The number of crashes at Houston intersections with red-light cameras doubled in the first year after their installation, according to a city-financed study released Monday.

Full Story: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6185795.html

http://kfyi.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=&article=4766345

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) _ A group of Santa impersonators are on the naughty list of Arizona law enforcement officials.

A YouTube video posted Monday shows four people dressed as Kris Kringle, white beards and red hats included, covering three speed and red light enforcement cameras in Tempe.
   
Two are covered with boxes - one decorated with Christmas wrap - and the third is blocked with what appears to be a red sheet.
   
The Jackson 5's ``Santa Claus is coming to town'' plays during the more than two-minute video.

At the end is a message that reads:

``Ho Ho Ho! Death to the surveillance state! Free movement for all people!''
   
The group that posted the video also wrote ``lumps of coal to all of those who make it their business to watch and control.''

Hopefully this sort of activity will bring the downfall of automated citation systems that do not verify or require the identification of the driver (about time). As sad as it is, really the only way to get rid of these revenue machines is to outrage the public at large, and that is exactly what is happening as a result of a new prank being carried out that exploit the primary flaw in Red Light and Speed Cameras and ultimately tear down the system from the inside.

Link to the Article  

WEB EXCLUSIVE -- Local teens claim pranks on county's Speed Cams

There is a new website out there called Trapster ... and if you have any GPS enabled device, including an iPhone, you need to sign up for this free service. http://www.trapster.com/

By signing up, you can download alerts to your GPS device that will automatically warn you when you are approaching a known Red Light Camera or common Speed Trap. If you are using an internet enabled device, such as an iPhone, you can get and send live alerts to other users. 

The setup is amazingly simple, you can either choose a route (which I do when traveling) or set a radius around your common driving area, and the website will automatically create a downloadable file that you can load into your GPS. When you are approaching one of these traps, you will get a friendly alert at a distance you specify. 

Everyone who has a car navigation system should be participating in this community. You even have the option to make your own specific community where you can invite select people to share and receive updates from. 

In the cat-and-mouse game, we have a great advantage by utilizing technology to avoid paying 'road tax' ... and given the current state of things, that is something that everyone should be keenly interested in.

As of October 1, 2008 the Cameras are back on ... and already 181 citations have gone out!

After a long hiatus after the Clive red light cameras were turned off after a court case deeming them unconstitutional, they have been fired back up as of October 1, 2008. 

Already  181 Citations have gone out, and more are sure to be in the pipeline.

http://www.kcci.com/news/17680378/detail.html

The Iowa Supreme Court ruled in August that the cameras were legal. Clive City Manager Dennis Henderson says more people ran red lights when the cameras were shut off.

Drivers in Clive can also no longer claim that someone else was behind the wheel.

The Iowa Supreme Court, in a split ruling last month, upheld the city of Davenport’s use of traffic cameras to catch speeders and drivers who run red lights after a man challenged the city’s ordinance.

Henderson says Clive isn’t looking to add more cameras.

 Source: http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2008/sep/30/local/chi-ap-ia-cliveredlightcame

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060722/NEWS05/607220339/1001&lead=1 

To placate citizens grumbling about the Des Moines area's first stoplight cameras, city officials will let the numbers do the talking. About a third of the red-light violations reviewed during the first two weeks of the camera system's operation have been rejected by Clive police.

Combined with the number of violations the cameras' manufacturer Redflex Traffic Systems has rejected - mainly due to camera malfunctions - about 64 percent of the total possible citations have been dismissed.