For those of you who have been following my recent arrest and citations in Lakeway, Texas:

I have been found NOT-Guilty on all charges.

I am still not at liberty to discuss much more on this site (per my lawyer) until civil matters have been resolved, and I have suspended all posts related to Lakeway. However, for those of you who have been communicating with me directly, or who are past supporters, feel free to email me. I’ll fill you in on what I can.

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]

Sebastopol, which glories in its well-deserved reputation for strict traffic enforcement, is launching a public relations program asking drivers to slow down when going through town.

Police issue more speeding tickets in Sebastopol than any other city of its size in Sonoma County. But that hasn’t stopped residents from complaining about traffic scofflaws.

“The No. 1 complaint is regarding traffic, mostly speeding cars, usually on neighborhood streets,” said police Chief Jeff Weaver. “If I was to add up all the complaints I get about thefts, drug use, gangs or violent crime, it would not equal traffic complaints.”

Since the department doesn’t have the staff to station police officers in the neighborhoods, the next best thing is to post signs asking people to drive slowly, Weaver said.

“The staffing is the same as in 1986. I still have 14 police officers. We don’t have the time to devote to traffic as we once did,” Weaver said. “If this helps fill the gap, great.”

As part of the program, expected to cost $640, signs and banners proclaiming “Slow Down Sebastopol,” with the city seal and police department shield, will be posted at the entrances to the city, on some civic buildings and in some neighborhoods.

In addition, Weaver said the city will install permanent electronic signs that read a vehicle’s speed in the eastbound lanes of Bodega Avenue in west Sebastopol, and a third portable reader will be available to put at areas where speed or collisions are a problem.

There will not be an increase in enforcement, but Sebastopol already writes more tickets than other small departments.

In 2009, the department made 7,144 traffic stops, many related to the burgeoning downtown tavern scene, compared to 6,004 in 2008, Weaver said.

Officers issued 334 speeding tickets, compared to 641 in 2008.

In comparison, in the city of Healdsburg, which has a similarly-sized department, officers made 2,982 traffic stops and wrote 45 speeding tickets in 2009.

In Cloverdale, officers made 1,933 traffic stops and wrote 67 speeding tickets in 2009.

Sebastopol has a reputation for aggressively enforcing speed limits, dating back to 1974, when the department hired an officer with traffic safety funds, Weaver said.

“For a long time, the Sebastopol police had a ruthless reputation for speed enforcement,” Weaver said. “I grew up in Santa Rosa and I knew that when you got to the Sebastopol city limits, you slowed down.”

That officer gave Weaver’s sister a speeding ticket when she was hurrying to church to play the piano, and he also gave the department’s current dispatcher a ticket, Weaver said.

“I love it,” Weaver said. “I am comfortable with the strict enforcement of the traffic laws because it saves lives.”

The introduction of digital speed cameras, which will replace outdated wet-film models from mid-year, will enable the “tolerance” figure applied in the policing of speed limits to be lowered.

That would result in tens of thousands more motorists being booked without any speed limits being changed. The tolerance, which acts as a legal buffer for inaccuracy, is the difference between the speed limit and the detection trigger on cameras and hand-held radars.

It is understood Queensland’s figure cannot be lowered with wet-film cameras because the ageing system cannot process the extra fines that would be generated. But digital cameras would create an advanced fine-processing system.

Police and the State Government will not publicly acknowledge a tolerance figure.

In 1998, the first full-year speed cameras operated in Queensland, the state’s road toll was below 300 – the only time it has been so low since 1955.

Road safety authorities believe that was no coincidence and it has ensured lowering the tolerance will be discussed this year. Other states have gone public with their moves. In 2002, Victorian police lowered the threshold to 3km/h, meaning drivers could be fined for doing 63km/h in a 60 zone.

Victoria’s top traffic officer Ken Lay said the reduction and the public debate it created was one of the main factors in that state’s road toll dropping by almost 100 in the following two years.

Queensland Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson would not comment on tolerance levels.

“What I’m asking people to do is actually not exceed the speed limit at all,” Mr Atkinson said.

Police Minister Neil Roberts said: “The speed limit is the limit, not a guide. One ‘k’ over the limit is speeding under Queensland law”.

Speedos err on safe side

DODGING a speeding fine won’t be as simple as blaming a faulty speedometer if snapped by one of Queensland’s new digital speeding cameras.

RACQ vehicle technologies manager Steve Spalding said speedo errors were usually on the safe side.

“The actual speed is less than the indicated speed in nearly every instance. It’s very rare to see a speedometer where it’s inaccurate the other way,” Mr Spalding said.

He said it wasn’t uncommon for drivers to have their speedometers checked after picking up a speeding fine but confirmation of faulty speedometers was rare.

Mr Spalding said drivers of aging vehicles could rest assured their speedo was as trustworthy as the newest cars.

“There are no other mechanical reasons why speedometer accuracy should vary during the life of the vehicle,” he said.

“But we do advise motorists to get the speedometer checked after buying a new or used car. If it’s new they can have it checked under warranty.”

It is the owner’s responsibility to make sure that a vehicle’s speedometer works properly.

British officials are making plans to impose a tax on speeding and parking citations this year in an effort to raise money to cover a growing budget deficit. (Robbing Peter to pay Paul?) Secretary of State for Justice Claire Ward announced the plan in a written answer to a question posed by Member of Parliament Greg Knight. The new revenue would be labeled as a “victims’ surcharge.”

“It is Government policy that, where possible, offenders should contribute to victims‘ services as part of their reparation. Provisions were therefore included in the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 providing for a surcharge to be payable on criminal convictions, penalty notices for disorder and on fixed penalty notices for road traffic offenses where the offenses are persistent and serious,” Ward said. “We intend to add the surcharge to other disposals as soon as it becomes feasible to do so.”

The tax, which currently stands at US $24, would be imposed on all forms of speeding and parking tickets. Given that there were 1,462,235 speed camera citations issued in 2007, the plan would generate an extra US $35,020,571 from the increase in the cost of a ticket from US $96 to $120. Expanding the fee to cover parking tickets and other non-moving violations would more than double that figure.

The victims’ surcharge was first created in April 2007 as a means of forcing violent criminals to compensate their victims. The fee would now be imposed on motorists whose technical violations — overstaying at a parking meter, forgetting to wear a seatbelt or driving a few MPH over the limit — have no victims.

The UK move follows a global trend. Last week, Georgia became the latest US state to turn toward speeding ticket surcharges as a means of balancing the budget. Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Texas have similar programs

“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

Thankfully, speed cameras are fairly rare in the United States right now (and will hopefully continue to be) but in Europe — and particularly in the United Kingdom — they are being used extensively.

So, how has the public reacted in these countries? Take a look at this list below, which was compiled from the 2009 archives of TheNewspaper.com. Let’s just say they haven’t exactly received a warm welcome:

UK: Somerset Speed Camera Scorched (12/13/09)
Vigilantes destroy Somerset, UK speed camera with gasoline-soaked tire.

UK, The Netherlands: Speed Cameras Destroyed, Gift-Wrapped (12/6/09)
UK speed camera burns while Dutch cameras are gift wrapped on St. Nicholas Eve.

France, Germany, Italy: Speed Cameras Burned, Blinded, Bombed (11/29/09)
Three cameras in Germany, two in France and one in Italy were destroyed or damaged this week.

Dorset, UK Speed Camera Destroyed by Fire (11/15/09)
Vigilantes in Dorset, England take out a speed camera with a burning tire.

UK: Surrey Speed Camera Burned (10/25/09)
Vigilantes set fire to a speed camera in Surrey, England.

Speed Cameras Attacked in Finland, Poland and Wales (10/11/09)
Explosives destroy speed camera in Northern Finland, Welsh authorities report 102 camera attacks and Polish speed camera burned.

Louisiana and UK Speed Cameras Burned (10/4/09)
Fixed and mobile speed cameras damaged by fire in Bradford, UK and Westwego, Louisiana.

Speed Cameras Attacked in Italy, Germany, Kuwait, Poland (9/27/09)
Speed cameras smashed, traffic cameras shot, a speed trap hiding spot is destroyed in Italy, Germany, Kuwait and Poland.

Automated Enforcement Assaulted in Australia, France, Maryland, UK (9/13/09)
Speed cameras are spraypainted, toppled, shot and firebombed on three continents.

Speed Cameras Attacked in France, Ireland, Poland, The Netherlands and UK (8/30/09)
Speed cameras in France, Ireland, Poland, The Netherlands and UK are booed, blocked, burned, bombed, bent and boosted over the past week.

Camera Attacks in Tennessee, Australia, Italy, Latvia, Spain, UK (8/16/2009)
Speed cameras are shot, rammed, burned and smashed in Tennessee and throughout Europe this week.

Speed Cameras Taken Out in The Netherlands, Poland and the UK (8/9/2009)
Vigilantes act to stop camera ticketing in The Netherlands, Poland and the UK.

Louisiana, Poland, South Africa and UK Express Anger Toward Speed Cameras (8/2/09)
People in Zachary, Louisiana; Poland; South Africa and Swindon, England choose different methods to strike at photo enforcement.

UK, California and New York Destroy Traffic Cameras (7/26/09)
Traffic cameras smashed in Fremont, California; grabbed in New York City, New York; burned in West Yorkshire, UK.

Speed Cameras Disabled in Arizona, France (7/5/09)
Arizona freeway camera vans receive Post-It Note treatment while French cameras are burned and painted black.

Speed Cameras in UK, Germany, The Netherlands Swiped, Smashed, Scorched (6/7/09)
Vigilantes use a variety of methods to eliminate Scottish, British, German and Dutch speed cameras.

Australian Cops Block Speed Cameras, French, UK Vigilantes Destroy Them (5/31/09)
West Australian police block speed cameras while vigilantes smash French and burn UK cameras.

Speed Cameras Attacked in Germany, Italy, Poland, UK (5/24/09)
Vigilantes disable and destroy speed cameras located in Germany, Italy, Poland and Wales.

Tennessee Protests Speed Cameras, UK Burns and Poland Grabs Them (5/10/09)
Students protest speed cameras in Tennessee, while cameras burn in Lancashire, UK and are grabbed in Poland.

Cameras Burn in England and Germany (4/26/09)
Vigilantes incinerate a Lincolnshire, UK speed camera and damage another in Stade, Germany.

Vigilantes Target French, UK Speed Cameras (4/6/09)
Vigilantes burn speed cameras in France, UK. Anti-war rioters take time to eliminate a speed camera during NATO summit.

Vigilantes Destroy Speed Cameras in France, Italy, UK (3/8/09)
Two French speed cameras disabled, two Italian camera smashed and one UK camera is knocked over.

Vigilantes Attack Cameras in UK, Italy (3/1/09)
Spray paint disables a French speed camera while a burning tire destroys a UK camera.

UK, Italy Vigilantes Attack Speed Cameras (2/22/09)
Two speed cameras in the Isle of Wight, UK covered in paint while a speed camera in Lombardy, Italy is destroyed.

Belgian, British, Polish Speed Cameras Swiped (2/8/09)
Vigilantes grab speed cameras in Belgium, England and Poland.

UK and French Vigilantes Continue Attacks on Speed Cameras (1/25/09)
French speed camera attacked six times in a year while UK speed camera disappears.

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

Starting Friday, Jan. 1, a new state law in Georgia will tack on an additional $200 fee to any local fine received for a speeding conviction. The “Super Speeder Law” is aimed at “high-risk” drivers whose speed are deemed threats to fellow motorists.

Georgia averages one speed-related death a day, according to the official “Super Speeder” Web site.

“That makes speeding a habitual disaster just waiting to happen,” said Governor’s Office of Highway Safety Director Bob Dallas in a statement. “But it’s one of life’s bad habits that can and should be kicked.”
The added fine will be applied for any driver convicted of speeding at 75 mph or more on any two-lane road or 85 mph and over anywhere in the state.

Sheriff Richard King encourages motorists to drive safely.

“The best thing to do is to keep a watch on the speedometer,” he says. “If you watch your speed, you won’t have to worry about being a super speeder.”

Getting slapped with the new fee might feel like a double-whammy. A driver will get the initial speeding ticket from the local jurisdiction, only to receive a letter of notice for the state fine.

The state penalty must be paid within 90 days of the letter’s date. If a driver fails to pay the additional state fee, an additional $50 will be charged and the offender’s driving privileges and license can be suspended.

Fees collected through this new law are designed to pay for some of crash victims’ treatment. The funds could be used in the state’s trauma care hospital system, where approximately 60 percent of trauma patients are crash-related.

Final say of where the money is diverted is up to the state Legislature.

State safety officials hope the $200 “incentive” will remind more drivers to stick to posted speed limits and cut down risk for passengers and others.

Source: The Blackshear Times