http://arstechnica.com/…

There are many reasons for Chicagoans to poke fun at the northwest suburb of Schaumburg, but the existence of red light cameras soon won’t be one of them. Officials expect to get rid of Schaumburg’s sole red light camera in July after the local police department has determined that it provides no appreciable safety benefits.

The city originally installed the camera at a busy intersection near the ever-popular Woodfield Mall sometime last year as a testing ground before the city installed more cameras. According to Schaumburg Mayor Al Larson, the city had been sold on pitches from red light camera companies claiming that the devices would help prevent serious accidents.

Like other municipalities, Schaumburg began issuing $100 tickets in November to those found blowing the red light, generating some 7,000 tickets by the end of 2008, according to the Daily Herald. By February, that number climbed to over 10,000 and $1 million in revenue. Apparently very few accidents were prevented, however, and the city got numerous angry phone calls from citizens and tourists alike, resulting in the camera being switched off in February.

“The result is very few crashes at any of our major intersections have been the result of traffic signal violations,” Police Chief Brian Howerton told the Herald. He reiterated that other cities may want to change driver behavior by using tickets to force drivers to stop, but Schaumburg’s goal was always to prevent collisions. As a result, Howerton is recommending the city take down the camera and not install any more. “It was not our intent to use them as a revenue generator,” Mayor Larson added.

Schaumburg’s decision stands in stark contrast with most other municipalities that have installed the devices, including the city of Chicago. In many of these cases, data showing that red light cameras increase safety is conveniently missing, as exemplified by a high-profile case in Denver earlier this year. Instead, cities love raking in the ticket revenue while hiding behind the thin veil of safety, even though it has been argued that the surest way to increase safety at red lights is by extending the yellow period. The state of Mississippi, however, has bucked this trend by banning red light cameras on the state level earlier this year. While we hardly expect the entire state of Illinois to follow suit, it’s nice to see smaller cities like Schaumburg eschew such a lucrative revenue source because the product simply doesn’t do what it claims to do.

Let the veil fall.

http://arstechnica.com/…

The fact that there aren’t hard numbers to base these arguments on suggests that many towns are leaping into the use of cameras without ever bothering to look into their safety implications. Denver, for example, had a contract that mandated the reporting of statistics from the cameras, but the city never bothered to ask for them.

As a result, a number of states have now banned their use. To be fair, based on legislative arguments over speed cameras, the bans may have been as much the product of the fact that state legislators don’t want to be caught by them, but the questionable ethics of the red light cameras undoubtedly helped them justify their decision.

But cities aren’t content to see a source of revenue slip from their grasp, especially in the current fiscal environment. A site called theNewspaper.com, which tracks the politics of traffic laws, is reporting that some cities in Texas, which banned the installation of new cameras but grandfathered them in existing contracts, are attempting to evade the intent of the legislature. When faced with the prospect of having their existing contracts with a camera supplier gracefully expire when they run out, Arlington and Southlake are locking themselves into long-term contract extensions. Southlake has extended it for 20 years, by which point technology may have made the whole issue irrelevant.

Apparently, a similar thing happened when Montana passed a bill with exemptions for existing contracts, and the Montana legislature responded by passing a bill that stripped out that exception.

Rather than taking on the legislature, the cities might want to consider doing what they should have done in the first place: perform an analysis that shows that a specific combination of yellow light times and red light cameras actually improves public safety. Given hard data, it might be possible to convince the state that the cameras make sense in ways other than filling out the municipal budget.

Cameras have always been about money and money alone. If it was about safety they would be wholey owned by the municipality, run at cost, and all these stories about shorter yellows and such would never had occurred. The data I’ve looked at shows no conclusive evidence to support the claim that they even protect anyone. Speeding cameras esspecially. The whole idea of speeding is bogus as are most stop signs. If you drive in such a way that puts others at risk or is causing damage to the roadway only then is there a legitimate case for intervention. Artifically attempting to control the flow of traffic is what leads to these ‘requirements’ of speed limits, cameras and whatnot. Unsurprising when you give drivers more responsibility for their action by removing signage they generally become more careful and aware.

The guy is way way off about Lincoln but the rest wasn’t bad. That reporter is so out of it she can’t put together how liberty and forced extraction of wealth are related. Sad state of affairs.

Update: What didn’t make to CNN

On Sunday, April 12th the Motorhome Diaries team left Yolk — the Chicago-based restaurant at which they’d just had an awesome breakfast — and witnessed two Transit officers park their squad car at a bus stop.

This video shows their interaction with their fellow men and women in blue.

On the way out of the office, reported on the elevator info monitor, was a news report on Rod Blagojevich and how he was accused of running “state government as a criminal enterprise.”

Isn’t that like saying water is wet?

Then again… it really is a cheapshot at real criminal enterprises. Those guys are at least honest with regard to their role. They know and admit they are thieves, extorting people and damaging property. The bureaucrats… not so much.

http://americanchronical.com/

March 11 2009

I had the good fortune to be able to spend the weekend of March 5th – March 8th of 2009 attending the Liberty Forum in Nashua, New Hampshire which was put on by The Free State Project. To say I was energized and excited by the happenings there would be an understatement. Words can not begin to describe the feelings I had as the weekend progressed. I felt welcomed, accepted and embraced by all those in attendance. Never before in my life have I experienced so many people that felt the same way about freedom as I do all gathered together in the same place.

I drove from the Chicago area to Nashua to attend this event. The total drive time was a little over 17 hours one way. I would have flown, but I didn´t want to put up with the TSA and all their dictates. Sorry, but I want to be able to keep my shoes on and drink bottled water when I travel. I could have taken a train, but I didn´t. I wanted to drive. It had been a long time since I´ve taken a road trip. The forum made it worth the trip.

I could talk about the liberty luminaries that gave their speeches. I could talk about how great it was to hear these personalities in person. I could talk about the individual speeches by people like Adam Kokesh from Iraq Veterans Against the War and how great and emotional his presentation was. I could talk about how awed I was to be in the presence of Mary Ruwart (one of my personal heroes) and how exciting it was to be able to speak to her one on one even if it was just for ten minutes. I could talk about how inspiring it was to listen to Will Buchanan tell of his adventures on his Walk for Liberty across America and to discuss freedom with him and his lovely wife Brooke at a round table luncheon.

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