Yep! I was arrested.

A little background for those of you who don’t know the recent history of SpeedTrapAhead.org.

As well as running a website that post articles of interest regarding traffic laws, tickets, legal decisions, driving safety, activism, state laws, etc., I also, from time to time, will stand on the side of a road, wearing my “SpeedTrapAhead.org” T-shirt, near where police are running a radar enforced speed zone. (I used to hold a sign, instead; but, that proved to be tricky with state sign laws.)

While doing the sign/shirt thing, I have been approached many times, by officers from several different jurisdictions (three times in Lakeway alone). None of them ever took it further than a quick comment or short discussion about what I was doing. They were actually quite friendly. NONE of them even asked me for I.D.

That is, until Lakeway Sr. Sgt. James DeBrow came around. A little over a year ago, I had an encounter with him. (search “James DeBrow” on this site for more info on that.) But, THAT is old news, and I’ve moved on from that experience.

Fast forward to last week. My truck, with a “SpeedTrapAhead.org” window decal was parked off of a main road in Lakeway, TX. It was parked in an area where construction vehicles and construction employees are parked during some road construction in the area. My truck was parked parallel to the road, behind a silt fence, about 6 feet from the sidewalk, and ~12 feet from the curb. My video camera was on a short tripod, sitting on the edge of the sidewalk, filming traffic going by in a school zone.

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Red light cameras in Texas are ticketing motorists who had legally entered intersections.

In one of my previous posts, I discussed just what constitutes running a red light in the state of Texas, and where you should stop. Well, there seems to be a new twist on the issue, Thanks to Garland, TX, the first city to install red light cameras. Read on…

The red light camera programs throughout Texas have opened themselves up to a significant new legal challenge. KTVT-TV reports that the Garland, Texas has essentially made up its own definition of red light running to ticket motorists who have not violated the law. Since Garland was one of the first cities to adopt red light cameras, its ordinance served as a model for the rest of the state. Most other cities use Garland’s definition of red light running.

According to Garland’s ordinance, a ticket will be issued “if the vehicle proceeds into an intersection at a system location when the traffic control signal for that vehicle’s direction of travel is emitting a steady red signal.” Garland defines entering the intersection as crossing an imaginary line that runs between the end points of the curb drawn parallel to the crosswalk. At one Garland intersection, the imaginary line would be ten feet beyond the painted stop bar.

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In an effort to reduce red light running and enhance traffic safety, the Austin, TX City Council voted to approve installing red light cameras at selected intersections throughout the city in November 2007.

“There is a problem here in Austin,” said Austin Communications Director Gene Acuna. The city is planning to activate the cameras during the Memorial Day weekend.  There will be no grace period.

According to Austin Police Department statistics, there were 1,300 accidents as a result of red light running.

Nine intersections will have cameras. But the city won’t say just yet which will be switched on first.

You’ll find them at I-35 and 11th Street; I-35 and 15th street; the northbound and southbound sides of Mopac and Wells Branch; both directions at Lamar and Ben White; Mopac and 290; Riverside and Pleasant Valley Road; and I-35 and MLK.

“The goal of the program has been always has been safety,” said Acuna.

Wayne Krause is Legal Director of the Texas Civil Rights Project.   He doesn’t think red light cameras make us any safer.

“We just had studies come out of England that show that there is no or very little safety advantage to having cameras out there,” he said.

He wonders if we’re giving up our rights for what the city calls safety.

“You really ought to ask the citizens if it’s what they want and whether their security and their rights are at stake,” Krause said.

Motorists we talked to about the city’s red light camera plan had mixed reactions.

“It’s too much surveillance too much big brother”, said motorist Steve Gillus.

Heather Shelby thinks it’s a good idea.

“I stop when it starts to turn yellow and I know a lot of people don’t. It causes accidents and raises our insurance,” she said.

The city will release a PSA on Monday, May 12th.

I recently received the dashcam video from my encounter with the Lakeway Police Department’s Sgt. DeBrow.

I also have re-edited my existing videos to include this new footage. Now, it is much easier to understand what transpired and to hear both sides of the conversation.

You can now clearly hear Sgt. DeBrow threaten to arrest me and impound my truck for not showing him my driver’s license, even though he already had all the identification that was required by law for me to divulge.

In addition to audio/video from my webcam, and audio/video from the dashcam, I also used audio from my cell phone recording. This is really neat because the way I do it, the audio is recorded directly to the web, securely stored somewhere that can’t be confiscated, erased, or lost by law enforcement.

You can check out the original post, with the updated videos here.

As a result of an upcoming traffic enforcement legal case, I would like to poll readers on the following question.

Please feel free to click on the “join the forum discussion“ link at the bottom of this post to add your comment after you’ve voted. Your opinions are very valuable.

Actually, your comment is vital to this poll, so that each vote may be validated by an actual person’s comment or explanation. If you have previously voted, but not left a comment, please do so. Ultimately, any vote without a corresponding comment will be deleted.

Thanks for your input. -STA Admin

Okay, the poll has been removed, because only one person has made a comment or posted to the forum about their answer. Without an explanation for your answer, and a record of what user voted for what, the numbers are kind of useless. Go to the forum topic on this question if you’d like to voice your opinion.

The question was:

If you saw a person like this, standing beside the road, waving to people, and holding this sign, could/would you think this “sign” is an “official traffic-control device”?

Join the forum discussion on this post - (11) Posts