Rochester Red Light Camera Traffic Safety Program

The Rochester Police Department is deploying the latest technology to keep motorists and pedestrians safe.

As part of Rochester’s Red Light Photographic Enforcement Program, cameras are being installed at certain intersections to help enforce the vehicle and traffic law. The intersection locations were selected based upon accident data and video surveys conducted by Redflex Inc., the company that is managing the program for the City.

The program is scheduled to begin in October.

How Redlight Traffic Safety Cameras Work
The cameras will capture still and video images of vehicles in the act of a red-light violation, which will initiate the procedure to deliver a civil summons, or Notice of Violation, to the registered owner of the vehicle. The violation is a civil penalty and will not be reported to insurance companies or generate points on a driver’s license.

Evidence captured by the Red Light Cameras will be reviewed by the Rochester Police Department before the summons is delivered in the mail. Vehicle owners will have an opportunity to appeal the summons or pay the fine. The civil violation carries a $50 fine.

The program will begin with a 15 day warning period, when warning letters will be sent.




The cameras operate 24 hours a day and capture still photographs and video of every vehicle that runs a red light at the intersection. Cameras photograph only the vehicle and the license plate of vehicles running the red lights. No images of the driver or passengers are captured. Each set of images of a red light violation are reviewed and approved by the Rochester Police Department before a Notice of Violation is mailed to the registered owner of the vehicle.

A "Motion For Continuance" For That?

In the Louisiana case of Harrell v. Spencer, et al., defense counsel filed an "Unopposed Motion To Continue Trial Due To Conflict With The LSU Tiger's National Championship Game." In his supporting Memorandum, defense counsel states:

All counsel to this matter unequivocally agree that the presence of LSU in the aforementioned contest of pigskin skill unquestionably constitutes good grounds [under the statute - for continuing the trial]. In fact we have been unable through much imagination and hypothetical scenarios to think of a better reason.

The Motion was granted and the trial moved to February 11, 2008.  However, February 11th is George Washington's birthday. Really, you can't make this stuff up.  You can read the Motion, Memorandum and Order here

Google Me is Probably Already Bigger Than Facebook

The world discovered a little bit more about this mysterious "Google Me" project this week, when Googlers, including CEO Eric Schmidt opened up (just a little bit) at the company's Zeitgeist event.

The main thing that has been revealed is that Google Me will not be a new social network from Google to try and compete with Facebook, but rather a "social layer" added to existing Google products. If you think about it, this strategy makes more sense, as Google already has many of the features of a great social network in its various properties. As I've said over and over again, integration among these is the key, and "Google Me" just might turn out to be that integration that connects Google's offerings, effectively making Google itself the social network.

While video is also increasing, photos were responsible for most of Facebook's initial growth. In fact Facebook Photos now has more market share than all the competitors combined (including Google-owned Picasa). Google also clearly has another massive weapon in their arsenal: YouTube. The video site is by far the most popular of all video sites in the world.  YouTube is easily the greatest asset Google has in terms of social media. You may recall that YouTube began requiring all users to have a Google account. No coincidence.

So let's compare Google (as one big social network) to Facebook, feature by feature.

Facebook has the news feed. Google is reportedly working on the activity stream. Facebook has chat. Google does too (text, voice, and video). Facebook has photos. Google does too, with Picasa Web Albums and various other complementary photo-related offerings. Facebook has videos. Google has YouTube (and Google Video). Facebook has notes. Google has Blogger. Facebook has Pages. Google has Profiles.  Google has email. Facebook may at some point (MySpace just added it last year). Facebook has games. Google is working on getting more. Facebook has news publications setting up Pages. Google has Google News. Facebook has the Open Graph. Google has search (all kinds of search...and maps).

Facebook has Facebook Ads. Google has AdWords, AdSense, and Doubleclick. Facebook has applications. Google has Google Apps, the Apps Marketplace, Android, the Android Marketplace, Chrome, Chrome OS, the Chrome Web Store, Google TV which will support Android apps and web apps. Google is also trying to get a music service off the ground.  And let's not forget Google Calendar and Google Reader - two very user-personalized products.

People have often talked about Google's "social media failures", but Google just may have the biggest social network of all but it's all in the integration. Google just needs to make it happen in a way that people can clearly see it all come together and actually use it.

Back to School: Online Safety

It's hard enough to supervise your kid's online activities at home, by setting and enforcing rules such as no chatting and no instant-messaging people you don't know.  What about their online safety at school?

Statistically, kids are safer online at school than at home. They are often better supervised at school, as someone usually oversees all their online activities by watching the PCs or using monitoring technology. Also, most children have limited school Internet access; the less time they spend online, the less likely they are to be drawn into something harmful.

Another key factor is the expertise of school librarians and media specialists. One of them told me that you can always tell when students are surfing where they shouldn't be: Other kids gather around to see what's on the screen. It's rarely pornography; more often it's a gory site, or one that targets a student. Librarians can usually find sites that threaten specific children, by watching for high traffic to little-known sites (which kids find by word of mouth).

Many schools block instant messaging and chat. Since most Internet sexual predators entice children through these means, this alone makes your child much safer. Still, make sure that the school and its board have effective policies in place to deal with a variety of cyberrisks.

Ask if the school has an acceptable-use policy. It should be signed both by students and parents, and clearly state the rules, the consequences of violating them, and how to report problems. Find out what happens if a parent refuses to sign; too many schools let the student go online anyway, feeling it's needed for their education.

Ask about privacy. Does the school have a Web site? Does it include the school directory or students' personal information? Student photos? (Pictures should show groups of four or more students and not give their names.) Does the school let students fill out forms online or register at Web sites? COPPA (the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) bars Web sites from letting preteens use interactive communications (chat, IM, discussion boards, e-mail) or from collecting personally identifiable information from them without parental permission.

Kids can be inventive in finding ways to abuse the Internet and each other. But if parents, teachers, students, library personnel, safety officers, and school officials and boards work together, we'll keep making progress in ensuring that students' online experience is as safe as possible.