Anyone who pays attention to college or pro sports has seen a good “point shaving” scandal or two.

With all the big money to be made in gambling, players, coaches and even refs can be easily persuaded to manipulate the outcome of a game in favor of certain bookmakers. This is especially easy when the subject (usually a player) is having money troubles.

Politicians have been introduced to a similar pursuit by Redflex and American Traffic Solutions. Reducing yellow light durations by mere fractions of a second means millions more dollars are extracted from unsuspecting motorists approaching red light scamera intersections.

This “Yellow Light Shaving” has occurred all over the country, from Arizona to New York City.

The latest example has been uncovered by a network affiliate station in Tampa Bay, in quite a thorough investigation. By their estimates, Yellow Light Shaving has produced $50 Million more in citations to drivers in Florida.

The worst part is that the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) was instructing cities and towns to shorten yellow lights, which make intersections much more dangerous.

The emails recovered by the reporter at WTSP (Tampa) clearly show that FDOT employees were instructing cities to shave time off yellow lights to increase revenue, safety be damned.

Also included in the report are the many other locations in Florida where yellow lights were shortened and the politicians who benefit financially from American Traffic Solutions raking in the money from these intersections.

Things got ugly in an Arizona Transportation committee hearing yesterday, where a lobbyist openly mocked a citizens’ initiative.

Subsequent research has tied the lobbyist for American Traffic Solutions to the committee chair, Rep Karen Fann (R - 1).

Fann talked members of her committee into voting against sending a bill to ban Redflex and American Traffic Solutions cameras to the floor of the House for debate. The committee process is usually reserved for vetting bills for their worthiness for floor debate. But Fann, whose business is making highway barricades, “roadblocked” it.

The bill in question is less than one page and bans unmanned ticketing devices, in the same fashion that 15 other states have done to date. [text of HB 2579]

Activists are accusing Fann of making a mockery of the committee process and allowing debate to drag on while flaunting  the Arizona constitution [read more]

American Traffic Solutions could easily have another lawsuit on their hands after putting their employee in danger by placing him in an obviously dangerous roadside position, trapped inside a photo radar van.

You’d think the government corporate welfare goons at ATS would have learned from Redflex and the danger of having employees sitting in live freeway photo radar vans [lawsuit], but obviously the safety of rank and file employees doesn’t factor into their revenue model.

From the article in AZStarnet.com, it was clear that the ATS employee was sitting inside the van during a “revenue extraction” shift which involves flashing drivers who pass by when the unreliable radar system indicates a traffic violation. [story]

The motorist who smashed into the ATS van was allegedly intoxicated. This brings up another constant failure of so-called photo enforcement - if the city of Tucson had instead placed a patrol officer on this road, he could have been able to stop a possible drunk driving fatality, while the scamera van merely served as an incredibly dangerous hazard.

This unfortunate situation clearly articulates the most dangerous and potentially fatal flaws of photo radar vans, manned and unmanned.

It’s no secret that executives at American Traffic Solutions (ATS) and Redflex hate each other. One sued the other over the freeway speed camera contract with the state of Arizona. Then the other counter-sued. It was quite amusing for those who were able to witness the proceedings and both companies were repeatedly reprimanded by the judge for their frivolous arguments.

ATS CEO Jim Tuton likes to brag that he served as mentor for current Redflex CEO Karen Finley. The company that is now called Redflex was actually started by Tuton and sold. Shortly thereafter he picked right back up in the scamera business, re-launching ATS to compete with his old organization.

Both Redflex and ATS have lost at the ballot box, several times over in the last 4-5 years. Usually it’s one or the other that are fighting the citizens to keep their flashing boxes mounted in their streets and intersections. In one case in 2012, they have pooled massive resources to beat a ballot measure in Murietta, CA.

They will both lose at the ballot box again today.

Murietta’s “Initiative N” would ban the $490 automated tickets sent out by ATS and scrap the cameras. The fight over this initiative has become so contentious that Redflex felt it necessary to jump in and donate $25,000 to a front group opposing the ban. [source]

The Press Enterprise from nearby Riverside, CA reports: 

In filings over the past week or so, Safe Streets for Murrieta reported receiving $105,000 in contributions from two camera companies. Arizona-based American Traffic Solutions, which has a contract to provide red-light cameras to Murrieta, has given $80,000 to the committee.

The committee also reported a $25,000 donation from another Arizona-based camera company: Redflex Traffic Systems, Inc. of Phoenix. Redflex does not have a contract with Murrieta.

The committee reported it had already spent $50,000 by Oct. 20. It made a late filing this week, reporting an additional $55,000 contribution from ATS.

It’s looking like the $1,000 that the supports of the ban have spent on yard signs is going to be more than enough to defeat this massive astro-turfy push by ATS and Redflex.

This isn’t the first time the two vendors have teamed up. They also fund the front group Red Means Stop. However, it has been a while since the two have so publicly joined resources to make a stink.