Here is an op-ed I submitted this morning to the KC Star newspaper for the “As I see it” section of the opinion page. I hope they publish it. I’m now watching the TV commercials of these deceitful bastards running all morning on Fox4 and elsewhere.
As the national surveillance state marches on, I hope you’ll voice your opposition to this profit-driven deception.
UPDATE: Watch this video from a 30 year law enforcement official about the rampant corruption of ATS and how they operate. Coming to a Missouri town near you unless you decide to do something about it.
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Profits, Not Safety, Drives Push for Red Light Cameras in Missouri
The red light camera advocacy group “National Coalition for Safer Roads” (NCSR) recently began a media campaign throughout Missouri, with its Director, David Kelly, citing dubious statistics about the cameras’ popularity among residents. Their TV commercials feature victim testimony complete with graphic crash videos. However, it is clear their identity and goals don’t always jive with their PR blitz.
NCSR was founded less than a month ago. This “national” coalition is only licensed in Texas, Washington, D.C., and Missouri, where there is significant opposition to and serious debate about the efficacy of red light and photo radar cameras. NCSR’s Kelly is actually a Washington D.C. lobbyist for Storm King Strategies, a lobbying firm specializing in transportation regulation and policy. Kelly, formerly Chief of Staff at the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), represents the ever-increasing ranks of bureaucrats trading government insider experience and influence for large salaries and top positions at Washington lobbying firms.
At NCSR’s website, they disclose being supported by American Traffic Solutions (ATS), one of the largest manufacturers of red light cameras in the country. Not surprisingly, ATS is a paying client of Kelly’s lobbying firm. Digging deeper, one finds a long and sordid history between ATS and various citizen groups opposed to photo-enforced cameras throughout the country. ATS has even created bogus look-a-like sites to discredit its detractors, like Missouri’s own WrongOnRed.com, whose founder, Matthew Hay, is a long-time opponent of red light cameras.
But why would citizens be against red light cameras, and thus, increased safety? The answer is clear. First, studies not commissioned by ATS or other traffic camera makers and their front groups demonstrate that red light cameras actually increase accidents at intersections where they are placed. Both the Virginia and New Mexico state DOTs, plus several other independent studies, have concluded this. In Arizona, where strong opposition exists and red light cameras are being banned, the city of Peoria saw a 480% increase in accidents at one intersection where the cameras were installed. The results are so clear that 15 states have banned red light cameras, and the Missouri legislature is considering such a ban, with House bill HB406 and Senate bill SB16.
Second, red light and photo radar cameras deprive drivers of their constitutional rights to face their accusers. This is a basic right all citizens enjoy as outlined in our state and federal Constitutions. It’s rather difficult to cross-examine a red light camera, much less subpoena it to appear in court. As a result, cases all across the country are being dismissed. Municipalities are also failing to enforce their own/state laws by refusing to report “points” to a driver’s record for these moving violations. Normally in Missouri, you receive “2 points” for a moving violation, but cities with red light cameras routinely book them as “non-moving” violations. Why? So that public outrage is minimized, and they (and ATS) can continue realizing revenue by assessing the fines to repeat offenders without negative licensing consequences.
Citizens should look closer at who is sponsoring these astroturf organizations, and what their motives are for pushing red light camera usage. Already, the city of Washington, MO and Jefferson County, MO have either removed their cameras or won’t be renewing their contracts with ATS. Money spent on this media blitz is nothing compared to the profits ATS plans to strip from Missouri’s citizens if this surveillance camera use is codified. Missouri should join the growing number of states who realize that red light cameras are a profit-driven menace that infringe on citizens’ rights while failing to increase public safety.
UPDATE: Now these cash-bilking companies are targeting school buses as a way to increase their profits. Read THIS excellent article by a pissed-off parent of 4 to see what I mean.
