It seems Jeff Buck has to park his car on the street outside his home in Nottingham. With no driveway or garage available, parking it on the shoulder along Watnall Road is the best he can do.

The problem stems from the fact that somebody else happened to speed past the camera perched above his parked car. Police officers who processed the photos and issued the fines somehow missed the fact that his vehicle was stationary.

Police have now issued an apology to Buck after he successfully fought the tickets. It probably wasn’t too hard to prove that his parked car wasn’t the one triggering the speed cameras. We’re guessing police will now be looking a little more closely at the other vehicles in the pictures to see who actually broke the 30 mile per hour speed limit along that road.

Although relieved to have the fines dismissed, Buck is understandably still a bit perturbed:

“I assumed the first time it happened that the police would put something in place to prevent it from happening again. I’m concerned now that every time someone triggers the camera I’ll get these notices. I am amused by it, but also angry that I have to go to the trouble of contacting the police.”

A spokeswoman for the Nottinghamshire Police said that staff members would be getting a little extra training in verifying the speed camera images properly.

Do you admit guilt, drop the payment envelope in the mail, and have it be history…or do you throw it in the trash and hope it just goes away?

Neither, exactly. And just to clear up some misconceptions, this is definitely not a case of, “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.”

If you understood the massive stakes involved, you’d do your research, maybe hire an attorney, and even if you have a clean record do your best to have the ticket reduced or, better yet, thrown out.

The days of speeding tickets simply going away, even if they’re out-of-state, are long gone. And it’s important you do something about it because a speeding ticket can come back to haunt you for years, in ways that you probably hadn’t thought possible.

Unseen affects, budget-hemorrhaging results

Most drivers know that having speeding tickets on their record will raise their auto insurance rates, but few are aware that, depending on where they live, it can affect them in a myriad of other ways, seemingly unrelated to driving. Like when you apply to get a new life insurance policy, to insure a boat, or even to apply for a business loan.

This could mean thousands of dollars. And that’s even before considering that an unsettled ticket could find its way to your credit score to wreak further havoc.

Technically, if you’re a repeat speeder, you’re risky business, and that risk might apply to other aspects of your life—or so say the actuaries, those who arrive at the methodology that takes all those seemingly insignificant factors in your profile, weighs them with factors like your driving record, and determines whether or not you’re high risk. Simply put, whether to charge you a few hundred dollars or a couple thousand on your next insurance premium is a matter of calculated risk.

The business of risk

If you’re one to argue that speeding doesn’t necessarily place you at a higher risk, you’re not going to find much sympathy from insurance companies. As they’re in the business of risk, they raise rates because with habitual speeding comes a much greater chance of injury, property damage, or death. Excessive speed is attributed in the worst, most costly accidents. In about one third of all fatal crashes, 26 percent of injury accidents, and 15 percent of property-damage-only accidents, speed is a factor. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), more than 1,000 Americans die every month due to speed-related crashes.

“Indeed speeding does contribute to crashes,” said Anne Fleming, a spokesperson for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. “People would love you to believe that speeding doesn’t cause more accidents, but it does.”

And it’s all very expensive. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the economic cost of speed-related crashes adds up to more than $40 billion—each year.

Without question, there’s an unfairness at times to the way in which motorists are singled out and ticketed for minor speeding goofs. But the system that insurers use for determining rates generally allows for that, with one minor-offense freebie not raising rates. After that, a pattern emerges with multiple offenses —- that this is a habit, not an anomaly -— and premiums rise to reflect that increased risk.

In several extensive studies of U.S. and Canadian drivers, researchers have found that the risk of a crash increases almost in direct proportion to the number of speeding tickets

Today speeding, tomorrow a costly claim?

Especially when looking at a new applicant, insurers see moving violations as a predictor of what’s to come, explained Jeffrey Spring, public relations manager for the Automobile Club of Southern California. Spring added that, simply put, “speeding today is a predictor of a crash tomorrow.”

Though at first you might think of life insurance as something completely unrelated, driving is a significant factor in mortality risk for those middle age and younger. In addition to having you fill out an extensive questionnaire and gauging how healthy you are, life insurance companies might check your driving record, with your approval, at the time that you open a new policy—and potentially again if you up your coverage or make significant changes—but the chances that the life-insurance company will periodically check your record are relatively low, according to Pete Moraga, of the Insurance Information Network of California.

Dick Luedke, a spokesman for State Farm, says that two or three tickets are unlikely to have a serious impact on life insurance even if they know, but a more serious offense like driving under the influence will. It’s a matter of knowing the risk, Ludke says, and “the cost of making a promise” for insurers to cover the insured in the event of an accident or issue.

But it’s in the interest of your auto insurer to keep a close eye on your driving; don’t think that they won’t find out.

“An insurance company can check your record anytime and does not need to inform you that they are checking,” said Loretta Worters, vice president of the Insurance Information Institute (III). According to Worters, the most common times are when you initially apply, when you change coverage or your policy, or once every couple of renewal cycles. Some carriers use a method of randomly spot-checking records, so you never know when that “forgotten” ticket might influence your premiums after all.

Your credit score might also be used in part to determine your rate for various types of insurance, including auto coverage. That’s not out of line, as “credit is tremendously correlated with risk,” said AAA’s Ludke. Studies have closely linked credit-based insurance scores with the likelihood of insurance losses in auto and homeowner coverage. Credit is an “extremely powerful, objective, and accurate” predictor of insured losses,” according to the III’s Worters, who added, “Consumers with low credit scores submit more claims than those with high credit scores.”

However you can rest assured that provided you pay any fines on time your speeding tickets won’t find their way onto your credit report. Traffic violations aren’t a factor in credit, and your driving record itself isn’t consulted when calculating your score, assured a spokesman for Experian, one of the major credit-scoring companies.

California and Hawaii don’t allow personal credit ratings from factoring into auto insurance coverage, but in most other states (basically wherever it’s not explicitly restricted) it’s now common practice to run a credit check for any type of insurance.

Credit where credit is due

But don’t assume anything. Depending on what state you’re in, the insurance company might also be able to see (and use in calculating your premium)—in addition to your credit history—results of civil lawsuits, settlements, and foreclosures for a longer time than other items on your credit report. And in most states, your claims history, where you live, marital status, occupation, education, and all sorts of other factors can have an impact on your rates—or even how severe the impact might be from a ticket.

Strictly speaking, it’s usually not the end of the world if you get a minor speeding ticket on your record. But a second minor ticket is likely to rise rates about 20 percent. By the time you get to the third minor ticket, or one or two weightier offenses, your rates will skyrocket. Once you have three to four tickets or more, you’ll find yourself kicked into a so-called distributed risk pool, in which larger insurers share the risk of the worst drivers and habitual offenders—paying several times more for only basic coverage that the law requires.

Before you even think again about delaying payment on that ticket, keep in mind that the ticket alone could taint your credit score. If you simply contest a ticket and request a court appearance, a speeding ticket can be reduced (often in fine amount, sometimes in the charge). But if you ignore it completely, you’re setting yourself up for a double-whammy. If the ticket gets sent to a collection agency for nonpayment, the next time you go to apply for a new policy or change coverage you’ll not only have a lower credit score but blemishes on your driving record—the perfect storm for a big jump in your premium.

So if you get a speeding ticket, don’t throw it in the trash and try to forget about it; but don’t simply admit guilt and pay it either. Contesting the ticket at least buys you the chance to get out of it. Even if you got the ticket while driving out of state, you’ll be better off finding a local traffic attorney to take your case, especially if it’s in an adjacent state. And be willing to take a safe-driving or defensive-driving course, which might erase the ticket from your record or at the very least indicate to insurers that you’re working to reduce your risk.

A little damage control will go a long way to help cushion the impact. [source: AOL Autos]

“I see all the cameras in Arizona completely coming down ” in 2010, said Shawn Dow, chairman of Arizona Citizens Against Photo Radar, which is trying to get a measure banning the cameras on the November ballot. “The citizens of Arizona took away the cash cow of Arizona by refusing to pay.”

The Arizona Department of Public Safety introduced the cameras in September 2008 and slowly added more until all 76 were up and running by January.

Supporters say the cameras slow down drivers and reduce accidents, but opponents argue that they are intrusive and are more about making money than safety.

More than 300 communities in 25 states use cameras similar to Arizona’s, including New York, Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. But the backlash seems to be particularly intense in Arizona. Some people have shown their distaste with the cameras by covering them with boxes, sticky notes and Silly String. In locally infamous cases, one man took a pickax to a camera and another purposefully set off the cameras dozens of times while wearing a monkey mask.

Lt. Jeff King, photo enforcement district commander for the Department of Public Safety, said his agency just wanted drivers to go the speed limit and did not understand all the backlash.

“Instead of spending so much time focusing on getting rid of cameras, why don’t they focus on the real problem, the root problem, which is getting people to drive the speed limit?” Lieutenant King said. “If everyone was to drive the speed limit, the cameras would never flash.”

The cameras led to more than 700,000 tickets to drivers going 11 miles per hour or more over the speed limit from September 2008 to September 2009, the most recent data available, according to the Department of Public Safety. The mandated fines and surcharges on all those tickets would total more than $127 million, but they had generated just $36.8 million through September, Lieutenant King said.

Some of the people who got those tickets are contesting them in court and could end up having to pay the fine, but many of them have gone unpaid because drivers know they have a good shot at getting away with ignoring them. When people get tickets, they can pay without question, request a court date and fight the ticket, or simply ignore the ticket because law enforcement cannot prove they received it. The ticket becomes invalid if a violator who ignores it is not served in person within three months. It is nearly impossible to say how many people have ignored their tickets because courts do not track the figure.

Whatever the figure, overtaxed process servers cannot get to most of those people, and many of the citations go unpaid. That is part of the reason the speed cameras have not made as much money as expected. While certain to increase, that $36.8 million in revenue through September will still fall far below the $120 million a year that former Gov. Janet Napolitano hoped to put in the state’s coffers when she ordered up the program in early 2007.

The camera operator, Redflex, may not even be breaking even. It cost the company $16 million to install the cameras, and it got back $4.6 million from September 2008 to June, Lieutenant King said.

Source: Associated Press

Only 11 states in the U.S. have laws regarding speed traps. Although these operations are usually set up to provoke safer driving in areas that are prone to speeding, they aren’t always a good thing.

If you’re a driver who’s been caught speeding as a result of a speed trap setup, you may be angered and upset that you were set up like that. The easiest and most obvious way to avoid being the victim of a speed trap would be to simply drive the speed limit. However, there are some areas across the nation where the speed limit is grossly under-posted, and you may not be aware of how fast you are supposed to be going. Additionally, most speed limits are prevailingly ignored, and traffic moves at its desired flow, regardless of posted limits. Thus, if you are in an unknown city or area, you might be caught in a speed trap due to being under-informed or unaware of your surroundings. Still, not an excuse, but it happens.

Every state has laws regarding posted speeds, and what speeds should be in different areas. For example, in most cities and downtown areas, the average speed is 25 mph, as it is in most residential neighborhoods (In Texas, it’s 30 mph). However, when you are in a commercial area, depending on the specific location, speed limits will usually be set at 35-40 mph. Highway speeds generally range between 55-60 mph for state highways, and 65-75 for interstate highways, again depending on your location. Check your local state laws for more information on speed limits in your state.

If you’re traveling to an unfamiliar place, and want to avoid being the wrongful victim of a speed trap, you should research laws in that area and ensure you are informed as to what speeds are acceptable in which areas. Additionally, you can consult the Speed Trap Exchange, sponsored by the National Motorists Association, for a list of known speed traps across the country, categorized by state: Speed Trap Listings by State. This site not only allows you to view various speed traps as reported by other drivers, but you are also able to report any speed traps that you are aware of, if they aren’t already listed.

Take into consideration that by providing this information, they aren’t promoting unsafe driving and/or speeding. They are simply attempting to provide you with useful information so that you don’t become the victim of a wrongful traffic stop due to speed traps and under-posted speed limits. You should always obey the speed limit and exercise caution and safety when you are driving.

Source: Rob Skubiak

The Ohio Court of Appeals on Monday ruled that a motorist cannot be convicted of speeding based solely on how fast his car may have sounded. On October 18, 2007, Patrolman Ken Roth ticketed Daniel Freitag in the village of West Salem as Freitag was driving with his wife Jane on US Route 42. Roth claimed his radar unit clocked Freitag at 42 MPH in a 35 zone. Roth also claimed he could hear Freitag’s 2006 Lincoln Navigator speeding.

“As it approached I could hear the vehicle on the roadway which based on my training and experience it is consistent with a vehicle that was in excess of the posted speed limit,” Roth testified.

A trial court judge on November 16, 2007 accepted this testimony and found Freitag guilty. Freitag challenged this decision before the Ohio Court of Appeals on the grounds that the radar evidence was not admissible. The trial court claimed it had taken judicial notice of the “Genesis Radar” that Roth used, but the state failed to specify which particular radar model was used. Freitag won on the point that the radar evidence was improperly admitted, but he lost as the court sent the case back to the trial judge to rule whether the officer’s estimate of Freitag’s speed based on the Navigator’s sound was credible. The trial court once again supported the officer and ruled that Freitag was guilty.

Freitag, however, did not give up. He appealed a second time, insisting that the officer’s testimony that he could estimate a vehicle’s speed by its sound or by watching a car’s headlights through the patrol car’s rear-view mirror was absurd. This time, the appeals court agreed.

“In weighing the evidence and all reasonable inferences and considering the credibility of the witnesses, we conclude that this presents the exceptional case, where the evidence weighs heavily in favor of Freitag,” Judge Donna J. Carr wrote for the court. “The weight of the evidence does not support the conclusion that Freitag was exceeding the posted speed limit, specifically because Patrolman Roth’s testimony that he audibly and visibly determined that Freitag was speeding is not credible… It is simply incredible, in the absence of reliable scientific, technical, or other specialized information, to believe that one could hear an unidentified vehicle ’speeding’ without being able to determine the actual speed of the vehicle.”

Calling the trial judge’s ruling a “manifest miscarriage of justice,” the court reversed Freitag’s conviction.

A copy of the final appeals court decision is available in a 50k PDF file.

Source: thenewspaper.com

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First, check to see where you and your car have come to rest. If you are in a safe spot, free from the danger of being hit by other traffic, exit your vehicle and assess the situation. Is anyone injured? If people are hurt, tend to their injuries as best you know how, and call 911.

If no one is hurt, and damage to your car is relatively minor, move your vehicle out of the roadway to a safer location, so you don’t block traffic, and perhaps cause more wrecks. Now, you can exchange names, addresses, phone numbers, car license numbers, VIN numbers, insurance information, and driver’s license info. If, for some reason, you are concerned about the validity of the information you are getting from the other driver, don’t hesitate to call the police. Although a police report is not necessary to file insurance claims in most instances, it won’t hurt to get an official report written if something seems a little sketchy.

In addition, be sure to get the names, addresses, and phone numbers of any witnesses. Also, note the location of the crash, including the numbered address, and nearest cross streets. If the vehicles cannot be moved, protect the scene with flares or other devices, and open the hoods of both cars.

Here’s the law in Texas regarding what to do in the event of a crash:

If you are in a collision and no one is hurt, it is NOT necessary to wait for the police before moving your vehicle. If the vehicle can be driven, the law requires you to move it out of the flow of traffic.

If there is damage to the vehicle, Texas law requires you to stop and exchange information. If someone is hurt, you also must render aid and notify the police or sheriff. If you hit an unattended vehicle, the law requires you to find the driver or write your name and address on a note that explains what happened. (You also must include the owner’s name and address if the vehicle you are driving doesn’t belong to you.)

When to call the police

Always call the police when an injury or fatality is involved. The police should be notified :

• when the cars cannot be moved
• when one of the drivers is intoxicated
• when one of the drivers has no insurance
• when one of the drivers leaves the scene of the crash

When an accident report is necessary

Accident reports can be obtained from the police department and and should be filed with the Department of Public Safety within ten days. You are required to file a report under these circumstances:

• when there are injuries or a fatality
• when property damage exceeds $500
• When a driver is intoxicated, unlicensed, has no insurance, or attempts to leave the scene

Crashes aren’t accidents — They can be prevented.

Drive Safely!

I work in Austin, TX near Metric and Braker. During one of my breaks from work, I made a quick trip to purchase an air compressor from a Craigslist seller. He lived near Lamar and North Loop. On my way back, I was going north on N. Lamar approaching Hwy 183. At the stop light at Morrow street, I was in the left lane. Intending to turn north on 183, I realized that I needed to be in the right lane (the green arrow on the map). So, when the light turned green, I pulled through the intersection, used my turn signal, and smoothly moved over two lanes. There was only one vehicle, several car lengths to the right-rear of me; and, I was never close enough to him to be in any way reckless.

Anyway, in my move to get to the right lane, I drove over the solid white line that delineates the regular lanes from the “exit” lane (where the little red arrow points). I continued on, through the next couple of lights, turning onto the northbound access road. Then, flashing red & blue lights caught my attention. I was being pulled over by an Austin cop. But, for what?! I thought maybe I had clipped through a yellow light at one of the signals or something.

I pulled into the Capital Metro Park-n-Ride, turned off the ignition, turned ON the interior light, rolled my window down, put my keys on top of the cab, and my hands on the steering wheel. When the officer approached, he asked if I knew why I had been pulled over. I said that I did not. “You crossed over the white line back there,” he said. I said, “Huh? Where?” I thought he was talking about a stop limit line at a stop light; but, I never go past those thick white bars. He explained what he was referring to, then told me to sit tight until he came back. While he was gone, I was thinking, “there weren’t any prohibitive white markings back there!” The satellite picture above is a little outdated. Below is a more current view, showing only a single white line, and no chevrons in the wider part where it splits.

So, the cop came back with a citation for “crossed solid white line”. He said he could give me a ticket for “unsafe lane change”, but he was giving me this one because it’d “be a little cheaper”. I thought, “That’s good, because ‘unsafe lane change’ is a legitimate charge. ‘Crossed solid white line’ is NOT!” So, I accepted my ticket for something that isn’t even illegal and went on back to work.

Now here’s a little explanation of what all the different lane markings mean:

The official meaning of lane markings in Texas is not detailed in the Transportation Code. Instead, section 544.001 of the Transportation Code requires that the state adopt a manual that details all the specifics of signs, signals, and markings. The manual that has been adopted is the Texas Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (Texas MUTCD); and, this manual is the “law” when it comes to all traffic control devices, including lane markings. The meaning of the various devices described in the MUTCD is enforceable.

Many people aren’t sure exactly what particular lane markings mean. Heck, some people don’t even know why some lines are white and some yellow! So, here’s a little guide, showing what the lines/markings mean.

So, I’ve plead “not guilty” on my ticket, and am waiting to hear from the court regarding an arraignment date. We’ll see how it goes; and, I’ll keep you updated.

Comments? Post away!

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In a typical year, the state of Texas has more than 1,000 highway projects under contract. As a result, drivers are likely to encounter a variety of work zone conditions, including uneven pavement, narrow lanes, concrete barriers, slow moving equipment, and loose gravel.

About 100 people, most of them motorists, are killed in work zones across Texas each year.

If you’re traveling in Texas, here’s the law regarding driving in work zones:

Texas law requires you to obey all signs in work zones. Fines for moving violations can be as much as $400 in construction or maintenance work zones marked with signs indicating that fines double when workers are present. You should always see a “Begin . . .” sign at the start of such zones. Enforcement of rules while in the ‘zone’ ends when you see the “End . . .” sign. (Note: I have noticed that the wording on ‘zone’ signs sometimes varies. For instance, the ‘end’ sign may say, “End Road Work”, or “End Work Zone”. Regardless, you should look for and pay particular attention to where a construction or work zone begins and ends.)

TRAVEL TIPS:

• Plan ahead by checking the web at www.dot.state.tx.us for state construction sites where travel may be delayed.
• Allow extra travel time, and be patient. Reducing your speed from 60 miles per hour to 45 miles per hour in a two-mile work zone delays your journey by only ONE minute!
• Observe all work zone warning signs; and, pay attention to flaggers in orange vests directing traffic.
• Merge at the first notice of a lane closure or change.
• Keep a safe distance between your vehicle, other vehicles, traffic barriers, construction workers, and equipment. Extra caution is required when driving in an active work zone at night!
• Avoid distractions! Don’t use your cell phone or send text messages. Don’t fiddle with the radio controls or your MP3 player.

Benton County Sheriff Keith Ferguson was pulled over for going too fast on May 1 at North Second and Easy streets in Rogers. He was going 60mph in a 35mph zone at around 1a.m. That was enough for Rogers police Officer Aaron Dildy to make a traffic stop.

Police dashcam video showed Ferguson producing his ID and registration just like anybody else. But Dildy only issued the sheriff a warning citation, which Ferguson actually refused to accept.

Ferguson told us he never identified himself as a police officer, so that couldn’t have influenced the traffic stop. Ferguson said, “If he would have wrote me a ticket I would have paid the ticket but I wasn’t going to ask him to write me a ticket.

Rogers Chief of Police Steve Hamilton told us the situation played out exactly like it should have. Hamilton said, “Receiving a warning is pretty much a standard practice. I think what an officer is looking for is compliance.”

This isn’t the first time this has happened. In 2006 Ferguson was pulled over by Bentonville police. That time Ferguson drove away from the officer before he was even told he could leave. Hamilton also said there’s a possibility Dildy didn’t know who Ferguson was at the time of the stop.

Hmmm… Driving 60 mph in a 35 mph zone at night warrants a warning?! Yea… Right!