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Posted on 09/09/2008 3:48:50 PM PDT by Clint Williams
Washington state DOT officials announce the kickoff of a statewide speed camera program.
WSDOT / ATS speed cameraThe Washington State Department (WSDOT) will unleash its freeway speed cameras in the southwest portion of the state on Monday, September 15. WSDOT officials held a kickoff event in Chehalis on Friday to announce the date that ticketing will begin. The cameras will first appear in white Ford SUVs parked on the side of the road in a work zone on Interstate 5 south of Chehalis.
"Along with our Washington State Patrol partners, we place a high priority on highway safety," WSDOT State Traffic Engineer Ted Trepanier said. "The automated traffic safety cameras are just part of the highway safety program."
This program is designed to generate millions in revenue from $137 citations generated by the fully automated vans. Washington officials neglected to mention that ATS, an Arizona-based vendor, is the primary partner in charge of all aspects of the ticketing process in exchange for a significant portion of the revenue.
Washington officials also declined to disclose the speed at which cameras will trigger a violation notice. Instead, this will change over time to generate the precise number of citations desired, depending on the locations where the cameras operate. The WSDOT program may face significant political opposition if it continues to operate after voters adopt Initiative 985 (view details) in November. The measure will force cities operating local photo radar programs to turn over all revenue to a congestion relief fund -- preventing municipalities from using the program as a source of revenue. Five cities have already dropped photo ticketing plans as a result.
Illinois was the first state to begin operating speed cameras on a statewide basis, followed by Arizona. Over the past five years, fatal collisions in Washington work zones have declined 41 percent without any photo enforcement.
Safety. People fly down that stretch of road.
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Both. We’ve had these photo radar set ups here in Campbell CA for over 20yrs.
Revenue.
They’re a lot more efficient than cops.
And as unintended consequences arise, you’ll find more and more laws being passed to excuse those consequences.
Power to the government!
I’m glad you posted this. KFYI Phoenix as been playing a news clip all day containing a 911 call from a “former” law enforcement official who said he was following a van that was weaving badly all over the road. The van was one of Arizona’s new mobile speed camera vans. The driver was stopped and later charged with Extreme DWI. The company providing the vans and cameras fired the driver immediately. ROTFLMAO!!!!! I love it.
they could put speed governors on vehicles, but there would be far less revenue.
...we place a high priority on highway safety,...”
I would then expect a very high correlation between camera placement and those zones experiencing high accident rates. (Note, I said zones with high accident rates {public safety} , not high speed limit violating zones - {public revenue}.)
Wanna bet what those correlations are?
I think the cameras are probably a good idea, but there needs to be some legal criteria for when, where and how they will be used and where the proceeds will go. In many ways they just makes good financial sense. Cameras are much more efficient and cheaper than troopers and they work 24/7. That could free up a lot of cops to concentrate on more serious crime. On the other hand, I don’t think anyone wants to live in a world with cameras watching our every move all the time.
all revenue.....just like the cameras at intersections....
You can’t possibly be naive enough to believe that it is 100% motivated by safety. It may be 50%, it may be 20 or 70, BUT ANY TIME TRANSFER OF MONEY IS INVOLVED, there are other motivations operating.
I recently got a speeding ticket and I think the officer had the radar unit set to readout in “kilometers / hour” instead of “miles / hour”.
Fine, have the safety and the cameras, but no revenue that doesn’t go directly into roads.
If it was really about safety, why did the cities cancel the projects if it was such a good deal for safety.
It is all about priorities.
And the priorities are wrong.
If it was all about revenue, they wouldn’t put the vehicles in plain sight and tell us where they would be and what they look like.
What percent of the time do you think it is acceptable?
The Right To Be Left Alone; Police As A Standing Army; Are Cops Constitutional, etc., etc.
http://gunnyg.blogspot.com/2007_02_16_archive.html
http://gunnyg.blogspot.com/2007_02_16_archive.html
Semper Bugger Off!
Dick G
~~~~~~~~~~
Well from a safety standpoint (correct me if I am wrong) but the speeder doesn’t get the ticket until a later date. So they continue on with their speeding to where ever it is they are going. With marked police cruisers ticketing speeders, they make contact, determine if the person is falling down drunk, driving a stolen vehicle or sitting on a RPG. After getting the ticket they presumably stop speeding for a little while anyway.
So...I am going to go out on a limb and vote “revenue”
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