Purging American Traffic Solutions from CSTX

My goal is to see this happen around the State of Texas.  The red light camera interest should know that the State of Texas is full of people that long to be free.  Enforcement without due process is not something that will stand in Texas.    We will watch the court proceedings closely, but I believe that once the red light camera interest force the city to pay for the cost of election, some where between 70,000 and 80,000 they will all move on to oppress other people and other cities.

The End

The End Close Up

Email from Mayor; is trouble coming?

I asked the Mayor of College Station Ben White a simple question via email.

The Mayor’s response did not answer the question.

My reply to the Mayor perhaps shows to some extent the frustration that the citizens of College Station feel when they ask a simple question and all we get is the talking points of the day.  My first sentence is not sarcasm.  I do feel that Mayor White has earned the formality of a proper salutation.

My Reply to Mayor White.

This is what I think is going to happen next week as we move towards the removal of the red light cameras here in College Station, TX.  Early in the week will see some sort of court action brought by our camera vendor against the City of College Station.  A quick review of the termination sections of the contract explain the ways that the City can end the contract.   Look for this action prior to the appointed hour to unplug the cameras of 12 noon on Wednesday Nov. 11, 2009.

Cities that are considering entering into contracts for red light cameras should read closely what is happening here in College Station.  I have requested the open records of the city regarding communications with their red light camera vendor and the city would like us to believe that the vendor has not made any contact with them in more than four months.  I do not believe that is the case and people from within the city have told me that the vendor is contacting the city via phone directly with the highest levels of city government in an effort to communicate without leaving a record.  If your city is thinking that the idea of free money coming into the city’s accounts will not lead them to do what ever is necessary to keep the flow going they have forgotten what human nature can lead to.

BTW, there is nothing new under the sun:

“It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession.  I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first”   Ronald Reagan

One Stop Info Page

• There is No Appeal Allowed
• There is No Jury Trial Allowed
• Red Light Cameras Violate the Fifth Amendment of US Constitution
• Red Light Cameras Violate the Fourteenth Amendment of US Constitution
• Who is funding the Opposing PAC
• City Purchases Advertising with Public Funds
• City Holds Back Open Records of City Council Members
• FaceBook Page >2700 members as of Oct. 22, 2009
• Safety Test
• Red Light Cameras associated with higher levels of crashes
• RAW Crash Data from City of College Station, TX
  

Raw Data Set From College Station, TX

This is the raw data file from the City of College Station.  We were tired of getting told what the City wanted us to hear and asked for all the crash data for the past five years.

College Station, TX Accidents 2005-present if you want a data set that has been sorted to remove the blank lines in the City’s data set click here Accidents 2005-present – Blanks Gone

All Fatalities that are on the College Station system Fataliy Accidents 1992 – 2009

Longer Yellow = Reduced Violations

Anyone that is serious about traffic safety will tell you that extending yellow light times will reduce traffic light violations.  If you are new to the idea of extending the yellow light times there is a catch; extend them to much and you start giving back the savings that you gained in the first part of the yellow light time extension.   The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported April 15, 2009 “the solution to red light violations is a longer yellow.” WSJ goes on to say “T-bone and other accidents are greatly reduced by longer yellows.  Half a dozen Georgia towns just cancelled their camera contracts after a state law mandating the addition of an extra second made the cameras unprofitable.”

Why does it work so well?  The main contributing factor is that local traffic engineers use the posted speed limit as the basis for the Yellow Light Time Calculation.  The more accurate calculation is based on the 85% speed.  I other words the speed at which 85% of the vehicles are driving.  It might not seem like it but as little as .5 seconds can drastically change the out come of traffic violations.  The bulk of traffic violations occur in the first .5 seconds after the light changes.

The most dangerous traffic violators are the late signal violators.   A 1 second change is enough to put traffic camera ticket companies out of business.  You will never see them talk about extending the yellow light time.

2002 Yellow Light Time

No CSTX Money for Camera Keepers!

Total to KCSS spending as of Oct. 25  is $71,240 and not a single cent of financial support from College Station residents.  You have to read this to believe the depth that some companies will go to to save a contract.

Just in case you still think it is about safety:  Remember the City Council of College Station, TX voted “NO” to spending $10,400 for school zone cell phone signs.  While behind the scenes voting to fund a $20,000 advertising campaign to keep the cameras.  Actions speak louder than words.  Only when the city found a way to tie it to the camera program did they care about your kids.  Shame on the Council.  The City of College Station and their vendors are using the goodwill of the College Station Camera Keepers to do evil in this community.  I love the people of  College Station, I love the City of College Station now come on and help me “Take Back Your City”!

Take Back Your City Oct 26 TEC Report

A Conversation with the Constable

Constable Wayne Thompson agrees with me and thousands of other College Station residents: “Red Light Cameras should allow for a jury trial and a traditional appeal process. “ I believe that he was a little shocked when he found out the truth about the Red Light Cameras, and how the process works in College Station.

I noticed Constable Thompson’s presence in many of the advertisements that have been flowing from the Pro Camera sect.  So I thought that I would stop by his office yesterday for a short visit (Oct.  23, 2009).  My goal for this visit was to introduce myself and to understand why he believed strongly enough in the ticket cameras that he would agree to appear in uniform for the advertisements.

Well, my short visit turned into an hour long conversation.  We talked about the evolution in law enforcement that we both have seen in the past three decades.  We talked about the current state of the criminal justice system.  And we talked about what we should and or could do about any of the above subjects.  In short we had a great visit and I respect him greatly.

Constable Thompson explained that the pro camera sect contacted him and asked what he thought about the program.  He relayed that he did not live in College Station and was not that familiar with the camera system.  However, he believes it is just one more tool that law enforcement can use in their work, much like a hand cuff, pistol, or stun gun.

I reviewed the origins of my opposition to the cameras:  No due process; no jury trial; no traditional right to appeal to a higher court; equal protection clause challenges related to the fact that the offence is at the same time a criminal and civil violation.  He stated plainly that he believes that the right to a jury trial and traditional appeal should be in the law.  “If it overloads the court, so be it” was his comment.   He was unaware of the current state of the red light camera law.

I promote that the red light cameras should be taken down in College Station and around the state until the due process issues are fixed in the law.  Thompson said that I should work with the State to fix the problems with the law, but in the mean time he thinks the cameras should stay in operation.   I replied to that I did work through the State.  And the City of College Station passed the 20 year extension to the current contract. This action showed me how much they respect laws of the State of Texas.

We parted company.  I felt great that he understands and agrees with our foundational arguments to remove the cameras.  If Take Back Your City had a major corporation supporting us, we could have afforded the consultants to tell us how to spin Constable Thompson’s agreement with us into a color brochure.  Oh, that’s right, then we would have the company that contracts to print the notices of violation, print and mail the brochure.

Please, every time you see another four color mailer in your mail box, stop and think: that cost the camera company 7 to 10 thousand dollars to put it there.  Do they care that much about our safety?

Are you going to make it?

The “jump in the car test”

If you jump in the car and drive through the intersection of Harvey and Munson what is the probability that you can make it across the intersection safely? On a standard day the probability is 99.99994099%  that you are going to make it across without a crash.  Stated another way the odds of you getting hit in during our “jump in the car” test of fate is 1 in 1,694,642.

How did I get the numbers?

The 2004 traffic count of Harvey Road was put at 26,000 cars a day.  The five year average number of crashes at Harvey and Munson is 2.8 per year.
Therefore:

• 26,000 crossings x 365 days = 9,490,000 crossing per year
• 2.8 crashes per year x 2 the number of cars in a standard crash= 5.6 crossing events per year
• 5.6 cars don’t make it a year / 9,490,000 events = .0000005901
• 1 – .0000005901 = .9999994099
• 99.99994099 % of the time you are going to make it

No Jury Trial Allowed

There is NO JURY TRIAL ALLOWED in the matter of red light ticket cameras.

Finally, there is an issue that the opposition does agree on.  Why should you care? The idea that the State can bring charges against you that you can not defend yourself against in front of other citizens should be right at the top of your list of things that you should fight against.  The very foundations of our laws are that the Citizens are in control.  The State must come before the Citizens and 12 otherwise disinterested members of the jury must agree with the State that you have broken the law in order to find a person guilty.   The State must bring you in front of the jury, make there case that you have broken the law and everyone of the jury member must agree with the State.

Did you ever stop and wonder why the founders of our country set up such a system?  They set up our system the way it is because they understood that the State has disproportional power from a single citizen.  The State has the power to make laws but it is ultimately up to the citizens to enforce the laws in acting as members of a jury.  I am unwilling to be denied the right to a jury trial for any reason.

The conversion of formerly criminal law into a hybrid Criminal/Civil law is a new class of legal processes.  One where the State has existing powers to enforce criminal law but injects some civil law attributes in order to speed the process along to get to the money.  Even in a pure civil case we have the right to a jury trial.  We must not let this stand.

Cams Come Down

Thank you to the more than four thousand people that came out to the polls to support our cause and the idea that you can “Take Back Your City.”

The Mayor, City Council Members and Powerful City Staff all thought that the election would go the other way.  I was reminded of the Truman effect.  Once all the dust settles and the campaign finance reports are submitted I believe the total spending on this simple issue will be more than the sum of all campaign spending of any College Station election in history.  As of the reports that are required by state law eight days prior to Election Day total spending in round numbers was more than 100,000.  71K from the camera fans, 20K for city “voter education”, and 16K by the petitioners.

Cities considering entering into a photo enforcement contract should look to College Station as an example to what will happen to their citizens if they ever question a cities decision to use red light cameras.  I am a citizen exercising initiative rights reserved for citizens within our city charter.  The political action group that was exclusively funded by the camera vendor and their subcontractors went on a personal attack against me.  This attempt to turn me into a villain was effective to some extent.  Near the end of the campaign when trying to explain why NO ONE in College Station had donated money to their efforts the PAC explained:  they had been offered funding many time from College Station citizens but had refused the funding out of fear for the person safety.  That was so far fetched that it turned away people from the PAC cause.

Voters have never approved red light ticketing cameras in the many times the question has been resolved on Election Day.  If the vendors can sell exclusively to the persons receiving benefit for the contracted enforcement they win.  When the citizens speak they overturn the contracts.

Citizens understand the problems of privatizing law enforcement and the danger it brings to the citizens.  As a result of this election law enforcement in our city will return to a traditional model where citizens are allowed to defend themselves from criminal charges.  In this case the citizens gathered their courage and have run the hired gun out of town.  I pray that peace may now return to our city.

May God bless you and may God bless the USA.

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