Hastighetslotteriet - Rolighetsteorin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9wMoK0Gxcs
With Swedish subtitles
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The Speed Camera Lottery - The Fun Theory
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iynzHWwJXaA In English
Today's blog post features one of the many interesting public policy ideas that I've had waiting in cold storage in Draft for a few weeks that's finally coming out to play, with more set to come out over the weekend as it gets warmer -until Tuesday's cold front, which may require me wearing some IU sweatshirts while out and about for the first time since February.
Ideas like transportation policy in an auto-centric region of the country like South Florida, where locally, I travel on F-rated roads; traffic synchronization as an overdue dream that never quite becomes a reality because of bureaucracy; South Florida cities using legitimate safety concerns as the raison d'être to install red-light cameras, and then completely ignoring the evidence that they aren't making the community any safer but are expanding the program nonetheless in order to male their individual city halls a tidy sum, or in Hallandale Beach's case, a windfall...
While the sort of positive reinforcement and appeal to the best in human behavior that this Volkswagen-sponsored video demonstrates could conceivably work as an experiment in democratic and orderly Stockholm, here in chaotic South Florida, the land of people who adamantly refuse to follow even the simple common sense rules at grocery stores in order to utilize the 'express line' -ten or less items- in my opinion, it's far too logical and optimistic to ever work in South Florida.
(Or, anywhere in the Sunshine State, where the Florida Sec. of Transportation is Stephanie Kopelousos, a woman I've previously mentioned and taken to task here in this space many times before. While in office, she has largely managed to avoid ever having to actually speak to Florida's beleaguered citizen taxpayers to justify what passes for transportation policy, instead of hob-nobbing with govt. officials or transportation industry types who only want one thing: taxpayer money.
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Stephanie%20Kopelousos
http://www.dot.state.fl.us/publicinformationoffice/moreDOT/mission.shtm)
That's especially the case in the South Florida of 2010 where FDOT and Broward County and Miami-Dade government and the MPOs have proven for years that they are constantly unable to predict the all-too-predictable consequences to their efforts on road projects or so-called 'experiments.'
http://www.95express.com/
http://republicans.transportation.house.gov/Media/file/TestimonyRailroads/2010-05-03-Kopelousos.pdf
That Broward County citizens reside in an area where there's a publicly-known level of pettiness, parochialism and maybe even unethical behavior, but which is ignored by local South Florida TV reporters, is just a reflection of how bad things are down here in terms of both civics and journalism: reporters, editors and producers too lazy to report on a story that is served up to them on a silver platter by the Broward Bulldog's Dan Christensen.
http://www.browardbulldog.org/2010/09/whistleblower-probes-expose-bad-blood-behind-county-mpo-split/
That particular crowd is constantly being surprised at things that almost anyone who knows public policy -or who has common sense about both transportation policy and human behavior- could have told them was absolutely going to happen.
But they never see it coming around the corner, do they?
Instead, embarrassing policy debacles are inevitably followed by pronouncements from PIO's minimizing the jaw-dropping stupidity, forgetting the negative reinforcement that is taking place among the larger South Florida community as yet another govt. effort comes a cropper.
For instance, here in Hallandale Beach, at the Southeast end of Broward County nestled next to the Atlantic Ocean, with Hollywood to the north and Aventura and Miami-Dade county to our south, we have what is arguably one of the most infamous red light camera in the country, on northbound U.S.-1/Federal Highway as it approaches Hallandale Beach Blvd.
Though it was supposedly installed in the name of maximizing public safety on the roads of one of the most traffic-congested corners of all of South Florida, where all the main roads are ALREADY rated F by FDOT using national methodologies and analysis, the actual result was NOT a noticeable increase in public safety at that intersection, but rather a license to print MONEY: $1.3 million in just seven months!
From one camera!
As Channel 4 News correctly noted on their July 13th newscast, which on their website they labeled Hallandale Beach Red Light Cam Generates Big Bucks "The one red light camera there is giving out an average of 700 more tickets every month than all 10 of Miami Beach's cameras combined."
http://miami.cbslocal.com/local/red.light.cameras.2.1802814.html
Unfortunately for my purposes here, that video is now no longer available.
Hallandale Beach Comm. Keith S. London, a friend of mine as most of you know, had it exactly right back in 2007 when the city commission voted 3-2 to pass this:
"The issue didn't come up during a public safety workshop," London said. "It came up during a budget meeting. This is strictly about revenues."
Red light camera in Hallandale Beach has some seeing red
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wl8xGKzfTU
Just to give you a sense of the numbers involved, in Hallandale Beach, red-light camera revenue for July 2010: $119,613.98; violations = 263 right turn on reds and 40 straight through intersection. I remind you, that's from just one camera.
After-the-fact, it's hard NOT to think that the whole public safety issue dialogue that took place here prior to the red-light camera installation was nothing but a shell-game, and the city dealt
themselves Aces while dealing the public nothing but Jokers, as by their own numbers, 94% of all the tickets initially given were for right-turn violations, NOT dangerous red-light runners on U.S.-1.
The fact that the busiest intersection in the entire city, literally, the choke point, is rarely if ever given any permanent police presence, as is common in many other cities at certain times, is a message to residents that City Hall's talk about public safety is just a smokescreen.
Further proof of that is that you are MUCH MORE likely to see Aventura Police giving tickets for speeding in front of Gulfstream Park or the Village at Gulfstream Park retail complex than you are to see them from HB Police, even though their own Police Dept. HQ is right across the street!
Trust me, I've got the photos to prove it, too.
The fact that HB City Hall was so wrong about the actual real world results doesn't cause them
to publicly question their earlier votes or even call for its removal.
Far from it!
HB and other South Florida cities that are making out like bandits, unlike has been the case recently in Oxfordhire, with few rare exceptions, has just stood pat and turned the legitimate safety concerns expressed by some citizens completely on their face, and exiled them to public policy Siberia, making their words difficult to hear with a straight face, even where it might be true.
In fact, just the other day, a good friend wrote me quite angrily in parts that he had watched the most recent HB City Commission via the web:
"I was surprised to hear during yesterday's HB City Commission meeting that two additional cameras are about to go into operation. It was the first time that I heard that the original agreement called for 3 cameras not one. So much for openness at City Hall."
In late July, I wrote an email to my usual crowd of friends, concerned civic activists, elected officials and some print and TV reporters alerting them to something that I had picked upon some three weeks earlier at a Hallandale Beach City Commission meeting that was discussing their infamous red-light camera, which I walk, bike or drive by a few times everyday, and which you may not know, I took photos of the day they installed it, because I knew what a lightning rod it would become.
And how!
Part of that was directly due to the city's lack of adequate publicity, compared to Aventura's, just down the road, with their huge sign and their warning period, which was discussed in newspapers and on local Miami TV newscasts for a few weeks before they started enforcing it.
That made for quite a contrast with Hallandale Beach's clumsiness, whose sign doesn't mention the city by name, only a drawing of a traffic light, and which you don't even see until it is to your immediate right as you drive past it, obstructed as it is by a bus shelter, even though Broward County buses no longer use it. (Yeah, that's what passes for normal here.)
At this City Commission meeting, HB Police Chief Thomas A Magill -whom as most of you who come here frequently know, I loathe, to put it lightly- was going thru his paces in his verbal testimony from the dais to not only keep the status quo but expand upon it, echoing the usual BS about safety.
Then, rather amazingly, Magill said that there'd been an accident at that intersection recently, a fatality.
Well, this was news to me and everyone else in the Commission Chambers, so I leaned forward towards the seat in front of me to get a better listen, but nobody up on the dais commented on what Magill said to get any more specifics, which seemed not only odd but counter-intuitive.
But then this is Hallandale Beach, after all!
Finally, Comm. Keith London got his opportunity to speak on the subject and after some careful proddding, whether intentional or not, got Magill to admit that the accident he alluded to earlier with the fatality, actually happened elsewhere, at U.S.-1 and S.E. 3rd Street, right near the entrance to Gulfstream Park Race Track and the Village at Gulfstream Park retail complex, and HB City Hall, one short block away.
It actually had nothing at all to do with the red-light camera issue -the subject at hand.
It was classic mendacious Thomas Magill!
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Thomas%20A.%20Magill
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Thomas%20Magill
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South Florida Sun-Sentinel
HALLANDALE TO MOUNT RED-LIGHT CAMERAS -
3-2 VOTE APPROVES NEGOTIATIONS WITH INSTALLATION FIRM
3-2 VOTE APPROVES NEGOTIATIONS WITH INSTALLATION FIRM
Thomas Monnay Staff Writer
Run a red light? Soon the city will know.
The city is negotiating with American Traffic Solutions, of St. Louis, Mo., to install red-light cameras at some intersections.
"I've been fighting for it for three years," Mayor Joy Cooper said. "It's for safety reasons."The decision to negotiate, approved Wednesday by a 3-2 vote, comes as Pembroke Pines works on a similar initiative with American Traffic. Palm Beach County officials are considering it as well.
Although Orange County and Gulf Breeze near Pensacola already have the cameras, the state refuses to endorse them, saying they violate people's privacy.
Supporters, however, say the cameras are no different than those the state installed at tollbooths to catch drivers not paying mandated fees.
"I don't look at this as a right-to-privacy issue," Vice Mayor Bill Julian said. "When we go through the tollbooths, our pictures are taken anyway. In the interest of public safety, I can't wait to see them. The sooner, the better."
Commissioner Keith London, who opposed the decision, said cameras would cause more rear-end accidents by drivers who prematurely slam on their brakes to avoid running red lights.
"The issue didn't come up during a public safety workshop," London said. "It came up during a budget meeting. This is strictly about revenues."
He said the city should instead concentrate on improving intersections and synchronizing lights to help move traffic smoothly.London said after the city works out a contract with American Traffic, it would pass a law allowing the cameras and resulting fine collections.
Still being resolved are how many cameras there would be and where they would be installed. Cooper said two key locations are the intersections of Hallandale Beach Boulevard with Dixie Highway and 10th Avenue.
Cooper said the cameras would be installed on private property since the state won't allow them on its rights of way.
Instead of a traffic citation, violators would be notified by mail of a city code violation and told to pay a $100 fine, Cooper said. Drivers wouldn't lose points on their license because the citations would be issued against vehicles involved in the violation, not their drivers.
"This will teach people to be better drivers," Julian said.
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http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2010-07-10/news/fl-red-light-cameras-mayocol-b071110-20100709_1_red-light-cameras-dwayne-flournoy-easy-money
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Rolling right turn could cost you $158
Red-light cameras are helping Hallandale Beach raise $1 million
Michael Mayo, News Columnist
July 10, 2010
In theory, red-light cameras are supposed to be about safety, curbing reckless drivers from blowing through intersections at high speeds.
But the reality at one South Florida intersection seems more like a game of "Gotcha," with an astounding 93 percent of violations going to unwitting drivers making rolling right turns on red.
"This feels like a money grab," said Phil Kodroff, one of almost 11,000 drivers to get snagged by Hallandale Beach's red-light camera since it started snapping away in January.
The city's take by mid-June: almost $1 million.
"Let's be honest about it, we're here to gouge you," said Hallandale Beach Commissioner Keith London, an opponent of red-light cameras. "To say it's about public safety is pretty disingenuous. It's all about the revenue."
Love them or hate them, the cameras soon will become fixtures of South Florida life. Now that the devices have gotten the green light from the Legislature and Gov. Charlie Crist, more cash-strapped cities will be turning to them for easy money.
In the past week, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood and Boynton Beach have moved forward with plans to install cameras.
They will join Hallandale Beach, Pembroke Pines and West Palm Beach, which already have cameras running. Royal Palm Beach installed cameras in November but has been issuing only warnings; fines likely will start by September.
Under the law that took effect July 1, fines for the first offense increased to $158 from $125, with the money now divided between the state and cities.
"The mentality of the South Florida driver is going to have to change," said Mark Antonio, interim city manager of Hallandale Beach.
Said Hallandale Beach Police Maj. Dwayne Flournoy: "It's the 'Halo effect.' If you get compliant at one intersection, your behavior will change at all the others."
Kodroff, of Hollywood, said his behavior has changed: He is avoiding Hallandale Beach's camera intersection at Federal Highway and Hallandale Beach Boulevard, along with the businesses on that corridor.
After a steak dinner at the Gulfstream Park casino complex May 22, Kodroff thought he had an uneventful drive home to his beachfront condo.
A month later, he opened his mail to find a $125 ticket.
His speed when he made the right on red onto Hallandale Beach Boulevard, according to the violation notice: "0."
"It's not sensible," Kodroff said. "I hit my brakes, I thought I came to a full stop."
Michael Mayo's follow-up blog post to this was:
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/columnists/mayo/blog/2010/07/with_redlight_cameras_does_yel.html----
BrowardPalmBeach New Times
Daily Pulp blog
Rolling Red-Light Camera Scourge Shames Miami-Dade
By Bob Norman,
July 24 2010 @ 6:05PM
Red-light cameras, when misused by idiotic and irresponsible public officials, can be one of the great scourges of America. That much is fact. Even when they are used with some semblance of jurisprudence, they might be flat-out illegal. We'll just have to see how the court challenges turn out.
But in the wrong hands, they can be downright evil. Check out this Miami Herald story on the poor people of Aventura -- and all others who drive in that city -- who are getting shaken down by their own government for hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars. Their "crime": Rolling a red light on a right turn. You do it all the time even if you don't know it. You come up on an intersection, see there's no cars coming, and never quite come to a complete stop.
Read the rest of the post at:
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2010/07/rolling_red-light_camera_scour.php
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South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Mayo on the Side blog of Broward news columnist Michael Mayo
Red-light cameras: Big drop in Hallandale Beach with new state lawBy Michael Mayo
August 16, 2010 10:29 AM
Hallandale Beach's lone red-light camera has generated more than $1.3 million in fines since starting in January, but the latest monthly figures show a big decrease in violations for slow-rolling right turns with a new state law in effect.
Starting July 1, cities were no longer supposed to cite offenders who made right turns "in a careful and prudent manner."
Before July 1, cities could fine anybody who didn't come to a complete stop before an intersection.
Read the rest of the post at:
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/columnists/mayo/blog/2010/08/redlight_cameras_big_drop_in_h.html-----
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/10/09/1866038/red-light-violations-take-detour.html
Miami Herald
Red-light violations take detour into court
By David Ovalle
October 9, 2010
BBC 24 November 2010 Last updated at 00:24 ET
RAC Foundation report backs speed camera safety benefit
Speed camera Some councils have decided to get rid of their speed cameras because of a lack of funding
Some 800 more people a year could be killed or seriously injured on the UK's roads if all speed cameras were scrapped, a report has suggested.Read the rest of the story at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11826295
See also:
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2010/07/rothstein_cops_pay_little_pric.php
http://redlightrevolt.com/
Keith London's official website: www.KeithLondon.com
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A story from KDVR-TV, Fox 31 in DenverPhoto Radar red light camera license plate spray
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_e2BC_kXisSee also: http://www.rolighetsteorin.se/
Other finalist submissions and past Fun Theory videos
http://www.rolighetsteorin.se/finalister
