On 26 Jul 2001, at 14:42, Jim Choate wrote:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/metro/20010726-98590728.htm

The District expects to collect more than $160 million in traffic fines by 2004 from automated law-enforcement cameras designed to nab red-light runners and speeders, according to contracts obtained by The Washington Times.

This appears to be an overly optimistic estimate of revenue whether it is 3 or 4 years. They tried photo radar in Ontario and they had very high estimates of revenue which were never achieved. People slowed down for the photo radar locations as they were typically easy to spot. The Ontario program was cancelled within a short period of time after a change in provincial (state) government. The photo radar program in British Columbia was very recently cancelled as it was not considered a success. It failed to meet its revenue forecasts and the managers of the program demanded a major increase in the number of vans (photo radar units) to enable the program to be a success. The government of the time cancelled the expansion plans. The program had many problems other than enforcing arbitrary speed limits imposed for political reasons. The government which initiated the program promised not to run speed traps, ie - place the units at the bottom of hills or within 200 meters of a speed zone change other than school and playground zones. The biggest issue working against the program was most drivers learned to recognize the vans and were alert to their presence. Another issue was legally serving a ticket on the owner of the offending vehicle. If you are stopped by a police office and issued a ticket you are legally served with the appropriate documentation in the eyes of the law. The BC photo radar program mailed tickets to the offenders. This is not considered being legally served so many people threw the tickets out. Initially a local police office would then serve the ticket to your door but this didn't last long as the volume grew. Process servers were then used which worked in small towns and rural areas as everyone knew each other. In the big cities a process server had very little luck as people learned all they to do was tell the process server the intended recipient was not home. Even if the process server catches you getting into the same vehicle as pictured by the photo radar you state you are not the recipient as you are just using the vehicle. Next the government tried denying driver's license renewal or license tags or insurance if you had outstanding fines. That didn't work either as they can't penalize you for something you are not aware of in a legal sense. The front counter folks would hard line you on this one but all you had to do was ask for a supervisor.

The citations will cost speeders from $30 to $200, with $29 of each paid ticket going to Lockheed. For red-light violations, Lockheed receives $32 for each $75 ticket that is paid, with the red-light camera contract assuming a 75 percent payment rate.

What is interesting in this article is the the assumed 75% payment rate. If you break the law and you are fined you would expect an almost 100% payment rate, its a Law & Order issue. If the motivation is revenue generation it would appear a lower payment rate may be acceptable. A personal statement - While photo radar is just an easy way for law enforcement to go throw the motions red-light cameras may be a necessary evil. Within this urban area people running red-lights has gotten totally out of hand. I see people running lights 5 or more seconds after my light turns green, even passing cars stopped in nearby lanes. If you are first in line at a light you must look both ways before proceeding on a green. If red-light cameras are done right and can accurately pin-point the offending vehicle, done with a another photo one second or so after the first, they may what is required to get people to play by the necessary rules. I did read a previous article where it was mentioned the existing cameras, and associated system, were not setup properly and wrongly sent tickets to folks who were not guilty of any traffic violations. Like I mentioned above, it must be done right where there is no doubt on who is guilty and who is not.

D.C. police officials said the units are being rotated at about half that many sites, but police spokesman Kevin P. Morison said the 80,000-citations-per-month figure cited in the contract is an accurate estimate.

The District issued a total of about 10,000 speeding tickets last year, according to police traffic coordinator Lt. Patrick Burke.

I doubt very much Washington will go from issuing 10,000 traffic citations to 80,000 citations per month. Drivers will get a ticket or two and change their ways, or learn where the photo units are located. If the process rules are as loose as they are in BC people would have no reason to pay other than to eliminate some hassle. Virtually Raymond D. Mereniuk Raymond@fbntech.com FBN - Offering LAST, Large Array of Stale Technology http://www.fbntech.com/product.html