How your smartphone's GPS can get out of a speeding ticket

by Damon Lavrinc
from: http://translogic.aolautos.com/

We've all have that friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend who fought the law over an erroneous speeding ticket, but do you know anyone who's put their smartphone on the stand to prove their innocence? Well, you do now.

Sahas Katta got clocked by a cop doing over 40 in a 25 mph zone. He handed over his info and signed the ticket, but then remembered he was running Google MyTracks on his Motorola Droid. For the uninitiated, MyTracks is an Android app that uses the phone's GPS to record and plot where the user has travelled, allowing you to log a jog, bike ride or drive. After looking at the data and doing some research, Katta discovered that he never crested the 25 mph speed limit and decided to fight the ticket.

You can read the entire account over at SkatterTech, but for the tl;dr crowd, the cop didn't know the last time he went through radar training, when the gun was serviced or the unit's model number. Katta then busted out the GPS data from his Droid, and after reviewing the evidence and Katta's clean driving record, the judge let him off. Granted, he may have just gotten lucky thanks to a uninformed judge and a hapless cop, but the results all the same. Lesson learned. You can download MyTracks here.

If you're not equipped with one of the dozens of Android-powered smartphones on the market, you've got a few alternatives. For the iPhone crowd, there are a myriad of GPS-tracking apps on the market, including the OutFront and myTracks (no relation to the Google-developed app). If you're packing a new Windows Phone 7 device, the pickings are slightly slimmer, but Marathon is porting over its popular Windows Phone 6 app to the new mobile OS and has included several social features into its updated app. TrackSpace and MojoTracker appears to be the best solution for Palm/HP WebOS devices and for those using a Nokia smartphone SportsTracker looks like the best bet.

Check out a videos demos below to get a taste of of OutFront and Marathon, and submit your own selections in the comments below.





[Source: SkatterTech]

AZ Switches Off Speed Cameras For Privacy, Revenue Reasons

By John Voelcker
Senior Editor
From: http://www.thecarconnection.com/

July 19th, 2010 Last fall, we wrote about citizen initiatives to ban the use of traffic enforcement cameras in three small towns in Ohio and Texas. Now, the backlash has intensified, with the state of Arizona switching off its 76 cameras altogether last Friday, when its contract expired with the private operator who maintains them, issues tickets, and bills the drivers caught on camera speeding on state highways. Arizona joins Maine, which banned camera enforcement outright last June. With the latest addition, six states have now booted speeding cameras off their roads. (The others are Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, and West Virginia.) The state was the first to adopt camera enforcement for speeders, back in October 2008, but it banned them for two reasons: Infringement on individual privacy, and a belief that the operation was intended only to raise revenue, without independent, peer-reviewed data demonstrating their impact on road safety. While the camera system issued more than 1 million tickets, only about a third were ever paid, and the money collected was roughly one-third less than the projected $120 million promised by the operator, Redflex Traffic Systems. Almost 500 localities now use red-light cameras, which seem to evoke less negative reaction than speeding cameras, currently in less than 60 jurisdictions. In some areas--New York state, for instance--public support for red-light cameras is strong. Red-light runners are most likely viewed as a far greater threat to other drivers and pedestrians than are the drivers who run a few miles an hour over the limit. Fighting camera enforcement tickets in court is usually fruitless, with conviction rates over 98 percent--which has led irate drivers to some unusual protest tactics. One Phoenix Subaru driver wore a monkey mask while he or she racked up dozens of speeding tickets. But the cat-and-mouse game between speeders and the municipalities that target them for revenue (and road safety, don't forget that one) is likely to escalate. The latest wrinkle is ... wait for it ... satellite-based speed tracking. You have been warned. [The New York Times]

Red light camera in Beaverton, Oregon, from Wikipedia

Enlarge Photo

Last fall, we wrote about citizen initiatives to ban the use of traffic enforcement cameras in three small towns in Ohio and Texas.

Now, the backlash has intensified, with the state of Arizona switching off its 76 cameras altogether last Friday, when its contract expired with the private operator who maintains them, issues tickets, and bills the drivers caught on camera speeding on state highways.

The man banned, Tom Riall, is CEO of Serco, supplier of traffic cameras to the British government

Enlarge Photo

Pulled over by the police

Enlarge Photo

Arizona joins Maine, which banned camera enforcement outright last June. With the latest addition, six states have now booted speeding cameras off their roads. (The others are Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, and West Virginia.)

The state was the first to adopt camera enforcement for speeders, back in October 2008, but it banned them for two reasons: Infringement on individual privacy, and a belief that the operation was intended only to raise revenue, without independent, peer-reviewed data demonstrating their impact on road safety.

While the camera system issued more than 1 million tickets, only about a third were ever paid, and the money collected was roughly one-third less than the projected $120 million promised by the operator, Redflex Traffic Systems.

Almost 500 localities now use red-light cameras, which seem to evoke less negative reaction than speeding cameras, currently in less than 60 jurisdictions. In some areas--New York state, for instance--public support for red-light cameras is strong.

Red-light runners are most likely viewed as a far greater threat to other drivers and pedestrians than are the drivers who run a few miles an hour over the limit.

Fighting camera enforcement tickets in court is usually fruitless, with conviction rates over 98 percent--which has led irate drivers to some unusual protest tactics. One Phoenix Subaru driver wore a monkey mask while he or she racked up dozens of speeding tickets.

But the cat-and-mouse game between speeders and the municipalities that target them for revenue (and road safety, don't forget that one) is likely to escalate. The latest wrinkle is ... wait for it ... satellite-based speed tracking.

You have been warned.

[The New York Times]

Black Doctor Arrested Driving To Hospital To Deliver Baby

From: http://www.newschannel5.com/

Dr. Terry Wynn

By Ben Hall
Investigative Reporter

PULASKI, Tenn. - The city of Pulaski has called in an outside law firm to investigate the arrest of a black doctor by a Pulaski police officer.

Police clocked Dr. Terry Wynn's car going 46 in a 30-mile-per-hour zone last Wednesday night. Wynn is an OB/GYN who was on the way to the hospital to deliver a baby.

Pulaski Police Chief John Dickey

She pulled over, and told Pulaski officer Chad Estes she needed to get to the hospital.

Police said she then left the scene and drove less than a mile to the hospital. Officer Estes followed Wynn and arrested her in the hospital parking lot.

"When she took off or sped away, and left him there, that constitutes under Tennessee law, evading arrest in a motor vehicle, which is a felony," said Pulaski Police Chief John Dickey.

The arrest has sparked outrage in Pulaski and even led to a debate online about who was right.

"They didn't look at her as a doctor. They looked at her as a woman of color, and they didn't believe that she was a doctor," said resident Georgia Paige-Peterson. "If they will do that to her I can't imagine what they have done to others."

Immediately after the doctor's arrest, a relative of the woman in labor called the Pulaski police chief and urged him to get the doctor out of jail so she could deliver the baby. Chief Dickey called the jail and had her released before she was officially booked.

"The issue that most concerned me is there was a patient that needed care," said Dickey.

The chief says it's too early to say whether or not his officer did anything wrong. He is waiting for the outside investigation to be finished, but he was adamant that race was not a factor.

"Nothing has surfaced with any of these officers or anybody in this department that we have anything like that going on here," said Dickey.

NewsChannel 5 Investigates discovered this is isn't the first time Officer Estes has been involved in a racially charged arrest. Terra Hollis sued him for violating the civil rights of her 17 year old son.

Trey Hollis

"To me, it says he's out of control," said Hollis.

Video obtained by NewsChannel 5 Investigates from 2008, shows Trey Hollis leaving a crowded McDonalds as police arrived to break up a fight. Trey was not involved in the fight, but officer Estes grab him and push him against a table.

"They slam him on the table," said Hollis. "They throw him out the door. They slam him on the police car."

Hollis is a basketball player on track to graduate this year. Police also arrested Hollis' grandmother and aunt.

"I was told to shut up and go to my car or I would be arrested," said Hollis.

All charges against the family were dropped. The lawsuit claims the arrests were racially motivated, which Chief Dickey denies.

"People have their opinion and their perception of things and I respect people's feelings, but that doesn't mean I agree with them," said Dickey.

He said the TBI investigated, and a grand jury did not indict officer Estes or anyone else.

Terra Hollis believes if Estes had been disciplined after her son's arrest, the latest incident may not have happened.

"I'm very sad it happened because in my mind I think the incident could have been prevented," said Hollis.

Dr. Wynn could still be charged with evading arrest and, at this time, she is not commenting. Everyone is waiting for the outside investigation to be finished.

The baby's family released a statement saying the baby is healthy. The family said the police officers involved in the arrest of Wynn used bad judgment, and they hope the city takes appropriate steps to keep it from happening again.

E-mail: bhall@newschannel5.com

Driver Wears Monkey Mask to Beat Speed Cameras

Valley Monkey Has 37 Unpaid Photo-Enforcement Tickets; Actually He's Just a Dude in a Mask Who Won't Pay the Tickets

By James King

DPS Believes that Dave Vontesmar is the "man behind the mask" in 37 photo radar photos

​If you live in the Valley of the Sun, you probably have a trick or two to avoid getting busted by the speed cameras we all love so much. Some people just know exactly where they are, some buy devices to mask their license plates, and one man, police say, resorted to wearing a mask.

The man, according to police, is Dave Vontesmar.

Police say Vontesmar is the man behind the mask in at least 37 photo-radar tickets, where the driver can be seen wearing a mask to hide his identity.

Vontesmar says it's not him, despite being the owner of the car, but police disagree.

www.facebook.com

Dave Vontesmar, seen here, is believed by DPS to be the man behind the mask, responsible for at least 37 photo radar tickets

​

"Our officers actually conducted surveillance on him and observed him putting the mask on just prior to the photo-enforcement zone. So obviously, he intended on speeding through the zone and was covering his face intentionally," DPS Lieutenant Steve Harrison tells 92.3 KTAR. "He had two masks. One appeared to be [of] a monkey, the other one appeared to be [of] a giraffe or some type of gazelle design."

Vontesmar tells the Arizona Republic that he is refusing to pay the tickets

"Not one of them there is a picture where you can identify the driver," Vontesmar said. "The ball's in their court. I sent back all these ones I got with a copy of my drivers license, and said, 'It's not me. I'm not paying them.' "

Harrison says this is no laughing matter

Umm, yes it is.There's a guy cruising around town evading police by wearing a monkey mask; if that's not a laughing matter, what is?

Here's an idea; maybe DPS officers should go back to actually pulling people over, like in the old days. It may be difficult to nail this driver by claiming -- through speed-camera pics -- that he must be the man behind the chimp get-up.