the company in violation of a state law requiring commercial firms that provide evidence for use in court to have a license that proves their employees have passed strict criminal background checks and other requirements. Dallas attorney Lloyd Ward sued ACS after the company mailed a ticket to his home.
“Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment on the issue of failure to obtain appropriate license and bond under the Texas Occupation Code Section 1702.101 et seq. is hereby granted,” Judge Smith wrote.
Smith’s order agreed with a May ruling by the Louisiana State Board of Private Investigator Examiners which found Australian camera operator Redflex Traffic Systems had been illegally operating an investigation service in that state. Both Louisiana and Texas impose similar restrictions on commercial services that provide evidence for use in court.
“Unless the person holds a license as an investigations company, a person may not… offer to perform the services of an investigations company,” Texas Code Section 1702 states. “A person acts as an investigations company for the purposes of this chapter if the person engages in the business of obtaining or furnishing… information related to… crime or wrongs done; or… engages in the business of securing… evidence for use before a court, board, officer, or investigating committee… furnishing information includes information obtained or furnished through the review and analysis of, and the investigation into the content of, computer-based data not available to the public.”
The following is an excerpt from the show notes of popular Talk-Show host Clark Howard. A Speed Trap Ahead subscriber sent me a link to this article after listening to Clark’s live discussion on Dec. 15th. I’m am REALLY sorry I missed that episode!
The Clark Howard Show – December 15, 2008
Arizona Rakes in the Dough with Speed Cameras
Clark gets worried whenever state or local officials say they want to protect us by putting in cameras to monitor our speed while driving. The real purpose of such cameras is to make money.
The Detroit News reports that Arizona will make $175 million this year from speed cameras. They have an Australian contractor who handles everything: installation, ticketing and collections. The contractor gets $30 from every ticket with the remainder going to the state.
In fact, Arizona decided it wasn’t making enough revenue from the cameras, so they lowered the speed limit in the state to get more money! These tickets don’t come with any points on your license; they’re strictly against the car itself and just a form of tax.
Illinois and other states now want to install similar speed cameras. But don’t believe the political hype about these cameras being used to reduce the rate of highway fatalities. They’re simply designed to stock the coffers so politicians can get re-elected.
And get this — The Detroit News reports Arizona only puts the cameras on roads that are heavily driven by out-of-state motorists. So the revenue comes from non-voters because the politicians don’t want to alienate their constituents!
Clark doesn’t deny that speeding is dangerous and also necessitates longer stopping distances in the event of a panic stop. But these cameras are only about the dough. If they were really intended to make you a safer driver, the tickets would be against the driver, not against the car. So get ready to smile — you may be on candid camera!
Here’s a link to the shownotes page for that episode of The Clark Howard Show.
Cresting a small hill and urged along by a four-lane road with no stop lights for a mile, the 40 mph speed limit can come quick.
A brand new red light camera on California’s historic Route 66 is already generating thousands in revenue for San Bernardino, but the biggest lawbreaker in these cases may turn out to be the city itself. Since September 25, a photo ticketing device has watched over the intersection of Mount Vernon Avenue and 9th Street, 
Romulus, Michigan police officers are being so aggressive that another police agency is warning drivers to be wary of a so-called “speed trap.”
Dallas, Texas based Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) earlier this month became the second major photo enforcement camera company to be busted for operating without a license. Proceedings are scheduled to continue today in a Dallas County courtroom as 192nd Civil District Court Judge Craig Smith decides the appropriate remedy for the situation.
Loading ...