Redflex Under Fire

The state of Arizona is letting its contract with the Australian photo radar camera company end on July 15. And now, an Arizona judge is blasting Redflex over its filings in preparation of a lawsuit filed by competitor ATS (American Traffic Solutions).

Full story from TheNewspaper.com.

The Internet Speed Trap Database

Traveling into unfamiliar territory and wondering just what trees the local radar-equipped gendarmes are hiding behind?

There's an app for that...well, at least a website.

It's called the National Speed Trap Exchange. Go here.

In Space, Someone Can Watch You Speed

The UK is testing satellites that can monitor speed and snap license plates from orbit.

Swell.

Full story from London's Daily Telegraph.

VIDEO: Speed Camera Van Tarred And Feathered

Posted last night on YouTube. Poster says it's Phoenix and those are Arizona temporary tags. The vehicle's unmarked, but it's new (the temp tags).

Could be legit...but it's also April Fools' Day.

A civilian employee in one of these vehicles with DPS markings was killed about a year ago when someone pulled up and opened fire. The suspect is on trial now.

Photo Radar Tickets: 62% Unpaid In One State

Desperate for money, city, county and state governments around the country are looking hard at anything that throws off cash with little or preferably no effort and manpower.

Which brings us to photo radar. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger would like to change the law in his state that currently bans speed cameras (red-light cameras are legal in the Golden State), which he says could generate $338 million.

But...as The Los Angeles Times reports...$338 million in tickets doesn't necessarily means $338 million in fines paid.

Speeding While Standing

See the guy standing up through the sunroof?

He's also driving...at 78 in a 65 mile per hour zone...with one hand on the wheel and his left foot on the gas pedal.

His name is Richard Anthony Flores, Jr.  He's 25, lives in Chandler, Arizona (a Phoenix suburb) and according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety, he's been showing up on their photo radar cameras a lot.

As in 14 times from mid-October to mid-November, at speeds up to 90 miles per hour.

This photo, taken on November 11, was just one of two where he did it while standing up through the sunroof. The other one was about two minutes earlier on the same stretch of the US 60 Superstition Freeway in Mesa...at 79 miles per hour.

The guys in the pickup trucks behind him had to be having a good laugh...probably while dialing 911.

It took DPS until this week to catch up with him...partly because he has a California license plate (under a louvered cover, which is supposed to help obscure it from photo radar). But after lettting family know they were looking for him, Flores turned himself in the next day.

He's been booked on two counts of reckless driving and one count of criminal speed. He's also been served with seven civil speeding citations.