Miss Behavin

We Demand A Vote WINS!

The group We Demand a Vote! won and successfully defeated red light cameras in Cincinnati. This is so awesome! Two years in a row guys. So proud!

2 comments November 5th, 2008

WTF?! How did I miss this?

ALARMING! ALL CHICAGOANS LISTEN UP CAUSE I’M TYPE-YELLING AT YOU!

Mayor Daly announced on Sept. 9th (Seriously-how did I miss this?) that he will be installing 2,000 remote-control cameras and motion-sensing software to spot crimes or terrorist acts “as they happen” for Chicago.

Let’s be realistic here. It will not be terrorism being spotted but drunks running around in Wrigleyville. Crime ridden area cameras will simply be shot out. As for “terrorist threats”, the only threat Chicago has faced was a sadly botched scheme in 2006. Not worthy of $5 million dollars of taxpayer money so that the government can play Peeping Tom.

Where’s the money coming from? The Department of Homeland Security of course with the intention of tracking all “suspicious” activity. This is so enraging. No there is no “expectation” of privacy on a public street, but I sure as hell don’t expect government surveillance either!

1 comment September 24th, 2008

Red light camera opposition building

Opposition to red light cameras is building in Tennessee and Washington. Eyeman is continuing with his initiative to take away the “profit motive” that is usually behind such plans. “If it was all about safety, they’d be increasing the duration of yellow lights,” he said.

As for Tennessee, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research issued a policy paper yesterday which placed more doubt to why governments are so keen to install red light cameras. Here a bit of the story featured in The Newspaper:

The report’s authors obtained data from the city of Chattanooga and determined that accidents increased at some intersections and declined at others between January 2006 and 2008. The authors contend that this shows photo enforcement systems deliver no demonstrable safety benefit. Instead, the report showed that cities have ignored proven engineering alternatives such as increasing the duration of the yellow period at traffic lights beyond the ITE’s bare minimum standard. In at least one case, Chattanooga was caught using yellows so short that they violated the law and forced a judge to order $8800 in refunds.

Read up or pay up people because these cameras are on their way to becoming a national standard. That is unless you like being fined and enjoy the creepy feeling of knowing the government is watching.

Add comment September 23rd, 2008

Eyman catches politicians on the red light scam

God, I love direct democracy. It’s like the “A-HA!” surprise for politicians. And here is one for residents in Longview, Washington. To quote:

Proposed by conservative political activist Tim Eyman, Initiative 985 would open carpool lanes during non-peak hours, require cities to synchronize traffic lights and increase funding for emergency roadside assistance. To help fund the initiative’s mandates, cities would be required to deposit all fines generated by red-light camera infractions into the state’s “Reduce Traffic Congestion Account,” rather than into the cities’ general expense funds.

Politicians are suddenly wary of the initiative now that red light revenue wouldn’t be going towards the general fund (aka blank check) and now have to rethink if red light cameras are “worth it.”

Got to love it when it becomes obvious they were never worried about citizens safety in the first place. Might want to keep an eye on their other programs as well with an attitude like that.

1 comment September 4th, 2008

We Demand a Vote continues fight against the red light scam

In Cincinnati a coalition is opposing the installation of red-light cameras has collected over 10,000 signatures to put the issue before votes. Well over the required 6,100 signatures required.

WeDemandAVote.com plans to turn in the signatures to the Hamilton County Board of Elections next week. Mayor Mark Mallory had joined the coalition in opposing the revenue driven plot.

And across the Atlantic….
Residents of Britain are in a rage against Google’s “spy cars” which want to photograph every front door saying it would:

Google needlessly making it more efficient for bad guys, terrorists, burglars, stalkers, pedophiles, etc. to find your home/hearth and more easily do private citizens harm.

Add comment July 11th, 2008

Due process? What’s that?

Washington D.C. red light cameras are having a dangerous effect. Allow me first to pull up study from 2005 according to an article in the Washington Post

“…the number of crashes at locations with cameras more than doubled, from 365 collisions in 1998 to 755 last year. Injury and fatal crashes climbed 81 percent, from 144 such wrecks to 262.”

Now we also learn that due process has been taken by “the man.” According to Online Traffic School blog a man who was trapped in an intersection due to traffic is still being forced to “pay up’ because the video damning drivers lasted all of 3 seconds. The video fails to show the entire situation at hand and thus sneaks off with people’s right to due process.

Two good reasons to abolish this type of Nanny State.

Add comment June 11th, 2008

How delightfully embarrassing

Several slip ups by the Nanny State today that I’m proud to shine the spot light on:

1. Wired Threat Level revealed the “confidential, secure” data often blocked by FBI for “our security” is a a lot hooey. The FBI’s sensitive information included such drudgery as Survey results (FYI, the number of technical support calls for wiretaps went down last year even though the number of wiretaps went up) and the number of switches replaced for wiretapping. Sounds to me like they are just trying to build up a case for the FISA bill to pass.

2. Texas mayors and business leaders filed a class-action lawsuit Friday alleging Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff hoodwinked landowners into waiving their property rights for construction of Project 28. By “hoodwinked” they mean stealing property by acting like bullies and failing to negotiate a fair price for the land taken.

3. And lastly, it was revealed that the red light scam is well & alive in Los Angeles, California. A 29 year old woman has vowed to fight her $159 ticket for a red light citation after it was revealed 80% of red light camera tickets go not to those running through intersections but to drivers making rolling right turns. Sounds like greedy revenue for the big government to me.

Money quotes from the article include:

“I’ve never . . . seen any studies that suggest red light cameras would be a good safety intervention to reduce right-turning accidents,” said Mark Burkey, a researcher at North Carolina A&T State University who has studied photo enforcement collision patterns.

Or even better….

“We’re kind of very leery about right turns. . . . They’re not really unsafe per se,” said Pasadena’s senior traffic engineer, Norman Baculinao. “Emphasizing those violations would be “more for revenue generation” than safety.”

1 comment May 19th, 2008

Let’s rally for the rallies

Lot’s of protests this week. Just thought I’d point out two of my favorite kind of rallies (and no they do not involve a high school mascot jumping through flaming hoops):

1: Pennsylvania’s Ron Paul Group, along with other allies, is still fighting the good fight against the REAL ID by holding a rally at the end of this week.

2: Hamilton County, Ohio is protesting the installation of Red Light Cameras-insisting that they be brought before taxpayers for approval.

Add comment May 5th, 2008

Trash those tickets

Red light tickets were declared unenforceable by St. Louis courts and alderman this past Sunday. To quote: “If you threw it in the trash,” says St. Louis Alderman Freeman Bosley Sr., chairman of the aldermanic Traffic Committee, “nothing would happen.”

Nothing would happen?! You hear that folks? An unenforceable mandate by the government. Go crazy, shred that stupid ticket and refuse to pay the spy camera’s fine.

BEWARE: Other cities are resolving “shortcomings” in the plan by creating yet more stupid laws to penalize not responding to the ticket. Apparently the government still doesn’t understand that “two wrongs don’t make a right.”

3 comments April 28th, 2008

Red light cameras sued as unconstitutional

Citizens in Balcones Heights are rejoicing. Mark Cevallos filed a lawsuit against the city Balcones Heights, claiming the city violated his rights by taking his picture with a red light camera and sending him a traffic ticket.

In his words the red light cameras violates the plaintiff’s due process rights under both the Texas and United States Constitutions. “You don’t have any right to a trial, a right to confront witnesses,” Cevallos said referring to the red light camera tickets.

Former Balcones Heights Councilman Steve Walker, a lone dissenter against the installation of the cameras and voted against the ordinance in 2006 says, “From what little I know about the alleged lawsuit, it appears that Mr. Cevallos is saying exactly what I maintained back when we voted to allow the cameras.”

Go and get ‘em Cevallos.

1 comment April 24th, 2008