Seattle Red Light Camera Issuing Illegal Tickets

According to King 5 News, red light camera tickets generated at a high-traffic intersection are being thrown out in court by local judges because the tickets are illegal:

Traffic judges have declared the camera set-up illegal at a busy intersection near the University of Washington and they’ve tossed tickets out, but the city is still ticketing unsuspecting motorists.

NE 45th Street at Union Bay Place NE is not your typical intersection. [...]

The five-way intersection has a dizzying configuration of lights and signs and turn lanes. And towering over it all are camera systems on the lookout for red-light runners.

Recently they recorded  video of an eastbound car on NE 45th Street. It clearly shows the car cruising through the intersection after the light turned red. The driver got a costly ticket for $124 in the mail.

But on Monday Seattle traffic judge Francis deVilla dismissed the infraction.

He didn’t respond to the KING 5 Investigators’ repeated requests for an explanation.

But the City Attorney’s Office says it was just informed deVilla ruled that the camera system is illegal at the intersection. The judge apparently based that decision on state law which says cameras are restricted to intersections where two arterial roads meet – your typical four-way stop.

But then, NE 45th Street at Union Bay is a five-way intersection.

Chris Ingalls, the King 5 News reporter who wrote the story, asks some interesting questions about the city’s actions:

At $124 a ticket, this could be potentially be a million-dollar intersection for the city since it installed cameras there a year and a half ago.

We’ve learned legal questions were raised months ago in a lawsuit now being heard in federal court.

And the City Attorney’s Office acknowledges that Seattle traffic judge Adam Eisenberg dismissed at least one ticket at the same intersection.

So why does the city continue to issue tickets and fines at a controversial intersection?

The City Attorney’s Office believes the intersection is legal and says it will likely fight all these challenges.

Meantime, the city continues to write an average of 16 tickets a day at that one intersection.

Red light camera programs in Washington are already under fire for charging more for tickets than is permissable under state law. There are currently at least two bills pending in the legislature that would reduce ticket camera fines:

1. Rep. Chris Hurst, D-Enumclaw, is the sponsor of a bill (HB2780) that would cap fines at $25 and mandate longer yellow light times.
2. Sen. Jim Kastama, D-Puyallup, has offered a similar bill (SB6410) to cap fines at $42.

With all this controversy, perhaps it’s time for Washington to join the 15 states who have banned automated ticketing instead?

The Backseat Driver’s Companion

By Eric Peters, Automotive Columnist

People who like to drive rarely enjoy being driven — and are often tempted to second-guess the driving of others when not behind the wheel themselves.

Usually, it’s not a good idea.

Here’s a Backseat Driver’s Companion — a short list of Do’s and Don’ts to follow when someone else is behind the wheel:

1) Hold your tongue.

You may not like the way someone else drives; maybe they don’t notice the light’s turned green as fast you might; maybe they’re more hesitant than you might be pulling into traffic or merging. Maybe they don’t drive as fast as you would like.

But unless there’s an immediate danger you’re pretty sure the driver hasn’t noticed (a kid on a bike about to run across the road, for instance) proper etiquette is to remain silent, even if you’re stewing inside. When you’re back in your own car again, you can drive how you like. Hectoring those who don’t drive as you might isn’t going to change their ways; it’s just going to create stress — and may even make them drive unsafely.

2) Don’t second-guess.

Maybe you do “know a better way” to get across town — or “just know” the car will fit in that parking spot up ahead that looks pretty tight. Ultimately, however, it’s not your call.

It’s fine to give advice — if it’s asked for. Just don’t hector and nag imperiously. You may in fact be a much better driver, know the quickest way to get across town — and could easily parallel park the car in that tight space up ahead. But since you’re not behind the wheel, it really doesn’t matter, does it? So, grin and bear it. Everyone will be the happier for it.

Read the rest of this entry »

New NMA Blog Commenting System

Earlier this week we made the transition to a new commenting system on this blog. We had been using an adapted version of the commenting system that comes with Wordpress (the system that this blog is built on) but after feedback from regular readers of the site, we decided to switch over to a system with more features.

We decided on the Intense Debate system, which is a third-party system — owned by the same company that owns Wordpress — that allows users to keep a single profile across multiple sites.

As a result, even if you’ve commented on the site before, you’ll have to register an account with Intense Debate to post new comments.

We hope that this slight barrier to entry will improve the level of discourse on the site. You only have to register once and after that commenting is very simple.

You can register using this link. The new system offers a lot of benefits:

• Comment Voting -- Comments are organized by rating with the most useful comments appearing at the top of the commenting section. Once you’ve registered, you can downvote unhelpful comments and promote useful comments.
• Improved Threading — Multi-level conversation threading (new comments appearing directly underneath the existing comments they’re referring to) will help clean up the discussion section on each article.
• Improved Email Subscription For Comments — You can now choose what kind of email notifications you want. You can subscribe to all comments on an article, only comments that are in reply to your comment, or opt out completely.
• User-Controlled Comment Sorting — You can sort comments by date, by last activity, or by rating. Rating is the default sorting option, but it’s ultimately up to you.
• Spell Check — You can check your comment for typos before submitting it.
• Embed YouTube Videos — You can embed YouTube videos directly into your comment.
• Create A Poll — Once registered, you can create a quick poll to get the opinion of your fellow commenters.
• Insert Images — You can insert an image (hosted elsewhere) into your comment.

It’s not a perfect system, but we think over time it will be much more useful for all our commenters. Feel free to test it out in the comment section under this article or any other other post on the blog.

Is The Gas In Your Car Too Old?

By Eric Peters, Automotive Columnist

Everything deteriorates over time — including gasoline. Even if it’s stored properly. It’s as inevitable as graying hair and creaky joints.

Here’s why:

Gasoline is a highly refined product brewed to a certain chemical composition with very specific characteristics, including, for example, volatility — a term used to describe how easily (and under what conditions) the gas vaporizes so it can be efficiently burned in your car’s engine.

But the most highly volatile components in gasoline also tend to evaporate over time. As they do, the fuel’s volatility degrades. The less volatile the fuel, the less effectively it burns in your engine. The result is diminished engine performance. Your engine may still start and run. But it probably won’t run as well. It might be hard to start; it might cough and stall. Power — and economy — will likely go down.

The good news is the problem should cure itself — once the old gas has been consumed and the tank’s topped off with fresh fuel.

The next problem is oxidation — and it’s more serious.

Hydrocarbons in the gas react with oxygen to produce new compounds that eventually change the chemical composition of the fuel, leading to gum and varnish deposits in the fuel system. These deposits and impurities can coat surfaces, clog up fuel lines and filters, as well the small orifices in a carburetor (jets) and the even smaller orifices in a modern car’s fuel injectors.

Read the rest of this entry »