Justin, a loyal MR reader, writes to me:
Funny
new story. Near the end it mentions citizen's group that wants to
remove cameras from a highway because, in their words, "It's nothing
but a speed tax".
I liked the opening paragraph of the piece:
A driver has racked up dozens of speeding tickets in photo-radar zones on Phoenix-area freeways while sporting monkey and
giraffe masks, and is fighting every one by claiming the costumes make
it impossible for authorities to prove he was behind the wheel.
Monkey masks I can see. But giraffe masks? That's good enough for a markets in everything. Who, other than this guy, buys a giraffe mask? And how is this for governmental wisdom?
…It took Arizona state police months to realize the same driver was involved
And the guy's car?
…has black-and-white checkered racing stickers on its sides and a sticker on the windshield that reads "Bucktooth Racin'."
The state now has surveillance photos of him putting on a mask before driving but vonTesmar, the driver, offers up a novel defense:
…[he] said if the Department of Public Safety
does have surveillance photos of him on the road, it proves he's not a
danger to other drivers. If he were, officers would have pulled him
over, he said.
The cameras remain unpopular in Arizona:
Arizonans have used sticky notes, Silly String and even a pickax to sabotage the cameras.
Many
believe the shooting death of speed-enforcement van operator Doug
Georgianni on April 19 on a Phoenix freeway was a result of anger over
the cameras, although authorities haven't made that direct allegation.
Three separate citizens groups are targeting the cameras in initiatives for the 2010 ballot.
As you can see, the local government blogging marathon continues. Soon I'll offer up some posts on crime.
What is the purpose of speeding tickets?
It’s not about the speeding.
(So how did Robin get the patent on skepticism?)
People who travel at a speed significantly different from the surrounding traffic flow definitely cause more accidents, and all things being equal, faster speeds do make accidents a bit more likely and more severe. (The latter due to the laws of physics.)
On the other hand, this paper (that’s a preprint, I believe the full paper was published this year in the Journal of Law and Economics) demonstrates that speeding tickets in NC definitely have an inverse relationship to local county revenue. When the county needs money, tickets go up. (The found a somewhat asymmetrical response; tickets go up fast when revenue declines, but they take a long time to decline when times are good.)
Here’s the final version. From the paper:
DC: Camera Ticket Overturned Over Accuracy Doubts
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/dc-camera-ticket-overturned-over-accuracy-doubts/
“Doubts over the accuracy of the speed camera equipment led to the dismissal of a Washington, DC photo radar ticket last month. The motorist, who requested anonymity, decided to fight the citation out of ‘spite.’ He arrived at the District’s Department of Motor Vehicles on August 17 unprepared with an argument that would beat the ticket. He fully expected to lose, but thought it was right to ‘cost the city more money’ because he saw the photo radar program as little more than an illegitimate money grab. The motorist was surprised, however, when Adjudicator Stephen Reichert took one look at the ticket photo and noted that a second vehicle had been within the radar’s field of view.”
Seven Ridiculous Ticket Camera Blunders
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/seven-ridiculous-ticket-camera-blunders/
“Officials in charge of red light camera and speed camera programs claim it is ‘rare’ for erroneous tickets to be issued because a human police officer diligently verifies each and every citation for accuracy before it is issued. If confronted with clear evidence that their cameras have made a mistake, the camera companies insist that it’s an ‘isolated incident.’ Here are seven of the more ridiculous ‘isolated incidents’ from across the country:”
I advocate the vandalism of such cameras- and, no, I have never been ticketed by one, I just don’t like the idea of being monitored by governments public places.
“I want speeding cameras and red light cameras in my jurisdiction. If you break the law and put others in danger, you should pay the price.”
Brian, that is fine, and I’m free not to live in your jurisdiction. But you are begging the question of whether the law actually is correlated to putting others in danger. Obviously, a race car driver can drive fast quite safely. That is of course an extreme point but you can’t argue with it. The more general question is does giving speeding tickets by cop or by camera increase safety?
Now, implicit in your statement is the assumption that people who break the law are the same people who put others in danger and should be punished when we get the chance, even if what we are punishing them for is not exactly what puts others in danger. That’s a fine position, just not what most people say when talking about justice systems.
Finally, what price? If the price is too high, they will just drive around your jurisdiction, perhaps really fast to make up time. There should also be a cost of enforcement on individuals in the government. Automation makes it too easy to harass people with little recourse. Think spambots.
Compared to what? TANSSAAFL, after all. It might increase safety compared to no police officer, but decrease safety compared to that police officer doing something else with his time that’s more valuable.
Alex has done research showing that more police decreases crime, and that police doing various beat work are a bargain compared to their cost. The marginal deterrent effect of moving a police officer from traffic to say, walking a neighborhood beat, might result in more safety.
From everything I’ve read, very few red-light cameras give tickets for blowing through a red light. Most tickets are for speeding through the intersection. A vast majority (I believe almost 90% in our new cameras here in New Mexico) of non-speed related tickets are for motorists not coming to a complete stop before turning right on a red light. Beyond the seeming arbitrariness of this (Does a complete stop mean a full second without movement, 2 seconds, 1/2 a second? Does it depend upon state or municipal law?), does this really increase safety?
I suppose the person who objected to the fine to benefit city coffers would not object to the speeding fines being use to pay death benefits to motorist injured by speeders. Afterall, they didn’t enter a market to trade their life to satisfy the speeder’s pleasure.
Well, I don’t have a nice set of tits & I’m not buddies with any cops, so I prefer the cameras, even though I’ve been caught by one. I think you’ll find that some police groups are against the cameras for the same reason I’m for them (unstated, though). I’d bet that off-duty police officers are getting a lot more tickets with the cameras. Using the cameras has removed a lot of positive externalities from the police.
On my brood’s latest trip to the San Diego Zoo, we got the panda mask because it polled best with the focus group (two young girls). But the giraffe mask was second, beating out the monkey and alligator masks.
This specific article is talking about speeding cameras on the local freeways, not red light cameras. These are specifically designed to raise revenue and the company that manages them splits the revenue they raise with the local municipalities (multiple, not just Phoenix). They have a definite incentive to use them to raise as much money as possible, because that’s the business they’re in.
They don’t cause people to slow down much overall, just to hit the brakes whenever the cameras are coming up (causing waves in the traffic), then speed back up afterward. People who are don’t notice them before they get to them, or who just don’t care (like the fella in the story) are the ones who get ticketed.
They’re also unconstitutional in AZ, which is currently working it’s way through the court system (Tickets for a whole stretch of cameras in one jurisdiction were thrown out and the company has moved their cameras out of the area, but the ruling doesn’t apply more broadly until it gets through the appeals courts), because they provide for fines double that of what people get when they’re ticked by an officer (to provide for the company’s revenue portion). Having two different sets of punishments for the exact same offense (speeding), violates the state constitution.
Also, the company’s manual of operations turned up online recently and they’ve found all sorts of fun things in it, like how people with out of country plates have their tickets ignored … and so do city workers and judges. They also don’t send tickets to vehicles owned by companies, just to individuals. I’ve seen drivers going 30 over the speed limit and weaving in and out of traffic blow past the cameras all the time because they have one of several types of “immunity” to the tickets.
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When a municipality posts a road’s speed limit with misleading signs and multiple speed limit changes in a short distance, how does that promote safety? It is also funny how within days of the new signage, the timing lines for VASCAR are in place by the new signs. I have no problem with reasonable speed limits, but, that isn’t what’s happening these days. The issue of traffic safety has been replaced with revenue generation.
I live in Pennsylvania. Our Governor has publicaly stated that he doesn’t care if you speed, so long as you pay the fine if you get caught. This was at about the same time as they passed a law preventing you from driving more than three miles in the left hand lane of interstate type highways, to keep the lane open for faster traffic. Does anybody see the flaw here? If I am doing the speed limit in the left lane, why should somebody be passing me?
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