Category: News

Are Traffic Cameras Always Right?

A question that most drivers want an answer to is: Are traffic cameras always accurate?

One Manhattan judge certainly does not think so!

State Supreme Court Justice Geoffrey Wright recently received a NY traffic ticket for driving in a bus lane. However, he is convinced that the camera was not accurate.

Although the fine is only $115, Justice Wright is fighting this one on principle.

Red light camera
Traffic cameras are supposed to provide photographic, incontrovertible evidence of traffic infractions—but that may not be the case. (Photo Source: Wikipedia)

According to Justice Wright, he was driving a 2005 Mazda MZ6 that was registered to his 94-year-old mother when he was caught by a traffic camera on 23rd Street.

He claims to have photos from the ground to prove he was just to the left of the designated lane. These photos show two bus lanes on First Avenue with manhole covers visible in those spaces.

Wright contends that his car was to the left of those manholes, so he could not have been in a bus lane.

Interestingly, the city’s camera images that are attached as exhibits to the lawsuit are too blurry to make out exactly where the Mazda was in relation to the lanes—casting further doubt on the reliability of some NY traffic cameras.

However, in spite of this, Mayor de Blasio wants the New York Legislature to allow for the installation of even more traffic cameras.

It is lawsuits like this that really call into question the veracity of red light cameras and traffic cameras generally.

It seems that the picture and video quality on traffic cameras is usually good enough to detect that a specific car was in violation of a vehicle and traffic law. However, determining the driver of that vehicle is much harder.

Similarly, in order for red light cameras to be accurate, the speed at which they take photos and videos needs to be within milliseconds.

Ultimately, although courts throughout the country have universally accepted the accuracy of traffic cameras, there still seems to be enough wiggle-room to take Justice Wright’s lead and stand up against them.

Tracy Morgan Accident Prompts Debate Over CDL Trucking Rules

The federal transportation safety investigators revealed that a Wal-Mart truck driver was speeding immediately prior to careening into a limousine, killing a man and seriously injuring Tracy Morgan, the famous comedian.

Right before the crash, the truck driver was reportedly travelling 65 mph in a 45 mph zone.

This incident highlights the difficult balance between allowing truckers to work long hours and how doing so impacts the safety and health of the trucker as well as other motorists.

The driver had been on the job for approximately 13 1/2 hours at the time of the crash. The law on the books only allows a truck driver to work a maximum of 14 hours in a day and only 11 hours behind the wheel.

Had the driver reached his intended destination, he would have been slightly over the 14-hour limit (presuming he would have been going the speed limit).

Currently, the Senate is considering passing a resolution that would expand the maximum work period for truck drivers to 80 hours per week.

However, as a result of this tragic incident, the Teamsters Union pushed Congress not to ease the laws limiting truck drivers from working 60-70 hours per week.

The President of the Teamsters, James P. Hoffa, noted, “The NTSB’s preliminary findings in this case clearly show that truck drivers are pushing beyond the limits of the current hours of service rules.”

Apparently, the driver had not slept in 24 hours before the crash.

No one can tell whether the Senate resolution will pass, let alone become law. However, one thing is for sure: as this nationwide debate rages on, it is crucial for you to remember the importance of driving safely and the frightening ramifications of failing to do so.

Remember, a truck driver is a CDL (commercial driver’s license) holder and the penalties are dire for speeding when you have a CDL. Do not let fatigue or very long hours lead to a speeding ticket or a suspended license.

New York City’s Car-Mounted Speeding Cameras

As CBS News reports, New York City’s new car-mounted speeding cameras are popping up in neighborhoods across the city, issuing speeding summonses to drivers as they pass.

The speed cameras, mounted to the roofs of unmarked NYPD vehicles, appear as simple flashbulbs—but don’t be fooled. They are actually highly calibrated technology with each radar going through its own 26-point checklist prior to deployment.

Aimed at passing traffic, the radar is programmed to snap a picture of any vehicle going 11 or more miles above the posted speed limit. The photo is then uploaded to the NYPD database and the owner of the vehicle is sent a $50 summons in the mail.

A $50 summons is actually much better for the driver than if they had been pulled over by an NYPD officer. A standard speeding ticket can mean up to a $600 fine plus points on your license that can lead to a DMV assessment and even a driver’s license suspension.

While many New Yorkers see these cameras as a quick and easy revenue generator for the city, Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg argues otherwise. “We are really not trying to engage in ‘gotcha,’ and we’re really not trying to do this as a revenue-raising exercise,” Trottenberg stated. “And one thing that I say is if the drivers of New York slow down, obey the speed limit, and stop running red lights—and the city collects no revenue—I’ll consider it a victory.”

Driver safety has been a platform of Mayor DeBlasio’s administration since he’s taken office. His Vision Zero plan to eliminate traffic deaths by the year 2024 has meant a slew of recent ticket blitzes. Increased speed enforcement in school zones and work zones has also been a focus.

To date, the city’s six speed camera cars have issued nearly 70,000 tickets.

“Speed Week” Turns into “Speed Month” in NYC

Did you happen to receive a speeding ticket in New York between April 17 and April 24? Well, if so, you’re not alone. In fact, your ticket(s) is among 24,354 others that were issued during New York’s so-called “Speed Week.”

This is 2,156 more tickets than last year’s “Speed Week,” and there’s every reason to think that police are aiming to increase these numbers every year. A similar operation, dubbed “Operation Hang Up,” yielded 3,472 tickets for cell phone-related driving infractions, such as talking on a cell phone while driving and texting while driving.

And for New York City in particular, the ticket blitzes continue. This month saw at least 3: two targeting speeding and one targeting “distracted drivers,” the nickname for people who talk or text while driving. The increasing frequency of so-called ticket blitzes is part of Mayor De Blasio’s “Vision Zero” plan to eliminate traffic deaths in the City by 2024.

In addition to the blitzes, the NYPD have numerous other weapons in their Vision Zero arsenal. For instance, they have purchased 200 more radar guns and installed about 120 more cameras in school speed zones. More recently, they have announced plans to install more cameras in work/construction zones throughout the city, particularly targeting motorists for reckless driving, a misdemeanor crime in New York, meaning it carries potential jail time.

Speeding and distracted driving tickets can come with serious consequences in terms of not only fines and points on your driving record but also auto insurance premium rate increases. These insurance rate increases can be long-term, lasting three years or even more.

We at the Rosenblum Law Firm have successfully fought thousands of traffic tickets throughout the past ten years. We’re here to fight for you. For more information on how we can handle your case, call our office at 1-888-815-3649.

Black Boxes May Soon Be Installed in New York City Taxi Cabs

A bill introduced this week by New York City Councilman Jimmy Vacca (D-Bronx) proposes the initiation of a pilot program to install black boxes, the same data-recording devices currently used to monitor planes and trains, in taxi cabs in New York City.  If the pilot program is implemented, data collected from the black boxes will track the speed, stops and starts, and location of cabs on city roads.

NYC Taxi
New York City taxis may soon have black boxes installed in an effort to improve driver and pedestrian safety. (Photo Source: Wikipedia)

While in its test phase, any data collected from the program would not be used to penalize cab drivers.  However, the city may eventually decide to use black boxes to fine drivers or even to develop technology that would reduce fares or stop the meter from running if cabbies exceed the speed limit.

The motivation behind the bill is to deter taxi cab drivers from engaging in reckless driving as they ferry passengers around the city and hold them to the same standards as other drivers, thus keeping both taxi cab passengers and pedestrians on the street safe.  The installation of black boxes in city taxis is similarly one of the proposals included in Mayor Bill De Blasio’s “Vision Zero” plan to eradicate NYC traffic deaths by 2024.

 

(Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/black-boxes-catch-speeding-taxis-article-1.1751204; http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/04/10/councilman-proposes-black-boxes-to-monitor-taxi-drivers-speed/)

Putting an End to Speeding Ticket Quotas

Despite denial of any mandate that police hand out a certain number of traffic tickets each month, Illinois lawmakers recently proposed a bill that will outlaw ticket quotas by any city or municipal law enforcement agency. In addition, the bill bans agencies from evaluating officer performance based on the number of warnings and tickets each individual hands out in a given time period.

Though the Illinois Sheriff’s Association and the Illinois Chiefs of Police deny that the practice of ticket quotas is in place, they nevertheless protest the proposed bill, concerned that it will discourage officer work ethic. However, senators have advanced the bill without permitting any testimony by police.

Cop Writing a New York Speeding Ticket
A police officer writing a traffic ticket.

In New York, as in Illinois, it is similarly a widely-held belief that police are required to meet ticket quotas each month, despite New York law prohibiting ticket quotas and the NYPD’s repeated denial of the practice. Evidence, meanwhile, appears to substantiate the belief.

Statistics of traffic tickets handed out in greater quantity during the last days of the month tend to indicate that ticket quotas do, in fact, exist. Data from the New York Office of Court Administration also shows that many minor criminal summonses are dismissed in court on the basis that judges find the tickets were issued without a good faith basis.

Several newspapers have reported the claims of NYPD officers disciplined for whistleblowing, or for revealing that ticket quotas were in place in the precincts in which they worked. In 2010, the New York Daily News actually discovered memos posted in the 77th Precinct which called for officers to issue tickets of a particular kind in a particular quantity.

Whether or not police admit that a certain number of tickets per offense must be handed out each month, the evidence suggesting that ticket quotas exist means that drivers in New York and other states should be particularly cautious on the road as the end of the month draws near.

 

(Sources: http://www.wics.com/news/top-stories/stories/vid_15975.shtml; http://www.ticketdefenselaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Reckless-Driving-Ebook-Final.pdf)

NYC Speed Limits – “20 is Plenty”

20 is Plenty
Right of Way, a New York City pedestrian advocacy group, has been placing these signs in 11 neighborhoods throughout the city. (Photo Source)

Recently, New York City drivers may have noticed a flurry of “20 is Plenty” signs springing up in many of their neighborhoods. These signs, designed to mimic standard speed limit signs, were the results of a campaign staged by Right of Way, a group whose self-stated mission is to, “assert the public right of way and turn the streets into vibrant public space for all.”

The group placed these signs in 11 New York City neighborhoods in sections of Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. Each of these 11 neighborhoods had applied through the city’s Slow Zones Program to have their speed limits lowered from the city’s standard 30 miles per hour down to 20 mph but had not gotten any response.

According to Right of Way, “These communities knew their streets were dangerous and asked the city to fix them, but were told no or not yet by the previous administration.”

The group hopes this initiative, coming on the heels of Mayor Bill DeBlasio’s “Vision Zero” plan, will draw attention back to these neighborhoods’ Slow Zone requests.

Under Vision Zero, Mayor DeBlasio hopes to completely eliminate traffic fatalities within the 5 boroughs. So far, the plan has meant stricter enforcement of traffic violations like speeding while also causing the NYPD to issue more jaywalking tickets. The addition of speed cameras to several New York City streets and the NYPD’s recent investment into more radar guns shows how dedicated DeBlasio and his administration are to Vision Zero and continuing to improving road safety.

NYPD Adds 200 Radar Guns to Catch More Speeding Drivers

With 286 people killed in traffic accidents in New York City last year, combating speeding, the main cause of collisions, has become a priority for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration. In fact, de Blasio has instituted a broad plan to eradicate all traffic fatalities in New York City by 2024.

In line with “Vision Zero,” the New York City Police Department is now increasing the number of radar guns it owns by 200. The increase will more than quadruple the only 56 radar guns the NYPD previously had in its arsenal.

In addition to the increase in speed detection equipment, training for police officers will also be augmented. Cops throughout the city’s 77 precincts are already being trained to use the new radar guns, and traffic enforcement is to be made part of every officer’s daily work assignment.

For drivers, the introduction of more radar guns and the placement of new speed cameras at intersections throughout the city, as well as increased ticketing for speeding by the NYPD mean that the odds of getting a speeding ticket in New York City are also sure to increase.

Radar Gun Catching Speeders
A police officer using a radar speed detection gun. The NYPD has just ordered 200 of these to help catch speeders in New York State.

 

(Source: http://nypost.com/2014/02/25/nypd-adding-200-radar-guns-to-combat-speeding/)

New York City’s New Speed Cameras Catch 1,000 Drivers in Two Weeks

New York Speeding Camera
A camera designed to catch speeding drivers. In New York similar cameras have caught over 1,000 drivers speeding in a 2-week span. (Photo Source: Wikipedia)

Part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s “Vision Zero” traffic initiative to eradicate pedestrian fatalities in New York City, six speed cameras have been placed in intersections across the city. In the only two weeks since their installation, the cameras have caught nearly 1,000 motorists exceeding the speed limit. The success of the speed camera program thus far has caused Albany to approve the installation of 20 more speed cameras. However, Mayor de Blasio has urged that even more cameras be installed at intersections throughout the city in the future, in an effort to more strictly enforce posted speed limits in New York City.

Though the speed cameras are certainly effective at clocking speeding drivers and provide an additional source of revenue for the city, the new traffic camera program has nevertheless faced criticism by law enforcement. Police unions contend that cameras will never be able to replace the professional training and judgment of police officers who can recognize other, and often more serious, offenses being committed by drivers caught speeding, such as driving under the influence, driving without a license or insurance, or even carrying an illegal weapon. To police, the cameras actually prevent opportunities to make the roads safer by charging especially dangerous drivers and criminals with lesser speeding offenses. However, in light of lax past ticketing practices by police in the city, the cameras are, for now, being viewed as a much-needed deterrent to fatality-causing speeding on New York City streets.

 

(Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/1-000-motorists-caught-speeding-week-period-article-1.1598760)

New York’s New Anti-Speeding Campaign

Recently, New York’s Department of Transportation has created a series of advertisements intended to cause drivers to think twice before speeding. The ads, which consist of images of New Yorkers holding up pictures of loved ones lost to speeding collisions, underlined with captions about who the individual was and what milestone they would be celebrating now if they were still alive, are meant to make drivers consider how one brief moment of reckless driving can have very permanent consequences.

New York Anti-Speeding Advertisement
New York’s new anti-speeding campaign. (Source: NYDOT)

The District of Columbia has similarly begun an advertising campaign against the dangers of speeding; instead of still photographs, the District of Columbia Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Police Department have compiled a three minute video about the dangers of speeding, featuring police officers, surgeons, and others who deal with the aftermath of speeding accidents. The video emphasizes how serious the injuries caused by speeding are, with brain injury being one of the more common injuries of a speeding crash, and explains that accidents due to speeding are usually entirely avoidable.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, speeding is one of the most dangerous activities drivers can engage in on the road, causing nearly a third of all traffic fatalities, or killing approximately 10,000 people, each year. The hope is that advertising campaigns such as D.C.’s “Toward Zero Deaths” and New York’s photographs highlighting the tragedies that speeding causes will, in addition to stricter enforcement and increased ticketing for speeding, remind drivers to drive the speed limit and avoid the unnecessary risks that rushing to a destination can cause.

 

(Source: http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/21217/who-has-the-best-anti-speeding-ads-new-york-or-dc/)