Canton Red Light Cameras

This update sums up why I am so opposed to the plan by the City of Canton, Ohio to install red light cameras and speed cameras by Redflex.  As was stated at the informational meetings, the face of the driver will not be photographed, as the car owner will be responsible to either pay the ticket or identify who they allowed to drive their car at said date and time.  If the person identified by the driver refuses to take responsibility, the owner must still pay the fine.  What if you do not know who was driving?  What if it wasn’t even your car?  The City will have photographs that show what they presume is your car with what they presume is your license plate.  If the driver is photographed, it is easy to show up at your court date, enter a plea of “not guilty, identity,” and win your case if the driver in the photo is not you.  Without the benefit of a photo of the driver, you may fall victim to the following scenario.

From FreeRepublic.com:

As a prank, students from local high schools have been taking advantage of the county’s Speed Camera Program in order to exact revenge on people who they believe have wronged them in the past, including other students and even teachers.

Students from Richard Montgomery High School dubbed the prank the Speed Camera “Pimping” game, according to a parent of a student enrolled at one of the high schools.

Originating from Wootton High School, the parent said, students duplicate the license plates by printing plate numbers on glossy photo paper, using fonts from certain websites that “mimic” those on Maryland license plates. They tape the duplicate plate over the existing plate on the back of their car and purposefully speed through a speed camera, the parent said. The victim then receives a citation in the mail days later.

Students are even obtaining vehicles from their friends that are similar or identical to the make and model of the car owned by the targeted victim, according to the parent.

“This game is very disturbing,” the parent said. “Especially since unsuspecting parents will also be victimized through receipt of unwarranted photo speed tickets.

The parent said that “our civil rights are exploited,” and the entire premise behind the Speed Camera Program is called into question as a result of the growing this fad among students.

The Speed Camera Program was implemented in March of this year and used for the purpose of reducing traffic and pedestrian collisions in the county. Cameras are located in residential areas and school zones where the posted speed limit is 35 miles per hour or lower. A $40 citation is mailed to the owner of the car for violating the speed limit in these areas.

The Montgomery County Police said they have not seen or heard of this prank occurring but said they will keep an eye out for people committing the crime.

“I hope the public at large will complain loudly enough that local Montgomery County government officials will change their policy of using these cameras for monetary gain,” the parent said. “The practice of sending speeding tickets to faceless recipients without any type of verification is unwarranted and an exploitation of our rights.”

Edward Owusu, Assistant Principal at Wootton High School, said that he heard of local students pulling the prank when the school received a call from a parent informing them of its occurrence. “I have not heard of this happening among students at Wootton,” Osuwu said. “It is unfortunate that kids have a lot of time on their hands that they can think of doing such a thing.”

Montgomery County Council President Phil Andrews said that the issue is troubling in several respects. “I am concerned that someone could get hurt, first of all, because they are speeding in areas where they know speeding is a problem,” he said.

Andrews also said that this could hurt the integrity of the Speed Camera Program. “It will cause potential problems for the Speed Camera Program in terms of the confidence in it,” he said.

He said he is glad someone caught it before it becomes more widespread and he said he hopes that the word get out to the people participating in this that there will be consequences.

If Canton, Ohio’s red light camera system will not photograph the driver, it will be easy for people to pull stunts such as this. Without the driver’s photo, the poor victim of this stunt will suffer financial damage, as red light camera tickets are handled as “guilty until proven innocent.” The photos “prove” that it was your car. The photos “prove” that “your car” had “your” plates on it. I believe that Redflex and City of Canton officials know that if they photograph drivers, a large percentage of tickets can be dismissed in court, and that is why they have chosen to not snap a photo of the driver. This is no different than prosecuting a guy for robbing a bank, when the surveillance video shows it was somebody completely different, then choosing not to use the video to help your chance of convicting the innocent man.

I came across this story today, as I was reading about problems with red light camera systems.  This was pretty funny, as no property was damaged and nobody received any improper fines as a result of this action.  I do not support vandalizing the red light cameras, as some people do.  Some cities have had balloons full of paint, bricks, rocks, and other damaging objects hit their red light and speed cameras.  This video, as I said before, is kind of funny because nothing was damaged.


Four people, dressed in Santa Claus suits covered up Redflex red light cameras in the city of Tempe, AZ. These Santas used large boxes that were gift wrapped and had huge bows on them. Traffic was heavy at the time, and the Santas were waving at passing cars.  Drivers were blowing their horns, waving and pointing.  It looks like they were having a great time doing this.

The more I read about red light cameras, and the shenanigans that cities pull to increase revenue, the more I dislike them.  When, or if, the City of Canton installs their red light cameras and speed cameras, I think we can expect to see more of the same stuff that has been done in other cities.

While surfing the web today, I came across this “open letter” to the people of Canton.  The author “Quarterwave” of Chillicothe, Ohio has asked for this letter to be posted everywhere that concerned citizens can see it.  He lives in Chillicothe, where Redflex and City officials have been stealing money from citizens with their red light cameras.  It appears that the usual games were played in Chillicothe, such as shorter yellow lights as a condition of the contract, fixed traffic studies, ticketing LEGAL right turns on red lights, and REQUIRING THOSE TICKETED TO PAY A FINE BEFORE HAVING THE RIGHT TO APPEAL!  They even had to go back to the contract and exempt volunteer firefighters who are operating lights and sirens from red light camera tickets.  Common sense would say that a public safety vehicle (these volunteer firefighter vehicles are registered as such with the State of Ohio) while responding to an emergency would not get a ticket, but if Redflex can make more money, they will try anything.
 
Here is the text of the open letter.

People of Canton:

I live in Chillicothe, Ohio, and I wanted to share with you something you should be very concerned with today, you need to take action immediately.

First let me say that the opposition to this issue in Chillicothe does not advocate breaking the law, we feel that if you legitimately did something wrong, you deserve what the law provides.

However, reading that your city is in the decision stage of acquiring Redflex red-light camera systems, I must urge you to take action, research, ask questions and do anything your or your organizational power can muster to defeat and bar these device from your community.

In Chillicothe, the mayor and/or council were wooed by a Redflex salesman at a convention or seminar, and then the salesman came calling, and relentlessly inflicted their hardcore sales tactics to convince the city it had major traffic problems, obviously for the purpose of selling their profit-generating solution. Was there a problem? Not any worse that any other city in our state, and probably better, we do however; have our fair share of idiots on the road, including out of towners who are discourteous.

After presenting “facts” that were generated by Redflex, or provided as an (obviously not)“unbiased” outside study (which was funded by, or provided to Redflex, and weighed in their favor), the city council was lobbied to buy into this fiasco. Yes, I said lobbied. Redflex is so intent on placing their product it employs high level professional lobbyists to use any means necessary to strong arm municipalities into buying in.

The council quickly swept the measure through in record pace, unlike legislation we really need. This sparked much rumor that council and mayor were somehow incented to do this, or in other words, there was something in it for them. That remains to be proven, however the revenue generation alone, if kept under that table could make semi-heroes out of a mayor in short order for filling the piggy bank, but at taxpayer’s expense.

The cameras were installed and instantly there were many problems, for instance:
Although the city will refute it, there have has been an increase in the number of collisions at red light camera intersections, due to people short stopping at yellow lights, which are set short so the trigger happy cameras can produce more violations. The city has no data to prove the collisions went down, but says they did not increase, but again, no data.

Traffic is erratic, because folks are scared of the lights. And local businesses are losing money due to folks shopping elsewhere to avoid this trap.

Elderly drivers have been confused, distracted, and temporarily blinded by the massive and intense burst of strobe light from the opposite facing camera flash if a driver coming the other way triggers a right on red, speed, or light violation.

The system tickets for LEGAL right on red turns, the council, under intense pressure, just this week agreed to throw out pending, and not ticket future, right on red turns, unless the speed was excessive or there was a pedestrian involved. They also agreed to not ticket volunteer fire, and EMS personnel using sirens and lights through the city to respond to emergency calls, and not ticket funeral processions. Those last two just amaze me.

It was found that a police officer from the city was not reviewing tickets, contrary to what was agreed upon by council. Tickets were just being mailed out without approval, or any logical and legal review.

This system is highly unconstitutional; you are guilty until proven innocent and must pay the fine, as well as an appeal fee before you can even argue your case. The court here refused to handle the cases or ticketing, so the tickets are not even legal violations, if you don’t pay they have to sue you in civil court. They cannot prove who was driving so the owner gets the ticket. It is more or less a forced “donation” to the city.

The council originally approved Red Light running tickets only, which in itself was probably a good measure. However the mayor was seemingly coerced into signing an amended contract to add speed traps, and right on red later on.

By contract agreement, the city was required to SHORTEN some yellow lights to allow for a QUOTA of tickets to be induced at these intersections, those light times being far under the national standard for same type intersections. If the city lengthens them now, they have to pay Reflex a penalty. That says a lot about their concern, they are only interested in revenue generation, and this is not about safety. Ohio law says the yellow lights must be LONGER than normal at these intersections, yet Chillicothe ignores the Ohio Revised Code. They also have refused to erect the proper signage. Again, proving that it is not about safety.

The measures of collusion, violation of public trust, conflict of interest and fraud go on and on; I encourage you to read on the internet about the cities that have to spend millions to get rid of these things after they took them. Redflex has thousands of lawsuits against it as a company.

Pure and simple – although cloaked nicely, these devices are NOT about safety, they are about revenue generation. Chillicothe’s cameras are producing an average of 300 tickets a day, in a year that adds up to $10.4 Million in fines, most are bogus and from entrapment, not from an actual, logical, and unlawful act. Half of the money goes to the Redflex people as their “tidy sum” to operate the cameras on behalf of the city; the city’s general fund gets the rest, NOT the safety services fund, where it belongs. So even in small Chillicothe, over $5 Million dollars are being sent overseas to Australian Redflex Traffic Systems.

People of Canton, don’t let yourselves be entrapped like this and have your money going out the window. Take action now and contact your city Council. Stop this mess before it starts. Chillicothe will now likely spend Millions of dollars to undo the bad decision it made. Redflex will vigorously defend it’s ironclad contract, but in just 30 days already over 3,000 citizens, standing up for their rights, have organized to put the issue on the ballot. They have also vowed to end the political careers of the Council and Mayor, in their next respective elections. Even if Canton officials tell you they won’t have these issues, you should not believe it. That’s what Chillicothe’s said too.

Please, show your elected officials who is in charge, and do not let them cast this net upon your city too. The smell of money entices officials in time of economic need, but this places tremendous burden on the tax payers, who are simply treated as subjects. No part of this charade is about public safety, so don’t let them tell you it is.

I had not really had strong feelings one way or another on the plan by Canton, Ohio to install red light and speed cameras until the recent meetings. At the meetings, it was revealed that the red light and speed cameras are all about money, not safety. The politicians will not say this, they stand by the safety argument, but their approach to violations shows otherwise.

Here is why I think that the red light and speed cameras are about money and not traffic safety. At the meetings it was revealed that any vehicle crossing the sensor would activate the camera system. This seems pretty straightforward so far. The representative then stated that still photos would be taken of the infraction and the license plate of the vehicle. This too seems to be legitimate. Here is the part that proves these red light and speed traffic cameras are only about money; THE FACE OF THE DRIVER WILL NOT BE PHOTOGRAPHED! What??? This is simply to make prosecution much easier and you cannot argue that the driver pictured is not you. The City of Canton is not really interested in prosecuting the right person, or changing the driving habits of the offender. The City of Canton will simply mail a camera ticket to the owner of the car. They do not care who will get a red light camera ticket, they just want somebody to pay to bolster the budget of Canton.

If City officials want to argue that these new red light and speed cameras are about safety, then they need to photograph the driver and be sure to prosecute the right person. Their argument is that no points will be assessed to the license of the car owner, and that it is a civil penalty. My argument is that this is being done so that the wrong person can be prosecuted, which I thought was illegal with my limited understanding of law.

I said when I started this site, that I would reserve judgement until I knew more facts, including how Canton was planning on operating their new red light and speed cameras. The information provided at the meeting has turned me against the system, based simply on how Canton officials are choosing to prosecute a car owner, no matter who is driving. Oh, there is an “appeal” process whereby a person can say “Joe was driving, not me,” but it is up to the owner to prove. Last time I checked, the burden of proof was supposed to rest on the prosecution (City of Canton) not the defense (car owner).

Canton City residents should try to get a ballot initiative to outlaw these red light and traffic cameras. Let the residents of Canton decide at the November election whether these red light and speed cameras should be installed or remain in operation. I think that these cameras COULD be beneficial IF City officials operate them properly. Prosecuting a car owner no matter who was driving is not the right way of doing it.

It is beginning to look as if these meetings were not meant to be.  For the second day in a row, the City of Canton has had to cancel the meetings that were intended for discussion of the new red light cameras and speed cameras.  City officials and representatives from Redflex were supposed to discuss the operation of red light cameras, speed cameras and photo radar.  In the words of Redflex “debunk the myths” of red light cameras and the trickery that has gone on when they are installed in some cities.

City officials said that they will reschedule the meetings. I hope to attend these meetings so that I can hear what the Redflex employees have to say about their red light camera and speed camera systems. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. I know that if the winter is like this next year, the only tickets that will be passed out by Redflex and the City of Canton will be to operators of snowmobiles! We have had plenty of snow so far this year.

The meetings scheduled for January 14th 2009 have been cancelled due to bad weather.  These meetings were scheduled for residents to discuss the proposed red light cameras and speed cameras that the City will be installing to catch those who speed and run red lights.  

So far, the meetings are still on for January 15th.  The Mayor’s office said that today’s meetings will be rescheduled as soon as they have a location to host them.  

Representatives of Redflex are expected to be at the meetings tomorrow to answer technical questions about red light cameras, speed cameras, and photo radar.  

Hopefully the red light camera meetings are scheduled for time that I can attend.  I hope to be there so that I can post information about Canton’s red light cameras on this site.

As I am reading to try to find out more about red light cameras before they arrive in Canton, I came upon a few great stories.  

As I said in an earlier post, I think that how the Canton City officials choose to handle the tickets from the red light cameras will decide how the red light cameras are received by the public.  In Cleveland, an investigation by WEWS (Channel 5) News revealed that the red light cameras add six million dollars to the annual budget.  That is money that is hard to ignore.  The same investigation revealed that several intersections saw the accident rate cut in half over a six month period after the cameras were installed.  City officials point to those intersections and say “Look how much safer we are keeping you.”  City officials refuse to look at and remove the cameras at intersections where the accident rate more than doubled after the cameras were installed.  In the end, the accidents city-wide only decrease by four accidents after red light camera installation.  This number is insignificant, and has varied by more than that over many six month periods without red light cameras.  This drop in accidents, I am sure, had nothing to do with the red light cameras, but Mayor Jackson attributes it to the placement of the red light cameras.

If the red light cameras are there only to improve public safety, not for revenue, then why would the City not remove the red light cameras from the intersections where the accident rate more than doubled?  It seems to me that they could be placed at another intersection and possibly decrease accidents there.  I think that the reason they are not removed and placed at other intersections is that they are more profitable than other intersections would be.  One of them is at I-90 and West Boulevard.  

Hopefully Canton City officials will use a little more common sense with their red light and speed cameras.  If an intersection has a dramatic rise in accidents from these  red light cameras, and their placement is truly about safety, then I hope that they will have the courage to give up a little bit of revenue to remove the red light cameras from the intersection.  This is something that several cities have failed to do, proving that they are not using the cameras for public safety.

Area residents will have a chance to ask questions of Canton City officials and representatives from Redflex, the contractor that the City of Canton has chosen to provide the red light and speed cameras.
There are two meetings scheduled for January 14. The first meeting will be at Living Hope Christian Fellowship at 5:00 PM. Living Hope is located at 1620 Clark Ave SW. The second meeting will be at 7:00 PM at Crenshaw Middle School, which is at 2525 9th St NE.

There are two red light camera and speed camera meetings scheduled on January 15th. The first at 5:00 PM at the Edward Coleman Community Center at 1400 Sherrick Rd SE. The second meeting is scheduled for 7:00 PM at the north branch of the Stark County District Library at 189 25th St NW.

The Mayor’s office says that they want the public to know exactly how the red light and speed cameras work so that people can make an informed decision. They say that people will be more receptive to the red light and speed cameras when they know how they work. There are supposed to be representatives from Redflex Traffic Systems at all of the meetings to answer technical questions about the operation of red light cameras and speed cameras.

The Mayor’s office said that they have not had very many calls about the red light cameras and speed cameras. They said less than a dozen people have called to complain or ask for more information. Does that mean that they think people are eager for the red light cameras? I would have never thought to contact the mayor’s office for information.

I am certainly interested in attending one of the scheduled meetings to get more information on the red light cameras. I have been in other cities where the red light and speed cameras were hated, maybe Canton will be different.

If you would like to get more information on Canton’s red light camera and speed camera meetings, you may contact the City of Canton Office of Public Safety at 330-438-4305

Hello and welcome to my new website.  This website is dedicated to news and information regarding Canton, Ohio’s new red light and speed cameras.  These cameras ignite very strong feelings on both sides.  There are studies that “prove” that red light and speed cameras cause a decrease in accidents.  There are studies that “prove” that red light cameras increase accidents.  I think that the truth is somewhere in between.  It seems to me that the studies prove what the group paying for the study wants it to prove.

No matter what your feelings are about the red light cameras and speed cameras, one thing is for sure, these red light and speed cameras make fortune for cash strapped cities.  The contractor that Canton, Ohio has entered into an agreement with is Redflex Traffic Systems.  The politicians in Canton, Ohio keep saying that the cameras are about safety only, but the money is hard to ignore.  These red light cameras in city after city have become a huge revenue stream.  There are cities that have been caught shortening the yellow lights at intersections with red light cameras.  We will see if Canton, Ohio does the same, or if they take the high road.

Be sure to visit Canton Red Light Cameras again for the latest red light and speed camera news in the Canton area.  Leave a comment about your feelings on the cameras.  I really have not made up my mind on the cameras.  I think that the actions of the politicians and police will determine whether the red light cameras are viewed as a good thing or a bad thing.  One thing is for sure, I know that they will bring thousands of new tax dollars to the City of Canton.