Essential Material For Ticket Camera Activists

September 10th, 2009 Posted in Gary Biller, Red-Light Cameras, Yellow Light Duration
By Gary Biller, NMA Executive Director
The effective way to defeat red-light and speed camera initiatives in your community, or to mount effective opposition to existing installations, is to ratchet up the pressure on local politicians.  It takes a strong grassroots effort to overcome the appeal of a proven revenue generator to financially-challenged municipalities.
The NMA now provides a platform for those grassroots efforts.  Permanently linked on our website, in the photo enforcement section, is “Essential Download for Ticket Camera Activists”.  The download consists of a PDF file with several one-page components which can be presented to decision-makers to educate and inform them of serious issues surrounding the use (and misuse) of ticket cameras.
You can view and print the information packet directly from
this page.
The key ingredient to the opposition effort against ticket cameras resides with the community activists who are leading the fight.  They are encouraged to get local signatures, whether by petition or letters, and present this evidence of a constituency opposition to each politician along with the NMA information packet.  A sample petition in the information packet is provided as a signature-gathering aid.
Essential Download for Ticket Camera Activists” is not just for the use of NMA members.  Fighting the unfair use of ticket cameras impacts a large segment of the driving public, and we are making this information available to anyone who is mounting a fight against photo enforcement.  Spread the word about this information to friends in other cities who are unhappy about existing or proposed ticket camera programs.
The single-page documents in easily-viewed PDF format are listed below.  The executive summaries are designed for efficient review, but also provide web addresses to enable the reader to delve deeper by reading the full studies.
  • Traffic Ticket Cameras – NMA position paper, and checklist for other documents
  • Red Light Cameras Increase Accidents (Washington Post) – executive summary
  • Investigation of Crash Risk Reduction Resulting from Red-Light Cameras in Small Urban Areas (North Carolina A&T State University) – executive summary
  • Red Light Running Cameras: Would Crashes, Injuries and Automobile Insurance Rates Increase if They are Used in Florida? (University of South Florida) – executive summary
  • 6 Cities Caught Shortening Yellow Light Times for Profit
  • Traffic Ticket Camera Incidents, Part 1 – a compilation by the NMA
  • Traffic Ticket Camera Incidents, Part 2 – a compilation by the NMA
  • Sample Petition Form To Ban Ticket Cameras

Grab your copy of the entire package
here.