 Custom Search  How Many Photo Tickets Will It Take Before You Fight Back? GPS is 100% Legal and Pays For Itself. Click Here To Learn More. Red Light Camera Makers Arrested for Fraud30 Jan 2009Red light cameras are shut down across Italy as the largest ever government investigation into the illegal use of photo enforcement expands.
Motorist complaints about being trapped at camera-equipped intersections with short yellow signal durations sparked the inquiry. Verona Preliminary Investigations Judge Sandro Sperandio ordered police on January 24, 2008 to seize T-red devices in Tregnago, and the case soon spread across the country to other cities and towns under contract with photo ticketing companies. Criminal charges of forgery and fraud are based on four basic complaints, many of which represent common practices in the United States.
Second, investigators found that municipal police never reviewed the camera fines. Instead, the tickets went straight to private companies like Ci.Ti.Esse which affixed scanned electronic signatures of police officials before mailing the citations, in violation of Italian law. Camera companies in the US also affix digital signatures to citations that have often never been reviewed by police officials. The third charge involves fraudulent type approval of the red light camera device. Arrighetti's company, Kria, is accused of having only the T-Red's camera approved by the Ministry of Transportation, not the electronic control hardware that determines who receives a ticket. The same charge has been leveled against Redflex, the Australian company that operates US red light and speed camera systems. The fourth and most damaging charge involves contracting irregularities. A municipal police commander who helped a red light camera system go from 500,000 Euros in fines in 2005 to $1 million Euros in 2007 received a 2000 Euro (US $2580) bonus from a private company. The no-bid contracts offered to the companies that operate the systems with a per-ticket compensation of 35 percent of each fine issued, while common in the US and Canada, violate Italian contracting statutes. Motorists who have already received fines may apply to the courts to have them canceled. Source The Guru's Views It's really that simple isn't it? Short and Minimum Amber Times equals more tickets. It's nothing to do with safety. When you want to make an intersection safe then you lengthen the Amber time. Is your City even testing Intersections to disprove this? No Canadian City is! They are focused on one thing only, Revenue. In fact who could put it better then the Head of Sales in Canada for ACS, (Affiliated Computer Services.) Jon Butcher. Who by the way was also the Sargeant in Charge of the Contract negotiations between the City of Winnipeg and ACS, who went on to win a $30 Million Dollar NO BID Contract with the City.
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