Posts filed under 'Image'
Great News! Fewer paying speed-camera tickets
Fewer paying speed-camera tickets
But DPS is on lookout for so-called frequent fliers, drivers who flout the system
Dave Vontesmar hates photo enforcement.
Vontesmar drives nearly 30 miles a day from his home in north Phoenix to his job at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
and passes through the photo-enforcement gantlet on Interstate 17, Arizona 51 and Interstate 10.
But when state Department of Public Safety officers served 37 unpaid photo-enforcement tickets to Vontesmar recently, he wasn’t fazed.
The photos all show the driver wearing a monkey mask.
“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 driver’s license and said, ‘It’s not me. I’m not paying them.’ “
The latest data from the DPS shows more motorists are disregarding the violation notices upon arrival in the mail.
When the system was just getting set up in October, 34 percent of drivers paid their tickets. By June, that statistic had dropped to 24 percent.
Program effects
DPS officials repeatedly point out that the success of the photo-enforcement program is not measured in revenue it generates – about $20 million for the state through the end of July – or the number of notices of violation issued.
“Our whole goal is not to issue tickets, just to get people to drive the speed limit,” Lt. Jeff King said.
King instead prefers to focus on the program’s positive effects on Arizona’s highways, particularly in the Valley where fatalities, a factor that closely correlates with speed in wrecks, have dropped by 10 to 20 percent since the same time last year. His anecdotal evidence also points to drivers slowing down.
“The whole purpose behind it is voluntary compliance, and (the cameras) work really good,” King said.
DPS statistics support the notion that the program is slowing some drivers down, too. Photo-enforcement cameras activated about 78,000 fewer times in July than in December, though King notes other factors such as the economy could have contributed to fewer drivers being on the road.
King said there are plenty of people who willfully disregard the violations that arrive in the mail, generated by the 78 fixed and mobile units around the state.
DPS officers target such drivers, dubbed frequent fliers, who have 15 or more active violations. King said that number could fluctuate from 100 to 600 motorists.
Drivers have 30 days to respond to a notice of violation after it arrives in the mail. Motorists can either pay the fine, challenge the ticket or inform the DPS that the recipient is not the driver and return the paperwork with a copy of their driver’s license. Drivers who challenge tickets could end up in Justice Court
.
Those who ignore the notice may be served with a hand-delivered ticket.
A case in point
Vontesmar, a flight attendant, chose to inform the DPS that he was not driving when confronted with the 37 violations at his job three weeks ago. DPS officials estimate the car registered in Vontesmar’s name was caught by cameras more than 90 times, but time had lapsed on the majority of violations by the time officers tracked Vontesmar down.
Vontesmar is confident that he won’t have to pay the fines, an amount that could exceed $6,500.
“It’s obviously a revenue grab,” he said of the program. “They’re required by law to ID the driver of the vehicle. If they can’t identify the driver or the vehicle by the picture, what are they doing to identify the driver?”
Typically, the DPS uses driver’s-license photos and vehicle registration to confirm the identity of motorists, but there is a special unit assigned to go after frequent fliers.
In this case, officers sat outside Vontesmar’s home and watched him drive to work. “We watched him four different times put the monkey mask on and put the giraffe-style mask on,” Officer Dave Porter said. “Based on surveillance, we were positive that Vontesmar was the driver.”
Porter said that it would be up to justices of the peace to determine what to do with Vontesmar’s tickets, but the officer said there is enough evidence to reissue the tickets in Vontesmar’s name, despite his claims that he was not the driver.
Some frequent speeders cover their faces, use post-office boxes or fictitious addresses to beat the system, said Officer Jeff Hawkins, who is working 50 such cases.
“They generally do it under the pretext that they’re not going to be caught,” he said. “These are what you probably consider as people who don’t really respect the law at all.”
FULL READ HERE:
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/09/08/20090908dpsmonkey0908.html
1 comment September 8, 2009
Bullshit Caption
Really? Anarchist? Really? Because they are upset at the G20? Geez. We are living in 1984.
Add comment April 2, 2009
New Hampshire lawmaker seeks to reaffirm state ’sovereignty’
Lawmaker Warns Of “Forced Servitude” Under Obama
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
New Hampshire state representative Dan Itse, who is one of many lawmakers leading the charge to assert state sovereignty against federal encroachment, has warned that the Obama administration seeks to institute “involuntary servitude”.
Appearing on Fox News to discuss the states’ rights movement, Itse told hosts Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade, “This is about drawing a line in the sand and saying we’ve tolerated usurpations for so long but we’re not going to tolerate you violating the constitution, we’re going to hold you accountable.”
Asked if his warning about involuntary servitude under Obama meant young people being forced to attend community service, Itse responded, “Exactly, I mean, if you are required to do a job against your will with a pay scale not set by you or not agreed to by you, that’s involuntary servitude.”
Despite denials that Obama plans to institute a mandatory program of national service, his original change.gov website stated that Americans would be “required” to complete “50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year”. The text was only later changed to state that Americans would be “encouraged” to undertake such programs.
In addition, Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, publicly stated his intention to help create “universal civil defense training” in 2006. Such fears were also stoked when Obama himself said that a “national civilian security force,” that is “just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded” as the U.S. military was required.
Itse cited the No Child Left Behind program as an example of the federal government encroaching on states’ rights.
“They dangle a dollar in front of us and we chase it like the donkey with a carrot on a stick but ultimately they are infringing upon our domestic policies in the states, manipulating our domestic policies and we need to stand up and say that’s not your job, that’s our job,” said Itse, adding that if enough states stood up to Washington then they would have to pay attention.
In response to increasing federal encroachment, a growing number of states have passed and proposed resolutions to assert the Tenth Amendment and the Bill of Rights of the Constitution.
Washington, New Hampshire, Arizona, Montana, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, California, and Georgia have all introduced bills and resolutions declaring sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment. Colorado, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Alaska, Kansas, Alabama, Nevada, Maine, and Illinois are considering such measures.
“This is about enforcing the constitution which states to the government, you’re not the boss of us, we’re the boss of you,” concluded the lawmaker.
MUCH MORE HERE:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/alex-jones-on-coast-to-coast-the-exploding-states-rights-movement-martial-law.html
Add comment February 24, 2009
Good News. People are starting to wise up on Palin
Vice presidential candidates may not win elections, but this year it’s looking increasingly likely that Sarah Palin may help lose one. Perhaps people are starting to wake up to the fact that she is a retard and untrustworthy.
Add comment October 23, 2008
