If you paid a red light camera ticket in California at some time in the past several years, you might have been taken for a ride.Reflex Traffic Systems, which supplies cities worldwide with red light cameras, has been riddled with scandal for the last couple of years. From charges of manipulating signal timing and accident data to bribery and federal fraud and corruption charges, it’s been found that this Australian based company, headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, is pretty much anything but reliable.
Illegal Cameras
In 2009, it was declared that the Reflex camera systems in Santa Ana and San Mateo, CA violated California state laws. In 2010, Reflex actually admitted in a lawsuit against them that their cameras were not FCC certified until 2008, despite earlier claims to the contrary. That means every single ticket issued due to those cameras between 1997 and 2008 could be questioned. The amount of money illegally generated for California municipalities by those cameras is unfathomable.California isn’t the only U.S. state to be affected by problems with Reflex. In 2013, the city of Chicago, Illinois found itself in hot water along with Reflex in a bribery scandal encompassing millions of dollars. As part of their contract with the city of Denver, Colorado, Reflex was to deliver data regarding their cameras’ effectiveness – data which Reflex never delivered. They didn’t just leave some of it out of their reports; they never delivered any data at all!
Unethical Behaviors
It’s amazing the company is even still in business, especially after allegations made in early 2014 by one of its former executives regarding the company’s regular practice of using bribery in its quest for securing new contracts. According to Aaron Rosenberg, former nationwide lead salesman for Reflex Traffic Systems of Phoenix, bribes and gifts were given to dozens of municipal officials in 13 different states, including California, along with Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Washington.
Financial Woes
Despite the problems the company was experiencing, Reflex actually turned down a buyout offer in 2011 made by Macquarie Bank, which was willing to pay $2.75 a share for the company. By the end of September 2015, Reflex’s stocks had plummeted to 24 cents per share, and as of December 24, 2015 it was trading at a whopping 35 cents per share.Granted, Reflex Traffic Systems isn’t the only provider of red light cameras in California, but some of their competitors aren’t much better when it comes to the reliability of their product.
Let Us Fight That California Red Light Camera Ticket For You
So, what does all this mean, in realistic terms, for you as a driver in California? It means that if you receive a ticket from one of the thousands of red light cameras throughout the state, you need to hire a traffic ticket expert like those at TicketSnipers to fight that ticket for you. Don’t just hand over your hard earned cash to a municipal government because a piece of technology provided by an unscrupulous corporation says you should. Hand over that ticket to TicketSnipers and put the power of the real law to work for you.