(Source: Houston.culturemap.com)

Anti-big brother Houstonians rejoiced when a referendum passed last November to take down the city’s network of red light cameras. Nearly six months later, data collected by the camera service provider, Phoenix-based ATS, suggests that citizens’ temporarily cautious attitude towards red lights has already reversed.

ATS analyzed 10 high-traffic intersections in different parts of the city that had seen noticeably decreases in violations when the cameras were installed, but have now suffered unprecedented increases. For example, the westbound intersection of Richmond Avenue and Hillcroft Avenue dipped from 5,628 violations in 2009 to 2,532 in 2010 — only to rocket back up to 3,799 in the first few months of 2011.

Editors Note:  This is yet another study that bolsters the need for installing the enforcement devices at intersections.   Oh well, there is always a counter to this and wait till someone surfaces with a new study showing how the removal of these devices has made life a lot better for poor Houstonians.

(Sources: Detroit News, Detroit Free press)

After pulling over a reportedly stolen car early Wednesday morning, police discovered that the driver, Renee Lashon Beavers, 33, of Detroit, had been issued 45 license suspensions from the Michigan Secretary of State.

Image Courtesy: Detroit Free Press - Photo of Renee Lashon Beavers

“Actually, she has never had a driver’s license from us,” said SOS spokesman Fred Woodhams. “She definitely has a record with us, but we show that she’s never had a license.”

Renee Lashon Beavers had an open 24-ounce container of cold beer on her lap when a Ferndale police officer spotted the stolen car eastbound on 8 Mile near Livernois just after midnight, Lt. William Wilson said today.

She told investigators she bought the green 1999 Dodge Stratus from another woman at a shelter in Adrian for $1,000. And she took it anyway after the woman demanded another $400, she told police, Wilson said.

Beavers’ record with the SOS stretches back to 1999 and has been cited at least 45 times over the last 10 years in Highland Park, Southfield and Detroit for a wide range of traffic violations —  driving under the influence of liquor, driving without license or insurance, failure to use seat belts, careless driving, failure to obey a traffic device, violation of child restraint laws and more — but was never was arrested until this week, according to a Michigan Secretary of State spokesman.

Police plan to charge her with driving with a suspended license and with an open container of alcohol in a vehicle.

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