Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon and Attorney Joseph Santoli presenting Red Light Camera findings in Tinton Falls this morning.
In a scathing indictment of Red Light Camera (RLC) operators and the New Jersey municipalities that deploy the devices, Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon today revealed what he described as “irrefutable evidence” that yellow light times at many New Jersey intersections do not meet the standards required by law, causing thousands of motorist to be hit with millions of dollars in unlawful fines.
Backed up by Barnet Fagel, a traffic expert with the National Motorists Association and Attorney Joseph Santoli who discovered in a New York case that RLC companies were shaving yellow light times in order to entrap drivers into being caught on camera running a red, O’Scanlon said that shortened yellow lights cause more accidents and that “safety is being sacrificed” for municipal and RCL company’s revenue.
Yellow lights are required to have either 3 or 4 second intervals, depending on the level of traffic and speed at the intersections. Fagel conducted a study this weekend of 12 of the approximately 80 New Jersey RLC intersections. All but “one or two” were found to have yellow lights that were between 1/10 and almost 3/10 of a second too short. Fagel presented the video evidence of his finding.
The most egregious of Fagel’s findings was in Jersey City at the intersection of Rt.1-9 and Sip Ave, a 4 second yellow light location. Fagel’s video showed that the yellow light lasted only 3.753 seconds.
O’Scanlon said that 80% of all RLC infractions occur during the first second of the red light. By shaving 1/10-3/10 of a second off the yellow lights, roughly 30% of the RLC generated tickets are unlawful.
O’Scanlon calls on Bayshore Tea Party and their slate to withdraw support for Peters
Dan Peters
Three time Monmouth County Sheriff Candidate Dan Peters worked as an Account Executive for RedFlex, the ‘traffic safety’ company that has been implicated in an ongoing federal criminal investigation into a $2 million bribery scheme in Chicago.
Peters’ LinkedIn profile included the job on his resume from 2010-2011 yesterday afternoon. Today, the job has was removed from his LinkedIn profile. MoreMonmouthMusings called Peters twice yesterday and once this morning to ask him about his resume and education. He did not return the calls.
Peters admitted to working for the company on Saturday May 4 while speaking before a group of activists from Campaign for Liberty, according to Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon. O’Scanlon, the New Jersey champion of the fight against red light cameras, was an invited speaker for the group’s meeting. Peters and the LD 13 Tea Party backed candidates also spoke at the event which was held in Hightstown.
The New Jersey Department of Transportation announced yesterday that no additional red light cameras will be installed in the state under the pilot program that is scheduled to run through the end of next year, according to an Associated Press report.
The program, which includes 76 cameras throughout New Jersey, was started in 2009 ostensibly to promote public safety and reduce motor vehicle accidents. DOT says they are not installing new cameras because there is not enough time to collect data from them before the program expires.
Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon says no more data is needed from any of the cameras. They don’t enhance public safety, but are safety hazards. The program is a money grab from New Jersey motorist.
“We know these cameras do not improve safety,” O’Scanlon said, “The data is indisputable. Every objective study on this equipment demonstrates that. Subsequently, many jurisdictions are choosing to eliminate the cameras altogether. But the camera companies continue to relentlessly push for more cameras – clearly demonstrating that their only motivation is stealing more money from NJ residents. It is long past the time that New Jersey join the bandwagon and end this failed program.”
Little Silver, April 1- Asm Declan O’Scanlon (R-13) today announced that he had an epiphany early Easter Sunday morning – now sees light regarding the true reason for supposed highway safety rules and regulations!
“I can’t believe how long I’ve been so misguided and naive!” said O’Scanlon. “All this time just not getting it! It’s all about the money! Huge piles of money for local officials to spend in their budgets, more piles of money for campaigns of compliant state elected officials and truckloads of the stuff for lobbyists! Hell, in at least one instance we have actual “gifts” given by a camera company to officials running a program”.
“I just never visualized the potential. I was always focused on the fact that our traffic laws and enforcement methods should be justified by sound engineering and focused on actually increasing safety. What an idiot! Now though, unburdened by the shackles of actually caring about any of those irrelevant concerns, I see the true potential of the tools we have at our disposal.”
O’Scanlon invited legislators to join him in not only abandoning the effort to end the red light camera program or – even make it more fair to motorists – and actually go the other direction. O’Scanlon’s new plan calls for cameras at every light at every intersection. He goes further and calls or the installation of new traffic lights at EVERY intersection. “Imagine the revenue potential!” he exclaimed. “But we can do even more! Part of my legislation will eliminate yellow lights all together. Every single time a light change we’ll nail a few unsuspecting suckers – kind of like now except we’ll nail even more! Another section of the legislation will mandate that every motorist come to a full stop every 100 feet. We’ll tell them it’s for “safety”, really!”
Other sections of O’Scanlon’s legislation would lower speed limits to 15 mph. “People won’t be able to leave their driveways without breaking the law. Think of the $ we’ll make!!!” said O’Scanlon. “The entire, brilliant package will be called the Road Improvement Program to Promote Outstanding Freeway Focus – RIPPOFF, for short! I have probably just begun to scratch the surface here” conceded O’Scanlon. “I am sure over the next few weeks and months we’ll come up with even more ways to attack out constituents innocently driving to work or to their kids schools or music lessons. This program will be like a vacuum of their hard earned money. And we have the pioneering red light camera program to thank for starting us down this path!”
Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon has been doggedly fighting for New Jersey motorists who have been getting ripped off red light cameras for months. Yesterday, O’Scanlon issued a scathing statement opposing a proposed settlement in the class action law suit against American Traffic Solutions, the Arizona company that installs and operates the red light rip offs.
U.S. District Court Judge Peter Sheridan held a hearing on the proposed settlement that would refund an average of $6 to motorist who were ticketed $85-$140 by cameras that were not properly calibrated.
“We have unequivocal, documented proof that the standard used to set yellow light times didn’t abide by the law – resulting in a huge percentage of the tickets issued as a result of these cameras to be undeserved” said O’Scanlon. “We have equally irrefutable evidence that the supposed yellow-light-timing recertification process was a sham blatantly designed from the start to justify perpetuating the status quo – rather than treat motorists fairly under the law.”
“First NJ motorists were cheated by their own state government when the DOT implemented the pilot program and didn’t follow the law, then they were screwed again in the phony yellow light recertification fiasco. They continue to be screwed by the camera companies and the local governments which collude to steal from them.” said O’Scanlon. “This settlement sells them down the river one more time – and amounts to nothing more than a get-rich-quick scheme for the attorneys involved. The beleaguered motorists of NJ have been abandoned or outright attacked by their government at every level, and relentlessly victimized by the predatory camera companies. Hopefully Judge Sheridan will take a stand and NJ Motorists will be able to count on one branch of government willing to give them a small victory.”
Monmouth County Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon is making statewide waves and generating statewide headlines in his quest to prove that red light cameras are not safety devices, but revenue generating ripoffs.
O’Scanlon makes a compelling case, backed up with engineering, that yellow lights should be timed for actual speeds that motorists are driving, rather than by the posted speed limits. He convinced MMM that’s he’s right on the issue, and that might be the subject of a future post. Read one of these articles if you want to bone up on that issue now. What prompted my call to O’Scanlon was politics, not policy.
There are no red light cameras in O’Scanlon’s legislative district, the 13th in Northern Monmouth County.
As the Assembly Republican Budget Officer, O’Scanlon has one of the highest, if not the highest, statewide profile of his fellow Republicans in the Assembly.
The last time O’Scanlon made statewide headlines on a issue not related to the budget he was speaking out in favor of medical marijuana and against towns that were using zoning laws to keep happy medicine dispensaries and farms outside of their boundaries. MMM’s unscientific poll indicated that his position on 420 could cause a 180 among his supporters in the 13th.
I wondered if O’Scanlon might have political ambitions that, in addition to his commitment to doing the right thing, are motivating his activities outside of his district.
