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| Home Front: Politix |
| Get ready for ... stop sign cameras |
| 2007-07-07 |
| The Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA) has installed the first-ever automated camera in the US designed to ticket drivers who make "boulevard stops" or slow to a crawl at a stop sign without fully ceasing forward motion. The little-known agency will begin issuing $100 fines next Monday, July 9, at Franklin Canyon in the heart of Los Angeles, located off of Mulholland Drive and at the top of Topanga. The stop sign devices are based on red light camera platforms, but they differ greatly in use. The more familiar stoplight cameras typically photograph a vehicle entering an intersection if a signal light changes to red between 0.1 and 0.3 seconds after the car crosses a stop bar line (view recent report). With the new stop sign cameras, a machine will make calculations to determine whether a vehicle did not stop for a long enough period and deserves a fine. The cameras are being installed as a prelude to the agency's expected installation of speed cameras on popular canyon roads, as first reported by TheNewspaper in April. Australian camera vendor Redflex will operate every aspect of the program in return for a $20 cut from every ticket the company is able to issue (view contract). California law explicitly prohibits both speed cameras and per-ticket photo enforcement contract provisions, but the MRCA believes the law does not apply to them. "Our Park Rangers are California peace officers and will always have traffic enforcement as part of their duty," MRCA Director of Public Affairs Dash Stolarz said in a June statement. In 2000, the California legislature banned photo radar with a statute clarifying that although it authorized the use of photo ticketing at traffic signals, the legislature, "does not authorize the use of photo radar for speed enforcement purposes by any jurisdiction." (CVC 21455.6) Another provision specifies that, "A contract between a governmental agency and a manufacturer or supplier of automated enforcement equipment may not include provision for the payment or compensation to the manufacturer or supplier based on the number of citations generated." |
| Posted by:Seafarious |
| #13 Bruno, the world's surliest bartender Matched only—I'm very sure—by Edsel Fong Ford of Sam Woh Chinese restaurant in SF's Chinatown, renowned at the world's rudest waiter. Many's the time we would stagger into Sam Woh after a concert at Winterland. Four of us would park at the table and he'd hand you one menu asking, "Is that enough?!?". You'd have to retort, "No, give us four menus!" or you were stuck with only one. After you ordered, he'd hand you a pad of paper and a pencil and tell you, "Now add it up!" What you could not know is that the guy had a photographic memory and by the time you were finished totting up the figures he was hauling your food out of the dumb waiter and serving it to you. Favorite line: [pointing at Edsel grabbing the food] "Look at that dumb waiter! He'd race over shouting, "Oh, tha's very rude!" Of course, he'd also chase after any attractive women. Once he ran after my girlfriend shouting, "Mean, lean and clean!!!" He was mentioned in Caen's column repeatedly. His scrap book had dozens of pictures with him bracketed by pretty young women with his arms over their shoulders and clutching their breasts with both hands. Most famous Edsel Fong Ford line: "You specify, I modify, you clarify, I amplify, you verify, I simplify!!!" |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-07-07 23:24 |
| #12 Zen: Herb...The Omnipotent One. Definitely a "Brush With Greatness" moment. Gratz! The closest I ever got to absorbing his aura was to partake in the unique experience of a martini at the (now defunct) Zam Zam Room and Bruno, the world's surliest bartender. A class act that Bruno. "The tables are closed!" Yes, indeed they are. |
| Posted by: Rex Mundi 2007-07-07 20:41 |
| #11 I hope no-one gets naughty ideas about damaging stealth tax cameras after looking at my link http://www.speedcam.co.uk/gatso2.htm |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2007-07-07 13:50 |
| #10 In Europe, especially the UK and Belgium, they have speed cameras. They also have websites that track them so you know where they are on any major trip. Very seldom do you see traffic police or their equivalent of state police on the highways. They basically depend on cameras. |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2007-07-07 13:27 |
| #9 Instapundit's been all over this stuff for a while (search his site for "red light camera" for all his pertinent posts) from both the legal and scientific angles. The bottom line is that it's been absolutely proven that read-end collisions significantly increase after such cameras are installed - shredding the safety argument used by municipalities to justify the installations. |
| Posted by: xbalanke 2007-07-07 11:58 |
| #8 Nice Moose but I consulted my Lawyer and he said that I really couldn't win the case in court and few do. Ther camera here are very high tech and they roll video 24-7 so you can view your viloation with the police and your lawyer at a later date. Trust me I wanted badly to get out of paying $350 but two things were against me: 1-Posted sign declaring the intersection was under camera survielance 2-A nice video of me rolling through the red light and making a right-hand turn Yes the City next to us makes no bones about making a fortune off red light violators (a major north-south highway runs through the city). Our City got so mad that they installed several cameras at certain red intersections and also is making a profit. How long can it be before the RISE OF THE MACHINES? |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2007-07-07 11:57 |
| #7 First of all, these have everything to do with making money, and nothing to do with public safety. Recently, a judge in SC ruled that by State law, cities were not permitted to make any profit off of traffic cameras. The cameras disappeared, statewide, overnight. Second, as far as stop signs are concerned, many are set far back from the intersection, so most people go past them before stopping, so they can see if there is oncoming traffic before proceeding. But a police officer informed me that you *must* stop *before* the stop sign, *then* move forward slowly to the intersection, where you will have to stop a *second* time to see if you can proceed, or you can be ticketed. It's a legal technicality they use to give easy tickets at intersections they know have stop signs set back from the intersections. The cop just hides then gives ticket after ticket--easy way to make his quota(*). (*) Officially, police do not have quotas, either. Yeah, right. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-07-07 10:49 |
| #6 I did a famous "California Stop" and it cost me $350. No kidding. The great part was when I got to go to the court house and view my crime on video, I was looking left and rolled right through the stop light (turning right). Can't be too long before the Cylons take over. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2007-07-07 10:06 |
| #5 So what happens when you invoke your right to face your accuser? |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2007-07-07 09:56 |
| #4 With the new stop sign cameras, a machine will make calculations to determine whether a vehicle did not stop for a long enough period and deserves a fine. Machine's can't issue tickets - a live law enforcement official has to. This won't fly except if there's VIDEO of you making a rolling stop. Still pix don't prove you didn't stop. This won't survive the first court contest |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-07-07 09:38 |
| #3 Pretty good, twobyfour. Herb Caen's column is where I originally read about this. I thought it would be fun to trot out the old joke. Incidentally, my name appeared in Herb Caen's column. He actually published one of my jokes after we talked on the telephone. Some trivia: His personal secretary, named Carol Vernier, was directly related to Pierre Vernier of dial and slide rule fame. Of course, I had to ask Herb, "Do you think you'll ever find another woman of her caliper?" Strangely, he didn't print that joke. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-07-07 04:42 |
| #2 Zen, Ahm.... |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2007-07-07 02:25 |
| #1 I got nailed by one of those red light photo cameras once. They sent me this $80.oo ticket along with a picture of my car. So I mailed them back a photo of four twenty-dollar bills. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-07-07 02:15 |