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*If you are a supporter of red-light camera repeal, or just dislike being propagandized by profit-seeking corporations disguising themselves as social goodniks, please link this article to as many people as possible and spread the word. Thanks.*

This morning on Fox 4 News, the “on-camera readers” read what is essentially a press release by a group called the National Coalition for Safer Roads (NCSR), and interviewed it’s Executive Director, David Kelly. They cited unspecified, unsourced statistics about how overwhelmingly Missouri citizens support red-light cameras. Fox4 did not question, dispute, or otherwise challenge the information, as actual journalism isn’t exactly the media’s forte anymore. When I saw this I thought to myself, “that doesn’t jive with everything else I’ve heard about how people I know in Missouri and elsewhere seem to feel about red-light cameras.” So I spent 45 minutes digging around and found some very interesting information. Needless to say, it does NOT support the one-sided PR spiel I heard on Fox 4 this morning.

Just by the name of the group, National Coalition for Safer Roads (a name surely any mother could love!), I suspected it was an astroturf organization, and I was right. Five minutes on their website makes that apparent. Most of their “supporters” are city officials, city governments, or city law enforcement and/or their officials who either directly profit from the use of red-light cameras, or are otherwise in a conflict-of-interest as a result of their involvement with their use. It should go without saying that virtually no one is against stopping red-light runners, and a few of the listed supporters probably don’t have a vested interest in seeing these cameras profit those who put them in place. But discreetly placed in the middle of page two of their “supporter” list is a company called American Traffic Solutions, with no link to further information. So I headed back to the NCSR website’s “About Us” page (which can be found at the innocuously-named site www.saferoadssavelives.org), and saw this statement:

NCSR was established to advance the cause of road and traffic safety and to support the road safety technology industry. It is a national coalition whose members and supporters include those who represent the traffic safety industry, safety organizations, and individuals who are active in advocating for safer roads through the use of technology. NCSR is supported by American Traffic Solutions.

Let’s look at this a little more closely.

That last sentence pretty much says it all. The site is paid for by American Traffic Solutions. On ATS’s website they state their mission clearly: “Our mission is to deliver the most effective technology and services that reduce operating costs or generate revenue to pay for its use.”

So what we have so far is a really nice-sounding “advocacy” organization that was founded less than two weeks ago (as of this writing) supposedly dedicated to safety, with a website paid for by a corporation that sells red-light and photo-radar cameras to cities and governments, many of whom are also listed as “supporters” of this so-called “safety-related” organization. Wow. The PR flacks don’t seem to even be trying anymore. But wait…..it gets better.

This “coalition’s” executive director, and the person who was “interviewed” on Fox4 this morning is David Kelly. Mr. Kelly is (you guessed it) a Washington lobbyist. He’s a principal at Storm King Strategies, a lobbying firm that represents corporate transportation industry interests. Funny how Fox4 didn’t mention that apparently useless fact to their viewers. Before that, he was the Acting Administrator/Chief of Staff at the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA). Which is no surprise, given the sleazy revolving door between government-appointed employees and the corporate sector. It’s one of the worst-kept secrets in Washington–become a well-placed government bureaucrat so that when you leave you can cash-in immediately by peddling your knowledge, contacts, and influence to the highest-paying corporate bidder. It’s the career-move of choice for all kinds of retiring military officers and congresspeople. Why? Because it’s very lucrative. For more on the corrupt influence-peddling interchangeability between gov’t employee and lobbyist, see THIS excellent article. The whole article should be read, but this paragraph in particular captures what is going on with the David Kellys of the world:

It’s vital to understand how this really works: it isn’t that people like Mike McConnell move from public office to the private sector and back again. That implies more separation than really exists. At this point, it’s more accurate to view the U.S. Government and these huge industry interests as one gigantic, amalgamated, inseparable entity — with a public division and a private one. When someone like McConnell goes from a top private sector position to a top government post in the same field, it’s more like an intra-corporate re-assignment than it is changing employers. When McConnell serves as DNI, he’s simply in one division of this entity and when he’s at Booz Allen, he’s in another, but it’s all serving the same entity (it’s exactly how insurance giant Wellpoint dispatched one of its Vice Presidents to Max Baucus’ office so that she could write the health care plan that the Congress eventually enacted).–Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com

This organization isn’t a bunch of concerned moms or victims’ families (although I’m sure such parties can and would rightly get behind the idea of reducing red-light running motorists). It’s the exact opposite. It’s a corporation deceitfully disguising itself as an advocacy group in order to con citizens into believing they are just looking out for the safety and well-being of average folks commuting around town. That is the very definition of propaganda, and it’s being put out by American Traffic Systems, Storm King Strategies, and then being mindlessly repeated without any kind of simple fact-checking by your hometown media stations. The short-term goal, of course, is to whip up support and offset the real citizen resistance that has been building in Missouri and other states for many years against red-light cameras and their dubious benefits. The long-term goal is to extract as much money and profit as possible from the average driving citizen by creating fake support so that more cities and municipalities will enter into binding and uncompromising leasing contracts with companies like ATS, and then incent those entities to write as many tickets as possible (more on that in subsequent posts).

I’d love to read your thoughts and comments about this post. Please use the comment section below. Also, please tag, “like,” link, and otherwise spread this article to other Missouri residents so they can be let in on what’s really behind the red-light camera scam.

In part 2, we’ll look at what better alternatives already exist to stop red-light runners, as well as what other concerned citizens in other states are finding out about these red-light camera initiatives and their backers. HINT: It isn’t about keeping people safe.

UPDATE: As if to bolster one of my arguments above, former Senator Evan Bayh joins the sleazefest, in a dual role no less.

UPDATE II: HERE is a top-notch TV investigation on the use of red-light cameras in the southern California area. You be the judge as to whether or not this is really all about “increasing safety.”

UPDATE III: Here is the video evidence from a week ago of an ATS official exploiting the death of a teenage girl in a city council meeting as referenced by commenter Matt Hay below. I’m not sure if that is Matt who slams the ATS official in response, but I’m glad someone did, and it sounds like the audience was, too.

UPDATE IV: An excellent site chock full of information showing the scam for which red-light cameras are is WrongOnRed.com. THere you will find, among many other helpful tidbits, a list of about 25 different studies showing the efficacy (or lack thereof) of red light cameras from all over the country. Truly, it cannot be more clear this is just another form or taxation without representation from well-funded, lobbyist-supported corporation looking to line its pockets at your expense.

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