Texas Bans Speed Cameras!

Texas Bans Speed Cameras! Laws passed in the States have usually never made us sit up and take notice but when we heard the good news, we couldn’t help but to smile.

The people of Texas have finally stood up and had their way. The Texas state legislature gave final approval yesterday to a bill banning speed cameras and requiring red light camera warning signs.

The bill says

A municipality may not implement or operate an automated traffic control system with respect to a highway under its jurisdiction. The attorney general shall enforce this subsection.

And incase you think Automated Traffic Control means just fixed speed cameras, dont worry the Texans have made sure there are no loop holes in the legislation.

Automated traffic control system means a photographic device, radar device, laser device, or other electrical or mechanical device designed to record the speed of a motor vehicle; and obtain one or more photographs or other recorded images of

the vehicle
the license plate attached to the vehicle
or the operator of the vehicle.

As for red light cameras, the authorities have will invalidate any red light camera ticket if motorists do not have advance notice of the presence of a ticketing machine at least 100 feet before the intersection. Both laws are all but passed, only requiring the signature of Texas Governor Rick Perry.

Although we can’t be sure, this appears to be the first case (and hopefully not the last) whereby authorities have banned speed cameras!

Source : Texas Government Legislation – The speed camera ban, HB 922, on May 2 and the warning sign bill, HB 1052, on April 19

Nick

The US also has an incredibly high road toll. I am all for speed cameras, fixed or otherwise. If you get caught, you were in the wrong and deserve it. In VIC anyway they only flash if you’re 3ks above and then you get 3 ks wiped off. So you could do 65 in and 60 zone and not get a ticket, any faster and you get what’s coming to you.

Dean

Except that car manufacturer’s in Australia only have to adhere to a 10% tolerance in regard to speedometer’s. That combined with tyre wear and other factors, could put your speedo upto 15-20% out, and then through no-fault of your own (in VIC Police allow a 3% tolerance) you get caught. That’s alright with you though it seems……?

http://www.alborzfallah.com alborz

The Road Toll isn’t due to Speed nick
much the same here in Australia whereby the road toll continues to increase despite the massive increase in speed cameras.

A lot has todo with the old cars in the US, also, the road toll isn’t as high as you think, you have to measure it based on Per Capita as the US has a much higher population than we do!
http://www.myspace.com/amandawillmot Amanda

If American’s are doing it, it must be a stupid idea.
Sam™

^can hardly see why banning speed cameras is a stupid idea LOL

speed cameras are very useful in hotspots and death zones. i know of 5 such places in brisbane that need to have fixed speed cameras, so long as they are clearly marked with a sign beforehand.

as for sly cameras, theyre clearly revenue raisers, and should be vandalised at whatever chance possible
Tony

Rather than monetary fine, speeding caught on camera should be dealt with doing some community service. However, I do annoyed that government/court has done very little to punish those whom often cause injuries or death to others but can still walk away free.
Steve

Let’s see if the Australian Government crawls up the U.S.A’s arse on this one.

Somehow I doubt it will be as popular as other North “Americanisms”

Steve
Robert B

Camera’s are clearly revenue makers.

Here in Nijmegen, the netherlands, there’s one camera, standing in a 50 km zone, just in front of the highway. That camera alone raked in 22.000 tickets in the last year alone.

Multiply that with an average 100 US$ per ticket, and we’re talking 2.2 million US$. That’s 15 $ per capita in this city.

Worst thing is, before the camera was placed there were 11 accidents per year, and it’s still the same.

Link to the place:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=nl&q=nijmegen&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=26.43758,58.447266&ie=UTF8&ll=51.838544,5.802071&spn=0.001255,0.003567&t=h&z=19&om=1
Glenn

Good news. The City of Winnipeg auditors showed that the “data” the city was supplying had no “source” — so they took the data directly from the insurance industry.

The found .. first Winnipeg was paying more then double the amount Edmonton was for the same system.

Second, accidents (as in the cities report) did increase by over 50% the first year, but that was expected until motorist got used to the cameras and adjusted their behaviour. However, unlike the city number, the accidents continued to rise in those intersection, up to 80% increase and the auditors said their study did not include small cases where people would just pay to repair their cars on their own instead of making an insurance claim.

Third, most shocking, was that liability claims (injuries) increase by 150% at those intersections.

The auditor said it was just the program should be dismantle immediately as the net cost was too high — essentially they insurance industry was getting the bill and the city was collecting on the tickets (so left hand paying the right). Also, they said there was no financial case to be made for the camera rental.

Cities response to the report was to on release the part that agreed with their first year numbers; and they double the price of the tickets to cover the cost of the contract they have.
Nick

I am vindicated. The US, per capita or anyway you wanna cut it has an incredibly disproportionate road toll compared to Australia. Australia may have fallen a bit but we are still way up there, and less speed cameras would only mean regression. Just don’t speed, take responsibility for your actions on the road and grow up.

Dean

It has been proven by an independent study AND a government study performed in NSW here in Australia, that Speed Camera’s have absolutely no effect on speeders whatsoever.
Therefore the only reason to keep them in are revenue raisers, and they are not even using that revenue raised to find or implement anything that does work.

Ted

Have sheep have escaped their pens and bred into the general population of Oz? I can’t think of a better explanation when citizens agree to the posting of speed cameras around every corner. Classic case of a good idea run amok. Hurray for Texas in slamming the door shut on this nonsense.

Dean

Most of our citizens wouldn’t agree to having speed camera’s everwhere. Where does agreeing to it even come into it though, the government does, whatever the government freakin’ wants.
What Australia’s citizens want and what they don’t want never really comes into it.
It no wonder that most people are completely disillusioned with their government.

No say.

Rustynutz

Nick said: “In VIC anyway they only flash if you’re 3ks above and then you get 3 ks wiped off. So you could do 65 in and 60 zone and not get a ticket, any faster and you get what’s coming to you.”

If you do 65 in a 60 zone and get 3 k’s taken off you’re doing 62. So you’ll cop a fine….

Australian design rules allow up to 10% error for speedometers so having 3k’s knocked off still doesn’t cover the possible 6 kph error in your speedo. Result…one speeding fine….even tho you were doing 60 according to your speedo.
Dave

Nick,

What planet are you from?

First off, what do you mean by “3ks?” 3 km/hour?? If so, then your math is off as that would equate to 1.8 mph.

Have you ever tried to drive exactly the speed limit for more than a few seconds? You think you don’t move that needle 2mph over without trying? How about going downhill? What if your speedo is off by 2mph? What if the camera is off by 2mph.

It’s clueless people like you who clog up the passing lanes on the highways in this country. This problem causes many more unsafe road situations than anyone speeding (of which the latter is nearly everyone at one time or another).

If we had realistic speed limits instead of artifically low speed limits, in addition to many poorly trained motorists who pay more attention to their cell phones than their driving behavior, then I might agree with you.

The key is to implement realistic posted speed limits based on road conditions, road construction, and today’s cars’ capabilities. More than anything else, what we need in this country is a complete overhaul of the driver training system, which is inexcusable. For starters, there should be federal requirements so that all states are on an equal base.

Then let’s talk about requiring drivers to read English. I can visit the local DMV and take the tests in Chinese or Spanish. Yet, I only see road signs in English. How does that make sense to anyone?

Get a clue people. Look around you at what is happening – how 90% of us truly drive. Trying to enforce laws which no one pays attention to with a heavy hand is not the way to make our roads safer. That does not address reality. It simply seems to further a system which clearly does not work.

If you want to see a system that works, take a look at Germany’s transportation and driver training infrastructure.
Dave

Sorry guys… speaking about the U.S. in my post above.. not AU… can’t believe I have to read an AU publication to learn about what is going on in my country… but that’s how the Press is these days here.

Cheers.
http://www.pbsfm.org.au todd

A point many people miss here is the danger speed camera’s place at intersections.
NEW LICENSE TEST QUESTION .1
When a driver/rider is approaching almost any intersection here in the nanny state of Victoria, are looking at
A. The road
B. The other cars
C. The speedo
Answer- NONE OF THE ABOVE. They are looking at the sky for camera’s and flash’s.
REMOVE THESE THINGS FOR BETTER SAFETY.
beally

If you look at the australian crash statistics, which can be found with a simple search in google, you will find, that all road deaths including pedestrians, old farts who have heart attacks in car parks, motorcyclists, passengers including those under the age of 17, truck drivers, bus drivers, etc

Equates to, out of every 100,000 australians, 7.7 people die in a road accident, that 0.07%, your more likely to die in a house hold accident, or by being transferred an infection from a local hospital. Its a minuscule amount, a number not even worth worrying about. You will also see that death rates have steadily declined at around 5 to 6 percent since the late 60s, until around 1995, when the decrease slowed to around 1%, basically it can be surmised that speed cameras etc are not causing an increase in deaths, but a slow in the rate of decline, so it can be said by the government that a decline is occurring, but not a good one. This also has to be taken into account that every year there are more motorists, a significant number too, so the number of deaths are always going to increase, but the percentage relative to the population stays roughly the same. So police etc can use the argument that there is a record number of deaths and there needs to be more speed cameras, and also the argument that since the introduction of speed cameras, deaths have been declining, but they always have….
h0t fuzz

If speed was the main factor in road fatalities, then i guess pretty much all the race car drivers would be dead by now. Seriously for all of u ignorant brainwashed fools out there, the only factors that cause casualties on the road are; lack of attention (i.e. checking out some hot chick in the other car), if ur totally pissed off ur face, or if ur just a plain shit driver. The only way speed would be the reason for a fatality is if some idiot in his/her fully sick modified yulleh car trying to show off and doing 100km/hr over the speed limit in a narrow residential street and loses control. Banning speed cameras is probably the only smart thing the rednecks from texas have ever done!
jack lawson

good for texas arkansas has banned speed and stoplite cameras for years
Yonny

I exceeded the speed limit once, and my brain caught fire. No, really, just how silly are the people who have swallowed the whole speed kills line that the various governments are pushing?

It’s all about money, people – you can see that just by looking at government budget papers, and the increasingly common tactic of increasing speeding fines to fill budget shortfalls in other areas.

Just imagine for a minute that there was a new road rule that required you, when driving, to keep your left front wheel completely within a ban of white painted onto the road, with drivers being fined for letting the wheel drift slightly out of the band. Now, you know that not having your front wheel precisely within the band at all times is not intrinsically dangerous, but you get fined anyway. That seems to me to be a reasonable analogy for the current approach to speeding – driving is a sort of imprecise game at the best of times yet the government demands of you perfect accuracy that not even your car’s instruments are capable of giving you.

People like to think Australians are anti-authoritarian – not so, Australians are deeply conformist and seemingly willing to bend over for any line of BS the government cares to spin them.

Time to wake up, Australia. If Texas can defeat speed cameras then so can we. And for all those concerned about the road toll, perhaps the government could start focusing on the factors that really matter – little things like driver competency, poor roads, drink driving, drug driving.