I was listening to a talk radio program last evening and this story came-up.
Evidently there are States in the USA which have traffic cameras set up to catch people running traffic lights. These traffic light cameras are installed and managed by a company in Australia.
How it works is that local municipalities vote to contract with this Australian company to install and then monitor and manage everything. In other words, a city council decides to contact with the Australian company which installs the cameras and then they manage all the results. The city doesn't have to do anything except receive a portion of the fines. The Australian company gets a "cut" of all the fines. In Arizona, the money goes to the Australian company, the city or State, and also a portion goes into a fund called "Clean Elections".
"Clean Elections" is a program in Arizona whereas politicians get the proceeds donated to their election campaign coffers. It was said that so far candidates for public office have received 1/2 a Billion dollars in fine revenue for their campaigns.
The man who was being interviewed about it is fighting to have this arrangement stopped. He claims that while the government is doing it in the name of safety, accident number have actually INCREASED at intersections where these cameras are installed. I wish I had been the radio interviewer because I would have asked him exactly HOW installing traffic cameras at traffic lights could INCREASE accidents. He never explained how that's possible, but his statistics were astounding (he claimed at one intersection, accidents increased 467%).
But here's the part that REALLY seems unethical and actually possibly illegal in the USA:
Evidently when you get a ticket in the mail, it contains a picture of your vehicle crashing through the red light. OK...so far so good. But then if you want to dispute the ticket for any reason, you don't go before a traffic judge, but you call the Toll Free telephone number and an employee at the Australian company decides your fate!
He's not even in the USA!!!
And of course, there's little incentive for these employee judges to EVER find you not guilty since the company (and the politicians) get a cut of your fine.
He also said that thousands of these tickets are completely bogus, but you cannot win. He explained that in Arizona it is legal to make a right turn on red if the traffic coming the other way is clear. BUT< since the light is still red, the camera tales your picture as you make the right turn on red. As soon as your front bumper crosses the white line, regardless of if you are making a legal right-on-red turn, it snaps your picture and then the company "judge" says they have the proof you crashed through a red light and you have to pay the fine.
I plan to look for more information on the Internet about this story as it all seems just too weird. What do you think?
Evidently there are States in the USA which have traffic cameras set up to catch people running traffic lights. These traffic light cameras are installed and managed by a company in Australia.
How it works is that local municipalities vote to contract with this Australian company to install and then monitor and manage everything. In other words, a city council decides to contact with the Australian company which installs the cameras and then they manage all the results. The city doesn't have to do anything except receive a portion of the fines. The Australian company gets a "cut" of all the fines. In Arizona, the money goes to the Australian company, the city or State, and also a portion goes into a fund called "Clean Elections".
"Clean Elections" is a program in Arizona whereas politicians get the proceeds donated to their election campaign coffers. It was said that so far candidates for public office have received 1/2 a Billion dollars in fine revenue for their campaigns.
The man who was being interviewed about it is fighting to have this arrangement stopped. He claims that while the government is doing it in the name of safety, accident number have actually INCREASED at intersections where these cameras are installed. I wish I had been the radio interviewer because I would have asked him exactly HOW installing traffic cameras at traffic lights could INCREASE accidents. He never explained how that's possible, but his statistics were astounding (he claimed at one intersection, accidents increased 467%).
But here's the part that REALLY seems unethical and actually possibly illegal in the USA:
Evidently when you get a ticket in the mail, it contains a picture of your vehicle crashing through the red light. OK...so far so good. But then if you want to dispute the ticket for any reason, you don't go before a traffic judge, but you call the Toll Free telephone number and an employee at the Australian company decides your fate!
He's not even in the USA!!!
And of course, there's little incentive for these employee judges to EVER find you not guilty since the company (and the politicians) get a cut of your fine.
He also said that thousands of these tickets are completely bogus, but you cannot win. He explained that in Arizona it is legal to make a right turn on red if the traffic coming the other way is clear. BUT< since the light is still red, the camera tales your picture as you make the right turn on red. As soon as your front bumper crosses the white line, regardless of if you are making a legal right-on-red turn, it snaps your picture and then the company "judge" says they have the proof you crashed through a red light and you have to pay the fine.
I plan to look for more information on the Internet about this story as it all seems just too weird. What do you think?
