Meet the Guy Who Helped Take Down Georgia’s Red-Light Cameras: "
In 1987, a California cop let a genie out of a bottle by writing 16-year-old Richard Diamond a speeding ticket. Diamond considered unfair the officer’s technique of hiding in a concealed driveway. Years later, Diamond entered politics and from 1997 to 2003 was the spokesman on technology and privacy for former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas). Among his duties was researching why the federal government was purchasing automated ticketing machines (red-light and speed cameras) for the National Park Service. Diamond investigated traffic ticketing in general and found it to be rife with political influence, confusing revenue streams, and suspect donations. When Diamond’s appointment ended, he moved on to other political roles, but the politics behind red-light and speed cameras still bothered him. In 2004, he created TheNewspaper.com, a website that archives newspaper reports and internet links to legal references and research studies that focus on the ticket industry. Now a senior editor at the Washington Times, Diamond maintains the website at his own expense.
Your website helped eliminate some of Georgia’s red-light cameras. How did that happen?
There’s a state lawmaker down in Georgia who hates red-light cameras—Barry Loudermilk. He wanted to pass a bill to outlaw them. He couldn’t get the votes, although he came close.
He read some of the studies I made available on the site. The biggest one is the Texas Transportation Institute study of 2005 that concludes that a longer yellow light reduces both violations and accidents and documents both. Loudermilk got to thinking, “Well, let’s pass a law in Georgia that if you put up a red-light camera, your yellow light has to be one second longer than lights at similar intersections.”
The law passed in 2008 and was enacted in 2009. I actually checked how it worked. What that took was me calling every city in Georgia that had red-light cameras—and there were a lot of them—and getting them to send reports on how many violations they had before the law was enacted.
I did it all over again after the law. And guess what? The number of straight-through violations dropped 80 percent on average. In any business, if your revenue stream drops 80 percent, you’re not in good shape. So there were Georgia cities dropping red-light-camera contracts like flies. Some of the cities were not increasing the yellow times. For example, Atlanta did not increase the yellow time at its No. 1 red-light-camera intersection. Loudermilk did an interview with CNN at Freedom Parkway and Boulevard, the top moneymaker. He timed the yellow light at three seconds the day before the interview. But the next morning, he pulled out a stopwatch, and—magically—the same light was four seconds. An amazing coincidence. Eventually, the state Department of Transportation shut down the camera at that intersection.
What’s the argument against increasing the duration of yellow lights at intersections?
People say that it will increase congestion because you’ll have to wait a second longer at the light. They also say increasing the duration might work for a little bit, but then drivers would learn the new yellow-light time and adapt to that. These are both absurd arguments. No drivers think, “Hey, the yellow light is longer. I can go faster.”
How many states currently use red-light cameras, and how much money is made?
Fifteen states ban red-light cameras, and 10 are agnostic. So half of the states use them, including Arizona, California, Illinois, New York, and Texas, which make the most money from them. There are about 4000 automated ticket cameras in the United States, so my grand-total guess would be about $700 million annually for all involved.
What’s the next part of the crusade?
I want to find the total amount from increased premiums because of added points on licenses that contributes to insurance companies’ profits.
GREAT MOMENTS IN SPEEDING: 1905 Britain’s Automobile Association is created by car enthusiasts to “help motorists avoid police speed traps.” • 1910 First speed camera is used, and the results are challenged in a Boston court. • 1954 The traffic radar gun is introduced in Chicago. • 1968 The radar-detecting Fuzzbuster arrives. • 1978 Microwave introduces the Escort, a more sophisticated radar detector. • 1998 New Jersey Superior Court Judge Reginald Stanton rules laser-gun readings alone are admissible evidence if acquired at distances closer than 1000 feet.
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