In The News

While some cities have lost money on the controversial red-light cameras, others are clearly generating large sums of revenue.

The red light camera located at Danieldale Road and U.S. Highway 67 in Duncanville, Texas tops the list of money makers. The cameras at that intersection issued more than 19,000 citations and generated more than $1 million in a one-year span. Meanwhile, the cameras located at the intersection of Cooper Street and Spur 303 in Arlington, Texas generated more than $943,000 in revenue for the city of Arlington. Of the top 10 money-making cameras in North Texas, three are in Duncanville. Dallas, Richardson, Richland Hills and Irving also made an appearance on the top 10.

The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit news Web site, analyzed red-light cameras across the state from July 1, 2008 to June 20, 2009. To view those results, go to: http://www.texastribune.org/library/data/red-light-cameras/

The Controversy

In addition to the anger some people have because over the use of red light cameras to generate revenue, and that the belief that some red light cameras may contribute to the cause of accidents when drivers slam on their brakes to avoid being issued a ticket from a red light camera, the companies that operate these red light cameras have come under fire for not being operated in a legal fashion under Texas law.

Dallas attorney Lloyd Ward started the fight when he sued ACS, one of the largest red light camera companies after he received a ticket as a result of a red light camera operated by ACS. Mr. Ward discovered that ACS and two other red light camera companies, ATS and Redflex were all in violation of Texas law because they did not have an occupational license as required by the Texas Occupational Code. Judge Craig Smith (192^nd District Court of Dallas County, Texas) agreed and issued a ruling that ACS was operating without a license.
Texas Occupation Code Section 1702.101 states that “Unless the person holds a license as an investigations company, a person may not… offer to perform the services of an investigations company. A person acts as an investigations company for the purposes of this chapter if the person engages in the business of obtaining or furnishing… information related to… crime or wrongs done; or… engages in the business of securing… evidence for use before a court, board, officer, or investigating committee… furnishing information includes information obtained or furnished through the review and analysis of, and the investigation into the content of, computer-based data not available to the public.”

On the heels of Ward’s victory, two new cases were filed in federal court against two different vendors. The plaintiffs in Steven Bell, Alexis and Jacqueline Monrreal, individually and on behalf of others similarly situated v. American Traffic Solutions, Inc., filed suit in Dallas. They claim that American Traffic Solutions failed to obtain the appropriate license as a private investigator in Texas. The plaintiffs received notices of red light violations from Irving and Arlington, respectively. Importantly, the pleadings in the case seek to certify a class action lawsuit on behalf of everyone who has ever received a notice of violation from those cities, and seeks actual damages in the amount of the tickets each plaintiff received, attorneys’ fees, plus $3 million in punitive damages. The same attorney filed an essentially identical suit in federal court in Sherman, Steven Bell, TXPS, Inc., and Mohammed Al Musa on behalf of others similarly situated v. Redflex Traffic Systems, Inc. That case involves notices of violation issued by Plano and Duncanville.

On March 26, 2009, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas dismissed a lawsuit claiming that red-light camera vendors were required to obtain a private investigator’s license to operate in the State of Texas. An identical case was filed against American Traffic Solutions, Inc. (ATS) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. In dismissing the case with prejudice, United States District Judge Michael H. Schneider said the plaintiffs do not have standing to argue that a private investigator’s license is required for vendors to operate camera programs or to address the Texas Legislature’s authorization of the use of red-light cameras by local governments.

Future controversies of red light cameras are quickly resolving themselves as these red light camera companies are taking steps to get the required licensing to make sure that the millions of dollars being generated by these cameras is not being jeopardized.

London, England – The Care Quality Commission, the independent NHS inspectorate published findings which said it had “lost confidence” in the management of the trust, after repeated requests to address the problems had failed to deliver results. It is the second time in six months that a foundation trust, a flagship NHS medical institution granted control of its own finances on the strength of its performance, has been found to be delivering sub-standard care suspected of causing hundreds of deaths. Analysis of the hospital board of directors’ meeting minutes suggests it spent little time discussing and challenging information in relation to poor quality of care for patients.

Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, a London, England hospital was cited for poor standards of care at an accident and emergency unit in one of that country’s flagship hospitals. According to an NHS investigation, those poor standards may have contributed to unnecessary deaths of over 400 patients. The investigation also found dirty equipment and an absence of leadership contributed to a death rate almost 40 per cent above the national average. Among the specific problems cited in the report were:

• The unit had blood stains on the floor,
• dirty curtains,
• stinking mattresses, some stained with blood
• soiled equipment,
• nurses who failed to monitor, feed and give drugs to patients correctly; and
• a rate of pressure sores almost twice the national average. Instead of the national four-hour maximum waiting time for A&E, the trust was operating a 10-hour waiting time,
• inadequate arrangements for children,
• breaches of infection control, and
• poor leadership.

In March, the Healthcare Commission – the CQC’s predecessor – exposed a similar scandal at Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, where monitoring of mortality rates showed between 400 and 1,200 more deaths had occurred than the national average in the three years to 2007-08.

Notifications to 23 employees in Arkansas, California, Delaware, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon, Oklahoma, Virginia and Washington as well as at MADD’s national headquarters in Irving are expected this week. MADD started the year with 397 employees nationwide. Since then it has eliminated 55 staff positions, or nearly 14 percent of its work force.

Private donations, government grants and corporate sponsorships to MADD National dropped between 15 percent and 20 percent to $43 million last year, said MADD National Chief Operating Officer Debbie Weir. Weir said the current economy has made it especially difficult to raise money for MADD, especially in states with high unemployment rates. “Donors really have to look at their disposable income and as a result, giving is less.”

Weir said that MADD will continue to serve people in all 50 states regardless of whether states have paid employees. Volunteers will pick up the slack in the affected states, helping to push an agenda that includes targeting underage drinking and stronger seat belt laws, she said.

MADD celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2005. Last year, MADD provided grief counseling, court counseling and financial counseling to more than 55,000 people and their families. With advocates in more than 300 communities, MADD lobbies against drinking and driving to save lives. It helped persuade Congress to raise the drinking age to 21 and helped reduce the number of traffic fatalities attributed to drunken driving. It also claims to have helped save more than 300,000 lives.

We would like to encourage people to donate to MADD as there is no doubt that MADD has helped to save lives and to bring attention to the problem of drinking and driving all across America.

A purse thief was arrested in Fort Worth after he offered to sell gas at half-price to undercover police officers. Police say that the man had used credit cards that were stolen from an elderly woman to purchase the gas. The suspect made the half-price offer to two undercover narcotics detectives who happened to be filling up their unmarked car, police said.

The credit cards were stolen from Erma Mathis (73) of Arlington while she was shopping at her neighborhood grocery store. She believes that her purse was stolen from her grocery cart as she was shopping.

Shortly thereafter, at a gas station on East Lancaster Street, two Fort Worth narcotics officers in plain clothes were filling up their car, when Michael Hall (25) made an unusual offer: Gas for half-price. “We were like, ‘What do you mean?'” the officer said. “He was like, ‘Pull up behind the car. Half-priced gas!'”

Michael Hall was arrested and found to be in possession of Mrs. Mathis’ credit card and driver’s license, police said. He faces a charge of credit card abuse, but her purse and glasses are still missing. She said she assumes the thief threw the items away before he was arrested.

Sgt. Chad Mahaffey of the Fort Worth police department praised the undercover police officers for the arrest. The identity of the officers has not been released since they are undercover, but we hope they are recognized by the department for their quick thinking efforts.

Dallas bicyclists be warned, effective immediately, the Dallas Police Department has been advised by the City Attorney to issue tickets to bicycle riders who are not wearing a helmet. Those tickets carry a fine up to $200.00 per ticket. This directive is a reversal of a June, 2009 directive from the city attorney that had ordered officers not to enforcing the law to avoid potential lawsuits.

According to American College of Emergency Physicians, the publicity surrounding the death of actress Natasha Richardson, who died suddenly from a head injury after a fall has triggered a 73 percent increase in emergency room visits for head trauma. In the month following her death, the number of patients seen by doctors in 19 urban, suburban, and rural emergency rooms in New York and New Jersey in March 2009 rose dramatically. However, when the media stories regarding the actress’ death began to wane, the number of emergency room visits for head trauma returned to the pre-March 2009 levels.

“The study quantified what we already knew: when the media make people more aware of a disease process, they get scared and come to the emergency room,” Brian Walsh of Morristown Memorial Hospital said. In this case, “the media played up the ‘sudden death syndrome’ aspect – the idea that you can have a minor fall, look great afterwards, and suddenly die.” Likewise, media campaigns that increase knowledge by encouraging people to go to an emergency room if, for example, they show signs of a stroke or heart attack, can be helpful. However, in the case of of patients who visited the emergency room concerned about head trauma, only 2 or 3 percent of those had a significant injury. Mr. Walsh also reflected on the current reports of the swine flu. “Every time someone dies, we get a bump in visits. But most people aren’t dying from it, and everyone is paranoid. The extra knowledge is making them scared.”