From: jeq@i88.isc.com (Jonathan E. Quist)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Photo Radar
Date: 19 Aug 92 21:56:08 GMT
Article-I.D.: i88.1992Aug19.215608.693
Organization: INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation, Naperville, IL

In article <1992Aug19.200820.24329@javelin.sim.es.com> blgardne@javelin.sim.es.com writes:
>RFowler@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Robert A. Fowler) writes:
>
>>photo radar is only used in Pasadena, CA and in one other city in the USA.  
>
>Don't bet large quantities of money, or your drivers license on this.
>Photo radar (PhotoCop by brand name) is in use by the West Valley City
>police here in Salt Lake, and is under consideration/evaulation by a
>number of other cities in the state. Currently there is an attempt (law?
>I can't remember if the Legislooters overrode the Guv's veto or not) to
>restrict use of photo radar to school zones.
>
>The PhotoCop is leased from an outfit in Florida who gets $20 of every
>ticket written. If they're making a living at it, they must have more
>than two cities under contract.

Well, to be real picky, PhotoCop comes from Traffic Monitoring Technologies,
in brznfrzl, Texas.

>The "for proft" angle has caused a lot of heat for the powers what is,
>and they are taking some damage control steps such as the school zone
>restriction, and renegotiating the contract so that the city profits
>less from each ticket. They've also changed the rules regarding issuance
>of PhotoCop tickets. In the first few months of operation they cited
>everything that tripped the machine, only to have a huge number of cases
>tossed out for lack of evidence. Now they only send the ticket if they
>have a pretty picture.

In Batavia, IL, they had it on a trial basis, until public outcry
made it go away.  The deal here was that the PhotoCop vehicle was
set up someplace; at the end of the shift, the officer reviewed the
video tape and photos, to identify violations that could be reasonably
prosecuted.  The biggest objection (aside from folks waving their
arms in a panic and screaming "Big Brother") was that the registered
owner was held accountable for whatever happened with anyone driving the
car.  I say:  tough.  If you can't reasonbly determine that someone
is responsible enough to drive your car, don't give them the keys.

Folks complained about the private profit from the tickets - true, the
city got less from each ticket, but overall, the trial indicated that
revenue actually would have increased due to the increase in citations
issued.  And considering that TMT was providing the equipment and
vehicle free, it seems reasonable that they should recover their costs and
make a profit.

In our case, the system made sense:  we're stuck with a badly engineered
stretch of roadway, with lots of accidents.  When the speed limit was reduced
from 55 to 45, accident and fatality rates dropped; when the speed limit was
rigorously enforced, the rates dropped even further.  Our town doesn't have
the manpower to patrol regularly, and was averaging 40 hours overtime per
week to cover it.  Photo radar (under any brand name) would have
reduced the manpower requirement.  But folks couldn't be bothered.

Well, school starts next week.  I live on a busy street, a block from
an elementary school, where the school zone is ignored.  I see no choice
but to make a nuisance of myself complaining to the city, or to conspire
with my neighbors and park on both sides of the street to reduce traffic flow.
A week of photo radar surveillance would probably fix the problem for
several months.
-- 
Jonathan E. Quist                              INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation
jeq@i88.isc.com  '71 CL450-K4 "Gleep", DoD #094        Naperville, IL
George Bush claims to have neglected domestic issues in favor of foreign policy.
    Looking at Iraqi civilians, I'm glad we didn't have his full attention.
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