Alberta motoring tax wimps!

[Carrier]

What’s the matter with Canadians? Americans have the guts to stand up to this sort of tax predation. Canadians seem to wimp out and pay up. This particularly applies to Albertans, whose province is heavily infested with these tax cameras. To give credit, Ontario did throw out the Bob Rae tax cameras when the Harris Conservatives came in. Are Albertans no longer interested in freedom from government abuse and predatory taxes?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 982933.ece
An attempt to introduce British-style speed cameras on the other side of the Atlantic has ended in a public revolt, with motorists binning speeding tickets worth $90 million (£60 million). The scheme in Arizona is now on the verge of bankruptcy and might be scrapped.
Its demise would mark an ignoble end to the first statewide effort to bring speed camera enforcement to the US, where many, including judges and elected officials, regard the devices as an unconstitutional taxcollection method.
“I see all the cameras in Arizona completely coming down,” said Shawn Dow, who is leading the public revolt via his chairmanship of Arizona Citizens Against Photo Radar. “The citizens of Arizona took away the cash cow of Arizona by refusing to pay.” He is now trying to gain support for a ballot measure banning the cameras in November’s elections.
Although about 700,000 tickets have been issued since Arizona’s 76-camera plan was rolled out last year, a mere $37 million of the $127 million in fines and surcharges has been collected. That is because Arizonans have realised that they can simply ignore tickets sent to them in the post, and the authorities cannot prove that they have received them. Unless the tickets are served in person — something Arizona cannot afford to do — they become void after three months.
Motorists have shown their opposition to the machines in other ways, too — such as placing large cardboard boxes over them, decorating them with sticky notes, attacking them with pickaxes and, in one case, setting off the cameras while standing in front wearing a monkey mask.
The company hired to install Arizona’s cameras, Redflex, is under financial pressure, because it invested $16 million upfront in the equipment. But it says it is persevering. “Redflex is in this for the long haul,” it said.
While Americans have largely tolerated cameras that catch motorists running red lights, the introduction of speed cameras has been met by the kind of public fury usually reserved for overpaid Wall Street bankers. It is thought that about 300 communities in the US have experimented with the devices, but Arizona was the first state to commit to the technology under the then governor Janet Napolitano, now the US Secretary of Homeland Security.
The new governor — Jan Brewer, a Republican — is openly critical, and agrees that the scheme was introduced more to raise money than to prevent accidents. As in Britain, however, there are many officials in Arizona who argue that the critics protest too much.
If the cameras raise money for the Government, say supporters, that is not the only purpose. Last week a 25-year-old man was snapped as he tore through a 65mph zone at 78mph — while standing on the driver’s seat, with his head poking through the sunroof. He has since been arrested.
People power
• Icelanders used pots and pans to make a deafening clatter during protests against the mishandling of the financial crisis last January
• More than 400,000 Britons marched on Trafalgar Square in 2002 to protest against anti-foxhunting laws. Crowds queued for more than six hours to follow the official route
• Resistance in the Philippines against the Marcos regime in 1986 popularised the term “people power”. Rigged elections prompted non-violent protests in what became known as the Yellow Revolution because of the yellow ribbons worn by protesters
• The Whiskey Rebellion in the 1790s in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, fought against the introduction of a tax on the spirit. Resistance measures included robbing the post, stopping court proceedings and assaulting tax collectors

[iflyforpie]

<Laughs from the other side of the rocks>

Gotta keep that Heritage Fund and no PST intact somehow!!


Seriously though, that sucks dude...

[ScudRunner]

To clarify

What we got here in Alberta is the Red Light Camera's wich I fully support nailing idiots who run the red lights.

They introduced last fall the speed on Green light feature on some of the red light intersection camera's, so all you do is speed around and hit the brakes going through the intersections.

[Lurch]

I have no sympathy for anybody getting caught.

If you are speeding and not paying enough attention to notice the cameras, then you shouldn't be speeding.

If I'm going to get caught speeding I'd prefer it be by camera then by a cop, with the camera you don't get demerits on you licence and your insurance doesn't go up.

Suck it up buttercup

Lurch

[Carrier]

To clarify

One of the most notorious stretches of road in Western Canada is the Trans Canada Highway through Medicine Hat, Alberta. I know a number of victims from neighbouring provinces who have received photo radar tickets in the mail shortly after passing through Medicine Hat.

It is ridiculous to have an artificially low 80 km/h speed limit on stretches of what is supposed to be Canada's main cross-country highway. On this highway through Medicine Hat several stretches of 80 km/h limit are interspersed with stretches of higher speed limits to increase their trapping rate! This is a cash cow for the City's photo radar vans that trap nowhere near traffic lights. Apparently there have been schemes to build a 120 km/h by-pass around Medicine Hat but nothing ever happens because it would be a major revenue loss for the City and presumably the province as well.

The above has nothing to do with red light safety but is all about raising tax revenue by abusing visiting and transiting motorists. I understand from people who have visited Medicine Hat that it has photo radar all over the City to trap drivers exceeding the 50 km/h urban speed limit. The recent use of cameras at red lights to trap speeders has simply increased the number of revenue points and again has nothing to do with drivers going through red lights.

., you need to find out what is happening in your own province and what a negative reputation Alberta is gaining in neighbouring provinces as a result. I know a number of photo radar victims from neighbouring provinces who have decided to take their shopping business South instead of to Alberta. What is wrong with Alberta that it treats visitors/customers coming to spend in Alberta as victims to be exploited instead of as guests? Is Alberta so immune from the recession that it can afford to alienate customers from neighbouring provinces?

[2R]

They should put those cameras up every 100 yards on the 400 and every fifty feet on the sea to sky .They could get rid of the national deficit with crazy drivers on those roads
Why risk the lives of the Police trying to stop drivers on those overcrowded roads.

[. ._]

Like I say many, many times here.

If you don't like your current government, vote for a different party.

What? There's no choice? They're all the same?

BULL!

If the Tories in Alberta start losing votes to the Marxist-Leninists or Family Coalition because they want to scrap some stupid policy, that policy will be scrapped so the Tories can stay in power.

If you don't vote, they stay, and policy stays the same.

End Semi-rant.

-istp

[Check Pilot]

My fondestes (if that's a word) memories is to watch some some idiot with an idiot brain-set go ahead and just run an intersection that has a red light camera. I love it. They keep paying tickets and I get to keep my property taxes down.

Please don't speed. If you disagree - speed away - and may you pay when you get caught. Hopefully dead with your attitude. You'll make a nice addition to the Darwin awards. I'll be glad to have you out of my life.

If you won't slow down, maybe like they do in europe and the netherlands just fine ya a few hundred thousand bucks.

Hope that helps.

[ScudRunner]

., you need to find out what is happening in your own province and what a negative reputation Alberta is gaining in neighbouring provinces as a result. I know a number of photo radar victims from neighbouring provinces who have decided to take their shopping business South instead of to Alberta. What is wrong with Alberta that it treats visitors/customers coming to spend in Alberta as victims to be exploited instead of as guests? Is Alberta so immune from the recession that it can afford to alienate customers from neighbouring provinces?

Are you talking about the same people that are coming to Alberta to avoid paying PST thus screwing their own provinces' revenue sources that pay for their schools and health care????

[crazy_aviator]

After having motored from Ontario to BC, i was quite happy at the freedom experienced in Alberta, Now, im in the philippines driving around and i feel like im going back to a police state when i go back to Canada,,,,it is disheartening to think i shall be back to such an advanced country with such a penal policy against common sense

[rigpiggy]

Red light cameras aren't really about safety, just about revenue. by increasing the yellow by 1.5 sec, and putting a .5sec interval between red/green they have found accidents/violations were reduced more than 90%. However for every .5 seconds it reduced the revenue by 14%. how come they reduced the timing of the lights by .5 seconds?

Update

Institute of transportation engineers
http://www.ite.org/library/Intersection ... ameras.pdf

It should be noted that proponents of red light cameras have been wrongfully using this intersection as an example that lengthening yellow light times has a minimal safety effect. They claim drivers adjust to the light increase over time.

This is deliberately misleading.

There are various studies that have shown that drivers do not negatively adjust to longer light times. You can find a list of these studies by clicking here.

Yellow-Light-Timing Myths
Proponents of red light cameras will often criticize the lengthening of the yellow light time as a solution to red light violations. They claim this is a short-term solution because motorists will become acclimated to the longer yellow light time and continue to violate the light.

Not true. Adjusting the yellow light time to an appropriate length for an intersection reduces the amount of red light violations. And, studies have shown that the motorist does not become acclimated to the new timing and violations do not resume. Here is a list of those studies illustrating the invalidity of their claims:

"The data show that the percentage of last-to-cross vehicles clearing the intersection (T+0.2) seconds or more past the yellow onset was not appreciably changed by the extension of the yellow phase."
The Influence of the Time Duration Of Yellow Traffic Signals On Driver Response, Stimpson/ Zador/ Tarnoff, ITE Journal, November 1980

"Research has consistently shown that drivers do not, in fact, adapt to the length of the yellow."
Determining Vehicle Change Intervals - A Proposed Recommended Practice", ITE, 1985

"Olson and Rothery reported in 1972 that their research showed that drivers were "virtually" certain to stop if their required deceleration rate was less than 8 feet per second squared and virtually certain to continue if the deceleration rate required was in excess of 12 feet per second squared"
Determining Vehicle Change Intervals - A Proposed Recommended Practice", ITE, 1985

"The average implied deceleration rate of the group with the highest crash rate was slightly over 13 feet per second squared, and the deceleration rate for the group with the lowest crash rate was 8.5 feet per second squared"
"Effect of Clearance Interval Timing on Traffic Flow and Crashes at Signalized Intersections", Zador/ Stein/ Shapiro/ Tarnoff, ITE Journal, November 1985

A real world example that illustrates that motorists do not adjust to the yellow light time and begin violating red lights again can be found in Fairfax County, Virginia. The engineers increased the yellow light time on March 26, 2001 from 4 seconds to 5.5 seconds with a result of a 96 percent decrease in violations. To date, there has been no increase in the amount of red light violation. For the full story on this

The intersection of US 50 and Fair Ridge Drive was averaging 250 validated citations per month for the two months before the yellow lights were lengthened. For the next 18 months, the average number of citations was 15 per month, a decrease of 94 percent. The camera was then taken offline for eight months.

The cameras were then reactivated. During the subsequent 17 months, the average number of validated citations has been 26 per month.

This may be higher than 15 per month, but it is drastically lower than 250 per month, which is what it was before the increase in yellow light time.

This is still a 90 percent decrease in violations since the yellow lights were lengthened 43 months earlier.

Additionally, none of these numbers take into account traffic volume. This is an area that is experiencing very rapid population growth, which would suggest that the traffic volume is up. This could explain the slight increase.