1. Team ONU Zach F., Tyler F., Natalie E., Derick E.

2.  The village of Schaumburg Illinois installed a camera at Woodfield Mall last November to film cars that were running red lights, using the footage to issue traffic citations.  In just 3 months the town issued $1 million in fines

3.  This caused an eruption of anger among the mall visitors many of which threatened to stop shopping at the mall unless the camera was turned off.  The town stopped monitoring right turns at that intersection in January.  These traffic cameras are becoming increasingly popular across the country.  New technology can catch speeders on the highway and using infrared cameras can read the license plate of offenders to issue citations.

4.  These cameras measure speed and take pictures of license plates.  The city can then view the images and mail tickets to offending drivers.

5.  Many drivers feel they are being trapped and are using interesting methods to get around these new devices.  Drivers are fighting back with pick axes, camera-blocking Santa Clauses, and spraying license plates with photo-blurring chemicals.

6.  Cities say that they improve safety by slowing down speedy drivers.  They also bring in revenue through tickets.  Also, the companies who sell cameras generate about $5000 per camera each month. The cameras are city funded, and tax payers defray the cost. Fair?

7.  In Arizona, Photoradarscam.com has been set up to protest the cameras.  The creator, Ryan Denke, opposes. "We're putting law enforcement in the hands of third parties.“  Protests against cameras have risen in tandem with the number installed.

8.  In the U.S., it is estimated that there are about 3000 of the red-light and speed cameras set up, up 500 from last year.  At the end of last year, about 345 jurisdictions were using the cameras.  Arizona-based American Traffic Solutions Inc., recently reported it had installed its 1,000th camera, with 500 more under contract in 140 cities and towns.

9.  City leaders say that traffic citations are for public safety and that the revenue is just a byproduct, but a study a study done in last month’s Journal Law and Economics concluded that traffic citations are governments means of revenue.

10.  The authors, Thomas Garrett of the St. Louis Fed and Gary Wagner of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, studied 14 years of traffic-ticket data from 96 counties in North Carolina. They found that when local- government revenue declines, police issue more tickets in the following year. Officials at the North Carolina Association of Chiefs of Police didn't respond to requests for comment.

11.  Cameras on highways to catch speeders are common in Europe but are just getting started in the US.  State Police have already put cameras on highways in Arizona, and in Phoenix, with $90 million in fines to help balance out the budget.

12.  Arizona legislature is discussing a bill to remove the cameras.  These cameras have issued 200,000 violation notices since September.  Newly developed products to help mask license plates from cameras are already illegal in certain states.

13.  Multiple websites are devoted to slipping past cameras.  Safety benefit studies on the cameras are inconclusive.