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. [caption id="attachment_701" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The End"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_702" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The End ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Why all the fuss?

When I received my RLC ticket in Oct. of 2008, I was (and remain) happily married, raising our kids, paying the mortgage and enjoying suburban anonymity.  You most likely would have never known of me had I not read the back of the RLC ticket while filling out a seventy-five dollar check for my fine.  The notice states that “it has been determined”, using the past tense, that I had broken the law.  “Failure to pay seventy-five dollars by the due date is an admission of liability” and will result in an additional twenty-five dollar fee.  Was this from our government?  Are we found guilty before a trial?  The City asks us to come prove our innocence?  Sadly the answer is: yes.

Breaking the law is wrong; obeying traffic signals is a good thing.  Despite being labeled as a law breaker (and worse) for my opposition to the RLC program, I am for all practical purposes a law abiding citizen.  I requested my complete driving history from the Texas DPS and it reveals one citation for speeding in 34 years behind the wheel.  The answers to two popular questions: 1. Yes, I have paid the seventy-five dollar fine 2. No, I was not driving the car while it was photographed by the RLC system.

The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”  I am opposed to the RLC system in Texas because it is wrong for the government to:

• Determine a citizen’s guilt prior to his or her day in court.
• Deny citizens the right to appeal.
• Deny citizens the right to a jury trial.
• Deny equal protection under the law by charging one citizen as a criminal and another under civil law for the same act.

Why should one citizen be charged a civil fine of $75 and another citizen assessed a higher criminal fine for the same red light infraction?  The RLC laws of Texas deny the rights above and a criminal violator retains his rights.

So why would a local government do this?  The cities say it is a safety program.  I have evidence that one City Council Member even expected to see rear end accidents increase and still went ahead with the program.  I, along with many others, have concluded the RLC program is more about the money than anything else.