Malfunctions
If you think photo enforcement equipment doesn't affect you because you adhere to traffic laws 100%, think again! There are numerous documented instances of camera malfunctions and program dishonesty that target and burden the innocent. Furthermore, it has been proven that these camera operators are blatantly dishonest and will do anything to generate more revenue. If you get an erroneous ticket in the mail, or you are the victim of a dishonest camera operator, you can look forward to some or all of the following:
- Missing multiple days of work to appear in court, plus gas and other expenses to drive there (some tickets require multiple appearances)
- Several hundred to a thousand dollars or more for attorney representation if you so choose
- Missing a full day to attend traffic school in lieu of paying ticket (plus paying for the ticket)
- If you lose: paying the fine, higher insurance rates, possibility of losing your license, etc.
Ticket Issued to Wrong Person, Prompts Anti-PE Bill Proposal
Jan. 29, 2010 Argus Leader - ArticleExcerpt:
Democrat Peggy Gibson introduced the South Dakota bill after a constituent received a ticket that didn't belong to her. That ticket was issued for an illegal right turn in August by the driver of a four-door sedan.
The $86 ticket was delivered to Kimberly Greer of Huron. Greer was surprised to see her name on a picture of the offending vehicle.
"I haven't owned a car since 2000," Greer said. "I have a Ford F-150 and a Ford Ranger."
Sioux Falls officials told Greer she would need to contest the ticket to a Sioux Falls hearing officer. The car was hers, they said.
Man Gets Speeding Ticket For...Parking
Jan. 26, 2010 AOL.com - ArticleExcerpt:
Getting a speeding ticket is never fun. It's even worse when you get a speeding ticket while your car is parked. For one UK motorist, that's exactly what happened, not once, but twice. On two separate occasions, he has been sent a speeding ticket when he knew his car was stationary.
Arizona, Hungary, Maryland, UK: Speed Cameras Plagued by Accuracy Problems
Jan. 23, 2010 TheNewspaper.com - ArticleExcerpt:
Speed cameras worldwide were plagued by accuracy problems this week. In Scottsdale, Arizona, a black man received a white man's tickets on five occasions.
In Chevy Chase, Maryland, WTOP News reported that hundreds of duplicate speed camera citations are being generated as motorists drive past a fixed camera and a mobile unit parked right next to it...
A similar problem is apparent in the town of Pecs, Hungary where a man received two speed camera citations for the same alleged offense...
In Nottingham, England, motorist Jeff Buck, 55, received two speed camera tickets while his car was parked outside his home on Watnall Road on December 13.
Speed cameras taking too many pictures
Jan. 22, 2010 WTOP.com - ArticleExcerpt:
CHEVY CHASE, Md. -- Nearly 200 duplicate speed camera photographs have been snapped in the Village of Chevy Chase since the beginning of the month, and there could be more.
Village Police Chief Roy Gordon tells WTOP that out of the 2,794 possible speed camera violations that have been taken since Jan. 1, 174 of them were duplicate pictures. Meanwhile, 1,090 potential violations are still being processed and could contain additional duplicates.
Viewer fights photo radar mistake
Jan. 8, 2010 KOB.com - ArticleExcerpt:
A New Mexico man received a red light camera ticket for nearly $500 in San Diego, Calif. The problem is, he was in New Mexico on the day the camera flashed, and the vehicle in the picture isn't his.
Getting a hold of anyone in San Diego to fix it has been a headache for Aragon. He says he's tried for the past three weeks with no luck.
Viewer fights photo radar mistake
Jan. 7, 2010 AZCentral.com - ArticleExcerpt:
A month after Terry Fox traded-in a car back in 1999, he got a photo radar ticket in the mail. He contacted Scottsdale City Court and was told to send in a copy of his driver's license as proof it wasn't him in the photo. He never heard a word about the ticket again. Then, just a few weeks ago, he received a letter.
Terry says a court audit determined he had never paid the ticket and he owed $228. He went down to the court to explain again, 11-years later, that he wasn't the guy!
On Your Side: Woman Fights DC Ticket Mix-Up
Dec. 14, 2009 WJLA - ArticleExcerpt:
WASHINGTON - No one likes getting a speeding or parking ticket in the mail, but it's especially frustrating when it's from a place you never visited.
Graham continued, "I've lost my job, due to the cancer and everything. And I've been having to fight that and now have to fight something that don't even belong to me."
Graham claims the car in the citations, a Toyota Corrolla, isn't hers. The information doesn't even match the vehicle. It describes her old Honda Civic, which was actually scrapped by her boyfriend three years ago.
After sending proof that the tags expired and the car was scrapped, D.C. police sent Graham a letter stating that it was insufficient evidence and she was still liable. Graham says she's never even driven the 60 miles to the District.
Road runner : Photo radar shoots a fake, cites owner of legit 'N JOY AZ' plate
Nov. 30, 2009 Arizona Daily Star - ArticleExcerpt:
Lucky guy — he got the real deal. He designed the novelty plate for the Arizona Office of Tourism in 1991. Since he came up with the concept, he has the only one that's actually a registered license plate.
He turned out to be not so lucky, though, when one of the novelty plates went through photo radar on the front of a large, white, Dodge truck and garnered a citation, which was sent to Taylor as the registered owner of that license plate.
The first problem is that Taylor drives a red four-door Lexus sedan. The citation even says his vehicle is a Lexus, right above the photos of a white truck with the novelty plate on the front of the vehicle.
Speed cameras challenged thanks to vehicle tracking technology
Nov. 10, 2009 Materials Handling World - ArticleExcerpt:
A driver has successfully challenged a speeding ticket thanks to vehicle tracking technology installed in his van.
Gareth Powell was clocked doing 61mph in a 50mph limit on A4174 near Bristol in November last year, while he was working as an employee of MD Building Services Ltd.
Vehicle tracking records proved that his Ford Transit Connect van had in fact been travelling at 48mph.
This driver would have had NO defense had he not had GPS tracking data on his side. --admin
German Court Questions Laser Speed Camera Accuracy
Nov. 8, 2009 TheNewspaper.com - ArticleExcerpt:
A German court last month overturned a traffic citation after prosecutors failed to prove the accuracy of a new laser-based speed camera technology. The district court of Dillenburg heard testimony from four experts, each of whom cast doubt on the system. The Judge Matthias Gampe concluded that the motorist accused by a Poliscan automated ticketing machine of driving 96km/h (60 MPH) in a 40 (25 MPH) zone was not guilty.
About 100 of the devices were installed in Mannheim in 2007. Since then, 19,000 motorists have complained about erroneous readings. The expert witnesses testified that changing lanes or having a vehicle cross between your car and the camera could generate spurious readings. As the court found, there is no external means of verifying that the speed estimate generated is accurate because the system does not photograph vehicles at set distances like conventional systems.
BIKER CLOCKED DOING '383MPH'
Nov. 2, 2009 Daily Star - ArticleExcerpt:
A BIKER has appealed after losing his licence when speed cameras clocked him riding at an impossible 383 mph
Motorbike mad Paolo Turina of Cernusco Lombardone, Italy - who also copped a £200 fine - claims the speed camera was clearly so defective the charge should never have been brought.
Ticket Mistake May Have Cost Woman Job
Oct. 3, 2009 KPHO.COM - ArticleExcerpt:
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Elizabeth Vaughan says she thought she had a much-needed job in the bag, but a mistake involving a photo-radar ticket from a decade ago spoiled her chances.
License suspended even though woman wasn't served ticket
Sep. 29, 2009 AZ Family - ArticleExcerpt:
"I got pulled over by Phoenix police and they told me I had a suspended license and they gave me a couple of tickets for suspended license and possession of suspended license," she said.
Parker says she had no idea why it was suspended.
"So I had to go down and figure out what it was and it was a ticket in Scottsdale," Parker said. "They gave me a photo radar ticket I wasn't aware of."
Parker says she never received a photo radar ticket in the mail informing her and, more importantly, no one ever officially served her.
Was justice denied by speeding ticket delay?
Sep. 29, 2009 Suburban Chicago News - ArticleExcerpt:
Bolen's situation stems from what officials described as a glitch with an Illinois State Police vendor responsible for generating tickets through speed vans positioned on I-88 and other construction zones around the Chicago area. State Police District 15 Sgt. Jim Jenkner described Bolen's situation as "isolated," although he couldn't say how many tickets could have been issued or how many motorists could have been affected in Kane County.
The Netherlands: Parked Truck Receives 45 Automated Speeding Tickets
Sep. 20, 2009 TheNewspaper.com - ArticleExcerpt:
Dutch lumber merchant Martin Robben no longer believes that the speed camera never lies. As reported by De Telegraaf, the man was falsely accused of speeding forty-five times on August 25 while his vehicle, a commercial truck, was parked on the side of the road in Oldeberkoop village.
Man: License Taken Years After [Photo] Ticket
Sep. 5, 2009 KPHO.com - ArticleExcerpt:
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The MVD notified a Scottsdale man that his license was suspended eight years after a photo-radar camera captured him speeding.
"So I called the court and a young lady told me to come on down that they've been having some issues like this with computer glitches and a lot of old tickets were popping up," said Lind.
As for the citation, Lind appealed and won because there was no proof that someone served him the ticket.
"It was still a hassle, and it cost me hundreds of dollars," said Lind.
Speed cameras mean deja vu to some drivers
Sep. 2, 2009 Gazette.Net - ArticleExcerpt:
When Scott Rufolo received a citation after getting nabbed by a speed camera March 3, he paid the $40 fine right away because he knew he'd been doing 51 mph in a 30-mph zone. But when he received another citation for a violation Aug. 3, he was angry.
The citation listed him as going through the same Connecticut Avenue and East Melrose Street intersection in Chevy Chase on a day when he was home in Greenbrook, N.J.
Chevy Chase Village Police Chief Roy A. Gordon said a human error by an officer had transposed the "3/8" date to "8/3," causing the speed camera to save the images until Aug. 3 and send out a new batch of citations for the earlier offense.
Rufolo's August citation and 40 others were voided after the error was discovered, Gordon said. Nine motorists who paid their fines will receive refunds.
Heath (Ohio) speed cameras issuing false triggers on motorcycles
Aug. 6, 2009 NewarkAdvocate.com - ArticleExcerpt
It turns out, he's not the only one; apparently, motorcycles have been tripping the light fantastically often in the last few weeks, and nobody seems to know exactly why.
Redflex hasn't been able to explain why motorcycles are getting triggered, but it doesn't happen every time, Shepherd said.
South Africa: Chinese Car Accused of Impossible Speeds
Aug. 3, 2009 TheNewspaper.com - ArticleA set of speed cameras in Johannesburg, South Africa accused a Geely automobile of reaching impossible speeds. On April 26, a camera on the N12 South flashed the Chinese import belonging to motorist Francisca Al-Halaseh near Canada Road Bridge. Just 19 seconds later, according to the tickets, she was flashed driving 102km/h (63 MPH) in an 80km/h (50 MPH) zone at Randshow Road Bridge. The only problem is that those locations are 2.9 miles apart, meaning Al-Halaseh would have to have been traveling 549 miles per hour.
That would be difficult for the Geely CK-1 which was first sold in South Africa in 2007. The company's most potent flagship model boasts only 94 horsepower from a 1.5 liter engine. That gives the 100,000 Rand (US $12,850) economy car a top speed of just 105 MPH.
Operator error nixes radar tickets
Jul. 8, 2009 News 880 AM - Article | AlternateAn Edmonton man who challenged a photo radar ticket that had him pegged at 7 kilometres over the speed limit has had his 71 dollar ticket thrown out.
Matt O'Daly was ticketed on the Rainbow Valley bridge along with 157 other drivers on June 21st.
O'Daly says he was not in the wrong, because the photo radar operator didn't check to verify the speed zone.
The operator mistook an 80 kilometre zone for a 70 kilometre zone.
How many innocent people just paid the ticket anyway? How much time and effort did it take for this guy to win? --admin
PV to reimburse 1,000 cited by traffic camera
Jun. 29, 2009 AZCentral.com - ArticleExcerpt:
Paradise Valley plans to refund a total of $36,000 to more than 1,000 drivers who received tickets for running a faulty traffic light at Tatum Boulevard and McDonald Drive.
The town sent 1,063 letters June 22 informing drivers ticketed between May 7 and June 17 to expect a full refund of their fines.
UK Cancels 24,889 Invalid Speed Camera Tickets
Jun. 20, 2009 TheNewspaper - ArticleExcerpt:
Official in West Dorset, England will refund a total of 24,889 speed camera tickets worth 1,493,340 pounds (US $2.5 million) that were improperly issued over the course of a decade. The Dorset Speed Camera Partnership yesterday gave up its four-year battle to hold onto the 60 pounds (US $100) tickets issued at a location where the speed limit had been unlawfully lowered.
9298 Bogus Speed Camera Tickets Refunded in The Netherlands
May 30, 2009 TheNewspaper.com - ArticleExcerpt:
The National Public Prosecutors Office in The Netherlands on Monday announced that it had ordered the refund of 9298 speed camera tickets because the agency was unable to guarantee the accuracy of the automated speed readings. Recipients of citations issued between April 23 and May 9 on the A12 in Arnhem will receive a letter from the Central Fine Collection Agency (CJIB) dismissing the notice of violation and providing a check repaying any amounts collected.
Close to two-thirds of photos taken by speed cameras tossed
May 15, 2009 AZCentral.com - ArticleExcerpt:
Motorists activated photo-enforcement cameras on Arizona highways more than 471,000 times from December through February - more than 5,200 times each day - but on average, only about one-third of those drivers received tickets from the state Department of Public Safety.
An Arizona Republic analysis of three months of records shows Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. and the DPS threw out more than 65 percent of the photos captured.
AZ Speed Camera Program Harasses Wyoming Couple
May. 26, 2009 AZCentral.com - ArticleBecause of a case of mistaken identity, my husband is being harassed by the Arizona Motor Vehicle Division. We are a quiet, middle-aged couple with clean driving records living in a small town in northern Wyoming and haven't been to Arizona in well over 35 years, yet we've received four photo- radar citation speeding tickets ($171.00 each) from Tempe and a parking ticket from Phoenix in the past six months.
The young male speeder pictured bears no resemblance to my husband. More importantly, the black pickup with the "bully" sticker on the back bears no resemblance to our older family van.
The problem lies in the fact that in Wyoming, both a car and a truck can have the exact same license-plate number. It's a very simple matter of checking for the distinctive "TRK" notation at the top of the license plate before calling it in - and to take a few seconds to see if the photo matches the vehicle description. It seems so simple.
According to the Wyoming dDepartment of mMotor vVehicles, the negligence is coming from Arizona. We've made many phone calls, sent the required letters, faxes, even enlisted the aid of our local chief of police - yet we continue to receive threatening letters. Please help by printing this. We've tried everything else!?
-Kelly Massine, Lovell, Wyo
Cameras Record Incorrect Speeds
May. 13, 2009 The Dominion Post - ArticleExcerpt:
Police have been forced to waive speeding tickets - losing thousands of dollars in revenue - because their new digital speed cameras are clocking motorists at twice their actual speeds.
A police spokesman has confirmed the new mobile cameras, which were introduced nationally in January at a cost of $4 million, were wrongly clocking the speeds of larger vehicles. Some tickets were issued for twice the vehicles' true speeds.
Livingston Parish dismisses nearly 2,500 tickets from speed van
Mar. 19, 2009 BusinessReport.com - ArticleThe Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office has ordered the contractor that operates the parish's speed van to dismiss 2,488 speeding tickets issued to drivers on Interstate 12, says Perry Rushing, chief operations officer for the sheriff's office.
All of the tickets were issued in late January and early February near mile marker 15, Rushing said, where the speed limit drops from 70 mph to 60 mph. After receiving several complaints from ticketed drivers, the sheriff's office reviewed all of the tickets issued during the first nine days the van was in service and determined the van operator had set up too close to the speed-zone change.
"There was some confusion out there," Rushing says, referring to the exact point at which the speed limit changes. Drivers who already paid their tickets will get refunds, he says.
The parish's speed van is owned by Redflex Traffic Systems of Arizona, part of the Australian company Redflex Holdings. Redflex has photo enforcement contracts in more than 230 U.S. cities in 20 states.
The Livingston Parish van began issuing tickets Jan. 26. A Redflex employee, not a law enforcement officer, operates the van. According to sheriff's office records, as of Sunday, the company issued 4,111 speeding tickets in Livingston Parish. -Chuck Hustmyre
Erroneous Ticket on Video
This driver was accused of going 88mph in a 65mph zone. If you look at the video and the relative speed of the other vehicles, either the entire freeway is going about 88mph, or the subject is going with the flow of traffic. Now the driver, if he is prudent, must spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on attorneys to ensure that he is not found guilty of criminal speeding.
Here's the video by itself with an overlay of the surrounding traffic.
If this was you, this video is the only defense you have. Do you think the judge will buy it? How confident are you?
Minnesota Attorney General Slams Illinois Over Bogus Photo Tickets
Apr. 25, 2009 TheNewspaper - ArticleExcerpts:
Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson (DFL) is fed up with the state of Illinois for issuing toll road photo tickets and collection notices to innocent drivers in her state. Swanson yesterday fired off a 75-page complaint to the Illinois Tollway, the Illinois Office of the Executive Inspector General and Illinois Governor Pat Quinn (D). Swanson enumerated the problems Minnesotans described by those calling her office for help:
In light of the issuance of so many tickets to people who did not own the vehicle alleged to have committed violation, Swanson called on Illinois officials to stop sending photo tickets to Minnesota residents until Illinois can certify that its vehicle registration database contains up-to-date, accurate information. She also insisted that Illinois call off the collection agencies threatening Minnesota motorists with license suspensions for failure to pay the bogus citations.
Court throws out 'questionable' speed camera ticket
Apr. 25, 2009 CourierMail.com.AU - ArticleExcerpts:
On April 9, Southport Magistrate John Costanzo found in favour of Margaret Nocon, from Burleigh Heads, who fought a $275 fine for allegedly doing 81km/h in a 60 zone.
She decided to take legal action when the photograph issued by police showed just the left hand side of her four-wheel-drive and another car.
"The cameras can show which direction the offending vehicle is travelling but a whole lot of other factors can interfere with the accuracy of the reading," Mr Cooper said.
"All the cameras are set to high-sensitivity which means any reflective surface can interfere with their calibration. Also the position of the speed camera van can affect the reading by up to 15km/h."
"They must be parked on level ground and parallel to the footpath. Then police are supposed to drive by in patrol cars to make sure it's registering correct speeds and the angle of the radar is correct.
"What usually happens is that the officer parks the van, turns on the camera and walks away," Mr Cooper said
Netherlands: 289 Red Light Camera Tickets Refunded
Apr. 14, 2009 TheNewspaper.com - ArticleExcerpt:
Police in the Netherlands were forced last week to refund 289 red light camera tickets issued by a mistimed red light camera. The device, installed in the town of Hoogeveen in Drenthe on March 17, never had its internal clock set properly. The camera continued to issue citations until March 31 when officials noticed that the timestamp on the violation notices did not match the date and time of any actual offenses.
French Legislators Question Accuracy of Speed Cameras
Apr. 3, 2009 TheNewspaper.com - ArticleThe accuracy of the 2327 speed cameras blanketing French roads came under fire in the National Assembly Tuesday. At issue is the practice of allowing the private, for-profit company responsible for the ticketing programs to self-certify its own hardware as accurate.
"It appears that the automated radar speed control devices are not completely reliable or completely transparent," National Assembly Member Rudy Salles said in an exchange with the Interior Minister. "On every notice of violation, there is a box specifying: the location of the offense, the exact identity of the machine and the name of the agency responsible for its annual audit. However, for most of the installed photo radars, the auditor is also the one that manufactures and markets the devices, which would constitute a violation of the decree of 31 December 2001 which said that the agency responsible for regular checks must ensure conditions of impartiality."
A detailed set of regulations adopted by the French government require verification of camera accuracy by a neutral party.
"The impartiality of the [certifying] organization must be guaranteed," regulation 37.8 states. "Payment may not depend on the results of inspections. The remuneration of staff shall not depend on either the number or the results of audits."
The French speed camera company Sagem is responsible for the vast majority of the country's speed cameras. Sagem also certifies the accuracy Sagem radar devices (view ticket). Lawmakers cited a specific example of how self-certification creates a conflict of interest that calls into question the reliability of the entire certification process.
"We can read in a document sent to me by Francois Rochebloine... that the information was 'verified on 30 April 2009,' that is, next month," Salles said. "There is a problem!"
Government officials defended the system saying that the private company Sagem has an approved "quality assurance" program.
"There is therefore no need to challenge the reliability and regularity of the system," Secretary of State Christian Blanc told the General Assembly. "The government intends to expand deployment with an installation rate of about five-hundred cameras each year."
Winnipeg, Canada Caught Trapping Drivers with Short Yellows
Apr. 2, 2009 TheNewspaper - ArticleThe city of Winnipeg, Canada has shortened the duration of the yellow warning at intersections equipped with red light cameras. The length of the yellow is the single most important factor in determining the financial success of a photo enforcement program, according to documents obtained from a red light camera vendor in 2001 (view documents). Winnipeg's shortening has yielded positive financial results.
The city's signal changes came to light after a 64-year-old grandmother named Judy received a ticket in the mail claiming her minivan had run a red light on August 31, 2008. She contacted Larry Stefanuik, a former police constable who now helps motorists fight traffic tickets who began looking into the ticket. Judy's ticket shows the intersection had been set with a 3.9 second yellow and that she entered the intersection -- slowly -- just 0.1 seconds after the light turned red.
That did not match the city's stated policy of setting the yellow warning to last at least 4.0 seconds at every intersection, according to an email obtained by Stefanuik.
"So in reality she had not run the red because it still should have been yellow," Stefanuik said. "Her speed was 49km/h in a 60km/h zone [30 MPH in a 37 zone]. She was robbed of 1/10th of a second."
The local court was not interested in exploring whether the city had violated its own policies by shortening the yellow. On March 18, the court imposed a $135 CAD fine on Judy, reduced from the standard $190 fine.
These fines have been adding up at the red light camera intersection in question. By 2007 the camera had issued 173 tickets, but by 2008 it was on track to issue 324 -- an 87 percent increase. The majority of the red light camera intersections in Winnipeg have seen a similar increase in tickets issued that helped drive an overall ticketing increase in the city of 23 percent.
Teenager gets speeding ticket... while her car was parked outside her house and she was asleep in bed
Mar. 25, 2009 Mail Online - ArticleWhen Emily Davies parked her car outside her house and went to bed at 10pm as usual, she had no reason to believe Merseyside Police would be on her case.
But by the following morning they had given her a £60 speeding fine - even though her car had not moved an inch.
The 'model' driver, 19, was apparently flashed by a speed camera travelling seven miles over the speed limit in a 30mph zone.
But her R-reg Fiat Punto was parked in a bay while Miss Davies was fast asleep in bed, she says.
The teenager was allegedly clocked speeding outside her home in Old Swan, Liverpool, on March 10. She received a speeding ticket in the post from Merseyside Police Camera Partnership last week.
The police only realised their blunder after she went to the local police station to dispute the charge.
The registration plate on Miss Davies's stationary car is believed have appeared in the frame with a speeding vehicle which triggered the camera. An over-zealous operator noted the number and a fine was duly sent out to the innocent motorist.
She had been held up as a model driver when she passed her driving test first time with just one minor error two years ago. Her RAC instructor described her as his 'star pupil'.
Miss Davies, a clinical receptionist at Fazakerley Hospital, in Liverpool, said: 'I looked at the letter and began to question myself. I was shocked because I'm such a careful driver and I never speed.
'I knew there was no way I'd be out at 10.22pm on a week night. I realised they'd made a mistake.
'When I first disputed the claim, I was told that mistakes are never made. That's just not true. If this has happened to me, it must be happening to other people. It's a waste of time and money and things should be changed.'
A spokesman for Merseyside Road Safety Camera Partnership said: 'All I can say is Merseyside Police make a sincere apology. There was a failure on the operator's side.
'She will be getting a letter of apology and the matter will be cancelled.'
Captain Gatso, the self-styled campaigns director for Motorists Against Detection, said: 'This is yet another example of the unfairness of speed cameras. Inordinate sums of money and swathes of technology are invested in policing by camera.
'Mistakes happen again and again. As is demonstrated by a motorist 'speeding' while in fact parked and doing 0mph, cameras offer absolutely no discretion or common sense.'
The AA has revealed that thousands of motorists have been wrongly accused of speeding because of glitches in the controversial speed camera system. Mistakes range from registration numbers being misread to the dates and times of the alleged offence being wrong.
Drivers have been accused of breaking the speed limit when they were miles away in another county.
Others received fixed penalty notices for speeding even though they were abroad on holiday when the offence was said to have been committed.
Nationally, around two million motorists a year receive a £60 fine from 8,000 speed cameras.
Switzerland: 3000 Bogus Speed Camera Tickets Refunded
Mar. 23, 2009 TheNewspaper.com - ArticleThree thousand motorists who were victims of a miscalibrated speed camera in the town of Lausanne, Switzerland were issued full refunds along with a letter of apology on Wednesday. The photo radar device, which had been located at the intersection of Bethusy and Victor-Ruffy Avenues, accused drivers who were not speeding of exceeding the 50 km/h (31 MPH) limit during a four-month period between November 20, 2008 and February 13, 2009.
After innocent motorists began complaining to the local media, police began to look into whether the automated ticketing machine may have malfunctioned. The investigation concluded that a manufacturer's defect had caused a "technical problem" forcing the detected speeds to read high.
"After checks were carried out by the manufacturer and confirmed by the Federal Office of Metrology (METAS), it appears that a defective electronic component distorted the reality of the measurements, creating violations that did not exist," a Lausanne Police press release stated.
Despite the false readings, the device had passed all of the standard calibration and approval tests required for issuing citations. Police insisted all other speed cameras in the area were perfectly accurate and that a new test would be performed to ensure this error does not return.
The problem with the Swiss camera is not unique. Throughout the world, officials have been forced to refund tens of thousands of speed camera tickets issued to innocent motorists.
Netherlands: 2640 Photo Radar Tickets Refunded
Feb. 9, 2009 TheNewspaper.com - ArticleMore uncalibrated machines, and another photo program shrouded in secrecy... -admin
Authorities in the Netherlands canceled 2640 tickets last week after the accuracy of a pair of speed cameras was put in question. The first camera issued 2576 of the invalidated fines on the Fokkerstraat in Assen, Drenthe between May 1 and September 15. After learning that the device had not been properly calibrated, the department asked the Central Judicial Collection Agency (CJIB) to cancel outstanding fines and issue full refunds worth over 100,000 Euros (US $130,000) to anyone who had already paid the ticket. A second camera on the N919 in Veenhuizen issued another 64 fines, now canceled, between July 11 and 30, 2008.
Both speed cameras were quickly recalibrated so that ticketing could resume without delay, as the Netherlands relies heavily on speeding tickets for revenue. The equivalent of one speeding ticket is issued to every licensed driver each year -- 11,662,981 speed camera tickets in 2008 according to the Central Judicial Collection Agency (CJIB) statistics. That number is down about one million from the 2007 total because a three-month police strike that hindered photo radar deployments.
The cameras made by the Dutch firm Gatsometer BV require periodic adjustments and checks to ensure accuracy. Gatsometer is the world's leading manufacturer of automated ticketing machine. Drenthe Police did not disclose whether a legal challenge had forced the refund. As a rule, Dutch authorities reveal as little information as possible about any citation. Motorists do not even receive a copy of the photographs that serve as the evidence of any alleged speeding violation. Instead, the vehicle owner must specifically ask to come to a police station during a restricted set of hours to view the photos.
Motorist beats 98mph speeding charge - by buying back his car and proving it can only manage a top speed of 85mph
Jan. 19, 2009 DailyMail.co.uk - ArticleCameras cost this motorist almost $1000 to prove his innocence. --admin
A motorist prosecuted for driving at 98mph has escaped a driving ban - after proving that his 14-year-old car has a top speed of 85mph.
Dale Lyle, 21, took action when he was told a mobile speed camera had clocked him at nearly 100mph in his 1.3 litre Honda Civic.
He contested the accusation in court so magistrates then challenged him to 'prove it'.
To gather evidence to back up his claim, Mr Lyle, from Staple Hill, Bristol, paid £600 to buy back the car he had already sold.
Then he paid a further £600 for an independent driving expert to take the car on a two-mile test circuit at top speed.
Dale Lyle, who was accused of driving at 98mph, holds up the test certificate which proves his 14-year-old Honda Civic has a top speed of 85mph. The results showed that even when driven flat out the Honda could only do 85.4mph in fourth gear and 81.3mph in fifth - proving his innocence.
The financial worker, who has a clean licence, presented his evidence in court which undermined the credibility of the Crown Prosecution Service's case and had the charge against him dropped.
A CPS spokesman said: 'We came to the conclusion that there was no longer sufficient evidence to provide a prospect of a conviction.
As regards the £1,200 paid out by Mr Lyle to prove his case, he added: 'Recompense is a matter between the defendant and the court.'
Mr. Lyle, who had faced a maximum £1,000 fine and six-month ban for the speeding charge, said: 'I'm really glad I fought the system and won but I think I will have trouble getting the money I spent back.'
He said of the one-year court battle: 'The whole thing has been a complete shambles and waste of money. It's shocking how hard it has been for me to prove my innocence.
'I was in total disbelief when I opened the letter because I've never driven my car over the speed limit let alone at 98mph.
'It's such a small car I wouldn't feel safe - it's a glorified Japanese shopping trolley.
'I told the magistrates "I'm not being funny but this car is ancient and has 130,000 miles on the clock - there's no way it will do that speed".
'I was very nervous and my heart was going 90 to dozen but they just turned around to me and said "prove it". So I did.'
Mr Lyle obtained the mobile speed camera footage of his alleged offence and believes the speed camera was confused because there are three cars in the frame at the time.
'The video evidence the Crown Prosecution Service sent me was just appalling,' he said. "They are just picking on innocent motorists.
'When the three-minute film starts the mobile speed camera is panning into the sky, then focuses on the middle lane but it doesn't take any readings.
'Then you see the operator point the camera at me as I pull out into the third lane but cars on the inside lanes obstruct the view.
'When the 98mph reading flashes up there is another car in the picture - I think the camera must have confused the distance with the other car.
'It makes you wonder how many people say "fine, give me the points" when they are not guilty.'
Australia: Speed Camera Accuracy Under Fire
JAn . 15, 2009 TheNewspaper.com - ArticleExcerpt:
Speed cameras in Queensland, Australia have not been well maintained, according to documents obtained by the Courier-Mail newspaper. The investigation found numerous cases of electrical faults that call into question the underlying accuracy of the readings produced by the devices.
...
North of Brisbane on the Bruce Highway, for example, a document showed that a camera short-circuited during a heavy rain storm in January 2007. Cameras with similar problems continued to issue citations at the rate of 4000 per month, on average. Police Minister Judy Spence insisted that no citation issued by a speed camera in Queensland has been found inaccurate because each speed camera can verify accuracy internally.
UK: Motorcyclist Proves Speed Camera Inaccurate in Court
Jan. 9, 2009 TheNewspaper.com - ArticleA UK motorcyclist disproved the accuracy of a speed camera in court last month by proving that the evidence that the camera produced disagreed with itself. A Brighton Magistrates Court judge agreed and found Peter Barker, 51, not guilty of the charge of driving 38 MPH in a 30 zone, despite the insistence of prosecutors that the automated ticketing machine in question was properly certified, calibrated and accurate.
Barker, a software engineer, had passed a fixed speed camera on Ditchling Road in Brighton on June 15, 2008. Some days later he received in the mail a notice claiming he had been driving 38 MPH and insisting that he pay £60 (US $90), but Barker knew he was innocent.
"The reason I contested this case is quite simply because I was not exceeding the speed limit," Barker told TheNewspaper. "I live locally to the gatsometer and pass it several times a week. On this occasion I checked my speed was 30 MPH as I approached and I confirmed it was 30 MPH just after the second flash."
Barker determined that the device was positioned toward an iron railing fence and a bus shelter that must have distorted the radar reading and created a false result. This would not be enough to prove his innocence in court, so Barker searched for the best experts in Northern Europe to evaluate the pair of photographs the machine took of him. The team included Tony Read, who headed the 1997 investigation of the Princess Diana car crash. They determined precisely how far the motorcycle could be seen moving in the images taken 0.5 seconds apart (view photo one, view photo two). They then performed a simple time-distance calculation which showed that Barker had been traveling far less than 38 MPH.
Under the UK law governing the type approval of speed cameras, anything greater than a 10 percent discrepancy between photographs and the radar reading is not allowed. Instead of accepting defeat, however, the Crown Prosecution Service decided use their own calculation of Barker's speed from the photographs to charge the motorcyclist with driving "slightly in excess of 30 MPH." The judge would not allow this, saying that the 10 percent difference proved that any evidence produced by that speed camera was "unreliable."
With "no evidence" against Barker, the judge dismissed the case. Despite this, local speed camera partnership officials insist their cameras are fully accurate and certified.
"It seems to be the first time in England that the reliability of the gatsometer was found to be questionable even thought the prosecutor and the police claimed in no uncertain terms that it was reliable," Barker said. "They refuse to believe there is any issue to concern them."
Maryland Students Use Speed Cameras for Revenge
Dec. 20, 2008 TheNewspaper.com - ArticleHigh school students in Maryland are using speed cameras as a tool to fine innocent drivers in a game, according to the Montgomery County Sentinel newspaper. Because photo enforcement devices will automatically mail out a ticket to any registered vehicle owner based solely on a photograph of a license plate, any driver could receive a ticket if someone else creates a duplicate of his license plate and drives quickly past a speed camera. The private companies that mail out the tickets often do not bother to verify whether vehicle registration information for the accused vehicle matches the photographed vehicle.
Driver of photo-radar van arrested for DUI
by Erin Norris - Sept. 9, 2008 12:35 PM The Arizona Republic - ArticleSCOTTSDALE - Police arrested the driver of a Redflex photo radar van on suspicion of DUI.
Roderick M. Ruffin, 53, had a blood alcohol content over 0.15 on Saturday while he was driving to Tempe to set up the van, police and company officials said. The legal limit is 0.08, and Ruffin's blood alcohol level is considered an extreme DUI.
The motorist, who claimed to be a retired police officer, told dispatchers he saw the van hit the curb twice and almost collide with the vehicle in front of it, police said.
The motorist, in a tape of a 911 call, described the van to a dispatcher.
“On the back of it, it says photo enforcement vehicle on the back and the guy is deuced,” the caller said.
An officer stopped the van near Second Street and Scottsdale Road after he witnessed the van weaving from lane to lane, police said. The officer was able to smell alcohol on Ruffin's breath. Ruffin was asked to perform field sobriety tests, which he failed, police said. Ruffin was then arrested.
Ruffin was driving the van to Tempe at the time, where he would have put it into operation, said Redflex spokeswoman Shoba Vaitheeswaran.
“We stand by our mission to help improve safety on the roads and we have a zero-tolerance policy for drinking and driving,” Vaitheeswaran said.
She also said Ruffin, who had been with the company for one year with no issues, has been terminated.
“Redflex performs background checks on all of its prospective hires and strives to employ only those members of our community who take public safety and public trust seriously,” Vaitheeswaran said in a statement. “The company deeply regrets and apologizes to the community for the incident, and expresses its gratitude to the Scottsdale Police for making the arrest and removing the offending driver from the road.”
Scottsdale contracts with Redflex rival American Traffic Solutions for photo-enforcement services. Both firms are based in Scottsdale.
Meet Silver Spring's Would-Be 'Speed Demons'
by Robert Thomson - Aug 17, 2008 Washington Post - ArticleA little after 4 p.m. June 25, Terence and Helga Brennan turned their sensible subcompact onto Wayne Avenue, heading for home in Silver Spring. Driving up the avenue, they passed a Montgomery County speed enforcement camera, which is supposed to capture images of drivers going more than 10 mph over the 30 mph speed limit. It took their picture.
Terence, 68, and Helga, 76, paid the $40 fine promptly after receiving the citation in the mail. Like many people, they felt it wasn't worth the hassle of contesting the ticket in district court. Like very few, they also thought the county needed the money.
But the Brennans had some questions about their encounter with high-tech law enforcement.
Dear Dr. Gridlock:
Do you know of any technical problems that might cause a speed camera to register the wrong speed? We were supposedly clocked at 100 mph in a 30 mph zone during rush hour on Wayne Avenue between Sligo Creek Parkway and Dale Drive.
The road is winding there, and the traffic light at Wayne and Dale, where we turn left, is just a short way ahead of the cameras. We and our neighbors, who know well that even 40 mph would be dangerous at this stretch, wonder how the camera could come up with such a reading.
This speed would be impossible on the Beltway at the best of times, and we have never in our life driven at this speed. An inquiry to the Automated Traffic Enforcement Unit in Rockville has not been answered.
Helga Brennan
Silver Spring
You read that right. According to an official Montgomery County document, Terence Conway Brennan chose 4:12:45 p.m. on June 25 to pilot his tiny Toyota Echo past a well-known speed camera like he was Kyle Busch approaching the checkered flag in No. 18.
Any machine can break. But before the camera citation was mailed to the Brennans, it was reviewed, certified and signed by a technician with Montgomery's Safe Speed Photo Radar program, just like thousands of other citations sent out since the state-approved pilot program began last year.
So who could say? Maybe if we had a video, rather than a snapshot, we would watch Mr. Brennan, with his bride of 40 years at his side, spin the slicks when the light turned green at Sligo Creek, aim his four-cylinder tin can up the grade, wind around the two big curves in time to hit the century mark after three-tenths of a mile, then, after a tenth more, decelerate in time to make the 90- degree turn at Dale Drive.
"Well, the last thing I remember, doc, I started to swerve . . ." No, as Jan and Dean warned us, you won't come back from Dead Man's Curve.
The notorious Brennans have been the talk of the neighborhood. "We're the Speed Demons," Helga said, with an impish smile.
But she added more firmly: "We don't speed."
Last month, these rebels with a cause mailed a letter to the county's Automated Traffic Enforcement Unit:
"This speed violation left us speechless," they wrote. "A hundred miles per hour during rush hour on Wayne? It never happened. Cannot have happened. Please check if your equipment malfunctioned and other people received similar notices for that day."
They received no reply.
"We fell down on this one," said Lt. Paul Starks, spokesman for the county police. When I asked police to look at the citation, the traffic unit quickly realized what had happened. The Brennans will get their $40 back. But here's the part the couple really cares about:
The traffic unit has checked the Wayne Avenue setup to make sure it's working correctly. And all citations issued there June 25 were reviewed. The Brennans' citation was the only mistake that slipped through, police concluded.
The error was human, Starks said. The reviewers failed to spot the red flag built into the system that is supposed to alert them to such problems.
The speed camera system is designed to catch its own mistakes. When a glitch occurs, the device warns the reviewers by citing a weird speed to get their attention, such as 0 mph or 100 mph. The Brennan's speed should have been the tip-off to toss the ticket, but it got through the review.
Capt. John Damskey, head of the traffic division, will figure out how to improve supervision so this doesn't recur. And police will review their mail procedures to make sure letters such as the Brennans' get answered.
Lawsuit Challenges Photo Radar Citations
Sep. 5, 2008 KPHO Phoenix - ArticlePHOENIX -- A lawsuit could impact thousands of Arizona motorists who have received photo radar tickets.
If successful, motorists who were cited might be able to ignore the tickets, while those who already paid might be able to get their money back, according to a report in the East Valley Tribune.
Legal papers contend the citations issued by Redflex Traffic Systems before the first week in August are illegal, the newspaper reported.
The lawsuit, filed late last month in Maricopa County Superior Court, alleges the company was using radar guns that had not been cleared for use, according to the East Valley Tribune.
Attorney Thomas Moring said his client should be allowed to refuse to pay the photo radar ticket issued by the Town of Paradise Valley in June, the paper said. He was clocked as speeding by a mobile photo radar unit operated for the town by Redflex, the newspaper reported.
Moring said the lawsuit also seeks to block any other state or local government that has issued similar citations from enforcing them, the East Valley Tribune reported.
It encompasses the cities of Paradise Valley, Chandler, Prescott Valley, Tempe and Pinal County and the Department of Public Safety, the paper reported.
Arizona Official Confirms Redflex Falsified Speed Camera Documents
July 9, 2008 TheNewspaper.com - ArticleArizona Secretary of State blasts Redflex notary for falsifying speed camera certification document.
Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer last week confirmed that documents used to convict motorists of speeding in Lafayette, Louisiana contained elements that had been falsified. Brewer revoked the license of Cheryl Krough, notary public for photo enforcement vendor Redflex after concluding that she violated four Arizona laws while purporting to certify a speed camera deployment form for use in official hearings.
"The notary executed a notarial certificate containing a false statement, providing the secretary grounds for a suspension or revocation," wrote Joann Cota, an assistant director with the secretary of state's office. "Therefore, the secretary of state has determined to revoke the notary's commission effective immediately."
At issue was the form used in an attempt to convict motorists Mark and Phil Abshire of speeding on October 10, 2007. Krough signed this document, certifying that van driver Scott Michael Bernard had sworn to the truth of the document's contents in her presence. The secretary of state's office saw no evidence that this ever took place.
"It cannot be determined whether the signer was in the notary's presence when the notary notarized the form," Cota wrote.
Krough, who worked in the Scottsdale, Arizona office for Redflex, was 1400 miles away from the Redflex employee who drove the van that day. The secretary of state's office expressed a certain amount of indignation that in response to an investigation of the matter by the Arizona Attorney General's office, Krough, "wrote a short response to the complaint on a post it note."
This scofflaw attitude at Redflex led to four legal violations, according to Cota. Krough was guilty of ignoring laws requiring the proper keeping of a journal, forbidding the notarization of a document containing blanks and, in general, "failing to faithfully discharge the duties or responsibilities of a notary public."
The Abshires had notified Brewer's office in January about the situation (details) and were thrilled to be vindicated. Krough likely had certified thousands of such forms throughout Lafayette and the rest of the country in violation of the law. The twins called on Lafayette council members to refund citations issued based on the questionable documentation.
"All fines collected by Redflex in Lafayette, Louisiana in 2007 and 2008 that were illegally notarized in Arizona should be voided," Mark Abshire said in an email yesterday. "Restitution by refunding fines to the affected individual citizens of Lafayette, Louisiana should be made immediately as it is unethical and unconscionable to collect fines by violating the laws of due process."
The Abshires were also vindicated in a January hearing where each was found not guilty after arguing the city had not followed the guidelines of its own speed camera ordinance.
Police: Some photo-radar tickets could be invalid
Mar. 22, 2009 DailyCamera - ArticleExcerpt
Boulder police and city transportation officials are investigating the possibility that a photo-radar van was parked illegally when it snapped pictures of passing speeders -- possibly hundreds of them.
"Those that live out here know they either have to slow down or speed up past a car to get into that lane," Fraser said. "It's a great speed trap -- that's really all it is."
"The citizen's right," [Cmdr Robert] Thomas said Friday. "You can't have a van breaking the law and a citizen getting a ticket for breaking the law -- that's not right."
If it turns out the van was operating in an illegal spot, Thomas said he'll work with the city attorney's office and the Boulder municipal courts to dismiss all tickets given from that location. Anyone who already paid for or lost an appeal from such tickets would likely be issued a refund, he said, although the final decision on those actions would have to come from the city attorney's office and the courts.
Nearly 600 Scottsdale photo tickets tossed due to glitch
Jan. 29, 2008 ABC 15 - ArticleScottsdale has thrown out nearly 600 photo enforcement speeding citations after learning they were triggered by a faulty sensor.
The affected motorists were all traveling between Dec. 7 and Jan. 4 in the eastbound curb lane on Shea Boulevard at 120th Street, which is one of the mid-block surface street speed camera locations.
The city received complaints from motorists about the camera flashing when they were traveling below the activation limit.
The cameras are activated at 11 mph above the speed limit.
A police investigation showed that vendor American Traffic Solutions was issuing 75 percent above the normal number of citations during December from the camera location, Scottsdale police Sgt. Mark Clark said.
"Clearly there was an anomaly and we notified ATS," Clark said. As a result, the city dismissed 589 citations already mailed by Scottsdale City Court, reimbursed 35 motorists who had already paid fines or driver school fees, as well as corrected driving records, city spokesman Pat Dodds wrote in an internal e-mail Monday obtained by the Tribune. The affected drivers are receiving notices that their citations were voided, Dodds wrote. Recorded speeding violations from the curb lane that had not yet been processed into citations were also dismissed. "All were going over the speed limit, but we couldn't verify the exact speed they were going," ATS spokesman Josh Weiss said. Weiss said ATS learned of the problem Jan. 4 and shut down the camera site for repair until Jan. 16. Weiss added that the company has since verified that all of the surface street and Loop 101 freeway cameras in Scottsdale are functioning properly. "These sensors are used on thousands of cameras and it’s extremely rare for something like this to happen," Weiss said. ATS operates both the surface street and freeway cameras in Scottsdale. The Scottsdale-based company, which operates in more than 100 cities including Mesa and Phoenix, took over from previous vendor Redflex Traffic Systems last year. Dodds said a number of years ago, Scottsdale refunded fines after realizing speeding citations issued by a mobile speed van were done using the wrong speed limit.Tennessee: Refunds for Photo Tickets on Short Yellow
Mar. 13, 2008 theNewspaper.com - ArticleChattanooga, Tennessee Judge refunds 176 red light camera tickets issued at illegally short yellow light.
The city of Chattanooga, Tennessee will refund $8800 in red light cameras tickets issued to motorists trapped by an illegally short yellow time. Municipal Court Judge Russell Bean on Monday dismissed charges against 176 vehicle owners cited by an automated ticketing machine located at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Pine Street.
Last month, a motorist challenged his citation by insisting that the yellow light was too short and only remained lit for 3.0 seconds before changing to red and activating the camera. LaserCraft, the private vendor that runs the camera program in return for a cut of the profits, provided the judge with a computer database that asserted the yellow was 3.8 seconds at that location. Bean gave the motorist the benefit of the doubt and watched the video of the alleged violation while counting how long the light stayed yellow.
"It didn't seem to me that it was at four (seconds) because it would change right at three," Bean told the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
Bean then personally checked the intersection in question was timed at three seconds while other nearby locations had about four seconds of yellow warning. City traffic engineer John Van Winkle told Bean that "a mix up with the turn arrow" was responsible and that the bare minimum for the light should be 3.9 seconds. Judge Bean ordered 176 of the tickets issued within the first 0.9 seconds after the light turned red canceled.
Short yellow times are vital to ensuring the steady flow of traffic citations for vendors like LaserCraft. Confidential documents obtained in a 2001 court trial proved that the city of San Diego, California and its red light camera vendor, now ACS, only installed red light cameras at intersections with high volumes and "Amber (yellow) phase less than 4 seconds."
Short yellows trap drivers in what is known as a "dilemma zone" where there is neither time to stop safely -- without slamming the brakes and risking a rear-end collision -- nor to proceed through the intersection before it changes to red. Red light cameras capitalize on this, with four out of every five tickets issued before the light has been red for a full second, according to a report by the California State Auditor. This suggests that most citations are issued to those surprised by a quick-changing signal light.
In 2002, a Baltimore, Maryland judge caught the city trapping motorists at signals with illegally short yellow lights. (Read court memo)
City's photo-radar system keeps speeders in check
by Trevor Hughes - Aug. 26, 2007 Coloradoan.com - ArticleOne driver was recorded traveling at 132 mph in a 30 mph zone on April 25, 2007. The owner of the vehicle said there's no way the GMC pickup he uses for landscaping could travel that fast. Municipal court officials said the ticket was never issued, which traffic Sgt. Mike Trombley said probably happened because the speed was so high. He said that while the radar cameras are calibrated at the start and end of each shift, it's likely the 132-mph reading was incorrect. He declined to discuss potential error rates for the system.
Arizona: Police Arrest Man for Driving Impossible Speed
June 2, 2006 EastValleyTribune.com - ArticleScottsdale, Arizona police have arrested Lawrence Pargo, 26, for speeding based solely on the evidence of its photo radar machines that registered his vehicle traveling at an impossibly high speed of 147 MPH. Scottsdale police maintain that Pargo's rented silver Sonata drove between 102 and 147 MPH past four speed cameras on May 21 at around six in the morning. Pargo's Hyundai, according to the manufacturer, has a drag-limited top speed of 137 MPH.
"This is a rental vehicle so it is doubtful that it could attain even this maximum speed," said Eric Skrum, spokesman for the National Motorists Association. "At a bare minimum, this is a ten-mph discrepancy and obviously an invalid ticket. I would suggest that rather than investigate this individual, the police should be checking their own equipment. This needs to be a top priority as there is no telling how many other drivers have received unjustified tickets."
Automotive reviewer Robert Farago wrote of the car, "only an Impala driver would mistake the Sonata LX for a high-performance sedan."
Australia: Unreliable Speed Cameras Secretly Disconnected
Apr 22, 2008 TheNewspaper.com - ArticleOfficials in Victoria, Australia quietly turned off unreliable West Gate Freeway speed cameras in 2006.
A set of speed cameras in Victoria, Australia were quietly turned off nearly two years ago because of police concerns about their reliability. In September 2005 the state government spent A$2 million to install the automated ticketing machines on the West Gate Bridge, a busy 1.6 mile route across the Yarra River in Melbourne. Police officials today confirmed that they had secretly disabled the cameras in September 2006 after the devices had issued 4243 citations.
"They were turned off, I've been advised, for technical issues," Assistant Police Commissioner for Traffic Ken Lay told Melbourne's 3AW radio. "So the decision was made that if we can't be absolutely sure let's not infringe. Motorists shouldn't be dobbed and if we do start doing that it undermines the system, it undermines road safety."
Lay insisted he was "happy" with the accuracy of the devices and that it was only the clarity of the photographic images that moved him to turn off the cameras. Some suspect more is involved.
In July 2003, a Victoria speed camera accused motorist Vanessa Bridges' 1975 Datsun 120Y of driving at 98 MPH, setting off a chain reaction of events that ultimately cost the state government A$26 million in refunds. Even after the thirty-year-old Datsun was tested and found to be capable of reaching speeds no greater than 73 MPH, police dug in their heels and insisted the photo enforcement system was accurate and that Bridges' fine would stand. Intense publicity arising out of her case, however, forced an investigation into the cameras on the Western Ring Road. Independent testing showed faulty in-ground sensors and electromagnetic interference had been responsible for generating bogus speed readings. The government had no choice but to cancel 165,000 camera tickets.
Today, Lay insisted safety was the only factor driving the 2006 decision by Victoria Police to keep the West Gate Bridge problems quiet.
"There was a decision made by us not to put it out there that they weren't operating," Lay added. "Some will criticize us for doing that, I understand that. But the decision was made to keep people alive."
Bungling speed camera operator sacked
Nov 23, 2005 HighBeam.com - ArticleMELBOURNE, Nov 23 AAP - A speed camera operator who wrongly booked 41 Melbourne motorists for speeding has been sacked by private traffic enforcement company Tenix Solutions.
The man mistakenly set his speed camera to 70kph in an 80kph zone in Sharps Road, Tullamarine, for three hours on the morning of October 27, snaring 41 drivers.
In August, more than 100 drivers had fines refunded after they were caught on an incorrectly set speed camera on the Hume Highway at Somerton, in Melbourne's north.
Flawed Red Light Camera
How many innocent drivers paid tickets for violations they weren't guilty of? How many innocent drivers have the time and access to a video camera in order to obtain the evidence they need for court? Not everyone is capable of presenting a defense in court. Do innocent drivers deserve the burden of having to hire lawyers and spend hours and hundreds of dollars on equipment to prove their innocence from a for-profit camera installation on a violation that a human officer would never ticket? Innocent drivers do not deserve this burden! --admin
Another Red Light Camera Error
More Cameras Malfunctioning
Faulty Speed Cameras
More Camera Errors
Again, how many people have access to news stations and "Mr. Math" to help them prove their innocence? --admin
On Your Side: Photo Radar Tickets
Oct. 23, 2007 WJLA ABC 7 News - ArticleFighting an erroneous ticket - You have to get the TV station involved to fight your ticket.
Radar Equipment Malfunctions Quite Easily