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.

43 that is all…

In the May 2009 College Station, TX  general election if the incumbent council member had received 43 more votes she would be in office today.  As it was she came up short and we then had to hold a run off election and she lost her council seat.  This will be an election won by a few people.  Once you vote ask others to vote let’s do this right.  Your vote could be the one that puts us over the top!

Your Vote Counts in this election.

Baytown Overturns RLC Ticket

Baytown dismissed a RLC ticket because of wording that is just like the wording on College Station’s RLC tickets.  Should citizens not ask that CSTX do the same?  See the full story below.

http://www.baytownsun.com/story/47764

Public Funds for Political Advertising? You decide…

It appears the City of College Station and city manager Glen Brown has violated the election laws of the State of Texas. Mr. Brown is using taxpayer money to fund political advertising to keep red light cameras in College Station. A complaint filed in Austin October 7, 2009 alleges Mr. Brown is using $20,000.00 in public funds to produce, and send out to the voters, material that falsely and misleadingly states red light cameras have reduced traffic accidents. The false and misleading information is sufficiently substantial and important enough to influence a voter in the November 3, 2009 election.  Conversations, emails obtained as a result of “Freedom of Information” requests indicate the city manager and members of the city council know the facts to be misleading and false.  Knowingly using city money to misrepresent facts for the purpose of influencing an election is a violation of election code.

Glenn Brown Texas Ethics Commission Complaint

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