Redlight Camera Operator Arrested For Scam Involving Shortening Yellow Light Timing

from the it's-about-money,-not-safety dept

We already know that at least six US cities have been found to have illegally reduced the timing on yellow lights at intersections where red light cameras were installed. However, over in Italy things have gone even further, with the guy behind one red light camera system now getting arrested for being a part of a scam involving decreasing the time on yellow lights from the required 5 seconds to 3 seconds. Apparently a bunch of police officers and municipal government employees are under investigation as well -- though it was a suspicious police chief questioning why they were seeing so many red light offenders, that resulted in the scam unraveling.
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Filed Under: italy, red light cameras, scams


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  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Feb 2009 @ 10:44am

    Copyrighted?

    Did the operator copyrighted the way he changed timing?

    lol. Good to see non-copyright related stuff on this site:)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      ehrichweiss, 2 Feb 2009 @ 10:47am

      Re: Copyrighted?

      One might ask why you're even here if you're looking for something that doesn't have to do with copyrights, trademarks or patents. There's some of that but not a lot.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 2 Feb 2009 @ 10:59am

        Re: Re: Copyrighted?

        You are right. I should remove techdirt from my google homepage.

        Any of you know other good tech related discussion forums that can be added to google homepage?

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 2 Feb 2009 @ 11:11am

          Re: Re: Re: Copyrighted?

          "You are right. I should remove techdirt from my google homepage."

          I bet you'll still come here, just to have something to complain about.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            Anonymous Coward, 2 Feb 2009 @ 11:26am

            Re: Re: Re: Re: Copyrighted?

            Joys of anonymous bitching:)

            I do like most of the things about this site. Interface, commenting system, so on..... It is just that there is too much discussion about copyright (I know I shouldnt be complaining and I should move on to some other forum. I will.)

            What I have understood from the discussions about copyright:
            1. Yes, business can profit without copyright (everyday mike provides new examples)
            2. RIAA/MPAA etc go overboard protecting copyright, results= mostly counter-productive

            What more?

            link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            You Clever Dog, 2 Feb 2009 @ 12:52pm

            Re: Re: Re: Re: Copyrighted?

            I bet you'll still come here, just to have something to complain about.

            I see what you did thar.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          TheTall, 2 Feb 2009 @ 12:19pm

          Re: Re: Re: Copyrighted?

          Add a tab to your Google page, name it "Tech News" and leave the "I'm feeling lucky. Automatically add stuff based on the tab name." checkbox checked.
          You'll have a lot of new tech news

          link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 2 Feb 2009 @ 12:52pm

        Re: Re: Copyrighted?

        No joke. Given the focus of the site (tech and economics) its on natural for it to be all about copyright and patents these days. Though I too admit its a change of pace that this story isn't about one of those.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Feb 2009 @ 10:53am

    It is always about the money.

    BTW, there is a new Blackberry firmware coming out and early reports show that it significantly speeds things up.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    maniac in a speedo, 2 Feb 2009 @ 11:31am

    Red light. Red light. Green light! Red light!

    Saw you! You're out.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Feb 2009 @ 11:44am

    sure this may work for red light operators in Italy, but it would never work for indie musicians in North America

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Bamber, 2 Feb 2009 @ 11:53am

    Seems easy enough to prove.

    You'd think it would be straightforward enough to go stand out by the monitored intersection with a stopwatch... if the yellow duration is too short, time for class action lawsuit.

    I like traffic lights,
    I like traffic lights,
    I like traffic lights,
    Although my name's not Bamber.
    I like traffic lights,
    I like traffic lights,
    I like traffic lights,
    I...Oh God!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    NullOp, 2 Feb 2009 @ 12:06pm

    Red Light Scam

    Well I hope those guys in Italy patented the idea of decreasing yellow light time to increase revenue! If they didn't someone will steal it....

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Robert, 2 Feb 2009 @ 12:15pm

    Traffic lights && copyright law = no difference

    Why did everyone overlook the fact that no traffic lights are best, just like Tecghdirt's view of copyright laws?

    Such as depicted in numerous articles such as: http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0127/p01s03-woeu.html

    :-)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    jon, 2 Feb 2009 @ 12:49pm

    driving in Italy

    Now I am confused. I admit it has been 15 years since I drove in Italy, and even then it was southern Italy, but the one thing I remember about it was that obeying traffic lights was totally optional. A red light simply meant that you should be a little more careful crossing the intersection because oncoming traffic has the green light and may not stop for you. Has driving in Italy changed that much?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Ryan, 2 Feb 2009 @ 4:10pm

    I just found www.shortyellowlights.com and thought I'd share.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Feb 2009 @ 6:19pm

    Just raise the taxes

    Wouldn't it be more efficient to just raise taxes instead of all the jumping thru hoops and subterfudge ?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 2 Feb 2009 @ 10:54pm

      Re: Just raise the taxes

      Wouldn't it be more efficient to just raise taxes instead of all the jumping thru hoops and subterfudge ?

      But wouldn't the voters know what you were up to then?

      link to this | view in chronology ]


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