Teachers: photo radar busted

Ha, I'd LOVE to see WiseUp Winnipeg bust the icewholes for this and show Winnipeggers once and for all what a sham photo radar is...

http://www.winnipegsun.com/2011/12/09/teachers-photo-radar-busted

It's a scam. Time to shut it down. Maybe they have to "catch" the Mayor speeding for them to take it seriously.

Curious how all people responsible: police cheef pompador; premier sillinger; mayor sammy are silent and not responding to requests for interviews?

Well, it IS the weekend...

Equally curious the sun broke this on a weekend AND the Free Press has nothing on it.

WTF?

politicians no longer care. they are simply trying to get as much money out of it before the contract runs out and the program ends

what's worse about this...is the hassle all the people will have to go through to fight these illegal tickets.

I would fight any photo radar ticket I received by a WSD
school between the hours of 11pm and 7am. All WSD schoolyards are signed no trespassing
between 11pm and 7am


I have no problem with the concept of photo radar in
principle. However, it CLEARLY is not being used to increase safety, but solely
to increase revenue. Anyone who tells you different is a liar or an idiot.


How else do you explain:


Photo radar vehicles in construction zones with no workers
present


Photo radar vehicles in a) questionable school zones (
Varennes school – St. Mary’s Rd)


Photo radar vehicles set up at questionable times ( I didn’t
know kids went to school at St. Maurice on Pembina at 8am Sunday – never mind
the fact that it is a private, not a neighborhood school, so kids don’t walk
there, they drive/bus)


If the city/province was serious about safety, they’d
install the radar reader signs ( like the on the Perimeter at portage ave0,
those work a lot better to prevent an accident than the ticket received 2 wks
later.


But then again, those decrease speeding and decrease
revenue, so we’ll never see that.

Just curious. Are children more prone to behave differently around school zones? Will special signs (zones) improve children's safety? Is it merely because there is a greater concentration of children present?

For heaven's sake, let the Mayor or that Phil Sheagal guy get caught, then we'll see a change!

It's finally a front page story in the Free Press.

Reducing speeds in schools zones has nothing to do with protecting children.

It's all about an opportunity to collect cash from motorists.

Oh. re: phoney tickets and the cops not responding....it's all about just how crooked the pigs really are....dishonest to the bone....every last one of the sons-of-bitches.

Speed to blame, not camera Demonstration debunks claims radar faulty Free Press.

Who do you believe?

A photo-radar demonstration by city police Wednesday at Grant Avenue near Nathaniel Street showed just how many drivers still speed there -- oblivious to the presence of officers and signs that clearly mark the 50 kilometre-per-hour limit.

Police spent part of the afternoon explaining to the media how a mobile photo unit gets an accurate reading of how fast westbound drivers on Grant are travelling. As Const. Ray Howes answered questions, the flash on the camera unit snapped several times, meaning vehicles going past were ticketed for speeding.

Critics of the program say about 500 people have contacted them to say they were wrongly ticketed because the unit is positioned too far from Grant to get an accurate reading.

The drivers, supported by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and Wise-Up Winnipeg, say the camera ticketed them seconds after they had turned onto Grant from Nathaniel and they could not have been driving above the speed limit. Many say they'll plead not guilty and fight their fines in court.

On the news last night they were interviewing the folks who reside in that neighbourhood, and they said speeding is a factor on their street. Who do you believe? Those who live there or those who got the ticket? Hmmmmmm

I have no doubt speeding is an issue on Grant. Remember that is a very dangerous stretch of highway what with access lanes, divided roadway and 50kmh speeds... /sarcasm

The cops were comparing their handheld directly aimed radar units at vehicles, absent of obstructions like signs and light standards. The mobile units are fixed, sweep across a roadway and include several signs.

The display by the police is quite disingenuous. Indeed, is it possible the mobile radar units have been FIXED since a huge and sudden increase of hundreds of complaints?

I'd like to see someone independently test the cops' set up.

That route was a 60KM limit, but the old Jewish residents of those apartment blocks got their lawyers (sons and daughters) to get the limit reduced.

No one was being killed at 60, but since the illuminated crosswalk gave the drivers a better shot at killing the old "buggers, they felt that a slower limit would give them a better chance of making it back from spending $1 on tea in the mall meeting!

Believe nothing the WPS say in defense of the photo enforcement program.



I was at the WPS demonstration today. It appears the WPS think that it's their job to deflect away from the issue and facts. Nothing they spoke to today was relevant to the specifc enforcement scenario stated as the issue. They know the scenario described and they clearly constructed their presentation to avoid it.

Many hundreds of complainants state that they turned on to Grant from Nathaniel and were flashed in a short distance from that turn. The favoured location of that mobile unit, where it has been most often including the last three days, was measured with a traffic-wheel yesterday at 62 meters from the corner of Nathaniel - and flashing vehicles approx 10 meters beyond that parked position. The constant claim from the complainants, as has been clearly stated, is that they did not reach those speeds in that short distance. In the first days of WPS reaction to this position - WPS stated that the road was hundreds of meters in length and that vehicles could easily attain those speeds. Completely irrelevant and off the point and they know it. To establish this misleading response further - they stationed a police officer with an in-line radar gun at the other end of that block to capture speeds approaching the end - declaring that vehicles were indeed speeding on that stretch. Another effort to avoid the clear point being made at the other end of the street. Then today - they positioned their demo vehicle in the middle of the block and described to media that it's 150 yards from the Nathaniel corner/turn and that vehicles could easily attain violation speed up to that distance. None of the demonstrations/misrepresentations have anything to do with the radar/speed scenario at issue with the mobile unit parked 62 meters from the Nathaniel corner.

They then went on to explain how the mobile radar system is set up to accomodate for the Cosine Effect resulting from shooting radar from across the road – which scenario they claim exists at this location a well as three othersin Winnipeg (which we are to presume has not resulted in similar complaints of exaggerated speeds, therefore no issues). Again they wilfully misrepresent what is at issue. This mobile enforcement location - and no other - has the unique contributing factor of having many large metallic objects in the path of radar. That is why they have never photo-radar enforced from this location since the program began - despite claiming to have photo-enforced there since 2003. They recanted that claim when it was shown by WiseUpWinnipeg this morning to be a lie. Their intention could only have been to infer that they have had no complaints in the past - therefore how could there be an issue now. In fact the complaints have all been over the last two months - since they began enforcing there for the first time.

Fact is, when shooting radar from an angle there is a refracted/sprayed reflection back to the radar unit, which doesn't occur with in-line, unobstructed radar. The reflected spray return encompasses and is interfered with by any object in the return path - and especially large metallic objects such as the light standards and fire hydrants seen in each of the violation photos submitted to WiseUpWinnipeg. This is a radar-use fundamental and an expert will attest, at the time of court, to what the WPS photo enforcement program surely already knows. That explains why they've never enforced their before this date. The question is who made the decision to do so now? Stay tuned

they know tha cash cow is coming to an end in 2012 when the contract is up, they are trying to get as much out of it as possible

say......wait just a second here, under what pretense are they using photo radar there? its only allowed in construction and school zones.... how does that place qualify as a school zone?

It's directly across the street from Grant Park High School.

I thought the people getting tickets are getting them going east on Grant? Its going West that they are getting nailed??? That even makes less fricken sense then them getting them by somehow accelerating fast enough going East.

The radar is on the north Grant service road, facing west.

hmm.. makes even less sense that people could get that speed going then... but.. actually makes me wonder even MORE if the zone that the radar vehicle is setup is actually school zone.. shouldn't the enforcement vehicle actually be in the zone in question?

I guess they argue it is. It is directly across the street.

It's got nothing to do with safety. It's all about bringing in money. Period.

Deank wrote:they know tha cash cow is coming to an end in 2012 when the contract is up, they are trying to get as much out of it as possible

I wouldn't be too confident that the contract will magically go away...it's been negotiated as we speak by the sounds of things:

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/editorials/analysis-not-even-on-radar-136054393.html