Posted on 08/11/2005 7:18:45 PM PDT by dila813
EVERY fine issued by speed cameras could be invalid, after the Roads and Traffic Authority admitted yesterday it could not prove the authenticity of the pictures they take. In a double blow to the RTA, The Daily Telegraph can also reveal that Sydney Harbour Tunnel cameras monitoring toll cheats have been switched off for at least three years - and no penalties handed out.
The revelation came as Sydney magistrate Lawrence Lawson threw out a speeding case after the RTA said it had no evidence that an image from a camera had not been doctored.
Mr Lawson had adjourned the case in June, giving the RTA eight weeks to produce an expert to prove pictures from a speed camera on Carlingford Rd, Epping, had not been altered after they were taken.
He said it was a matter of public interest and the RTA should be given time to back up its case.
But RTA lawyers yesterday told Hornsby Local Court they could not find an expert and the case was thrown out, with $3300 in legal costs awarded to the motorist, a man allegedly caught speeding through a school zone on November 18 last year.
Lawyer Dennis Miralis, who has won several high-profile cases against the RTA involving speeding motorists, said the case proved a public inquiry into speed cameras was desperately needed.
"The integrity of all speed camera offences has been thrown into serious doubt and it appears that the RTA is unable to prove any contested speed camera matter because of a lack of admissible evidence," Mr Miralis said.
The case revolved around the integrity of a mathematical MD5 algorithm published on each picture and used as a security measure to prove pictures have not been doctored after they have been taken.
Mr Miralis argued that the RTA had to prove the algorithm it used was accurate and could not be tampered with. He said: "It is our understanding that since speed cameras were introduced approximately 15 years ago on NSW roads, not one single speed camera photograph has been capable of proving an offence."
The NSW Law Society said the judgment could "open the doors" for other drivers caught by speed cameras to mount the same defence.
You can always find a Luddite somewhere.
I'm siding with the luddites here. Anything to make these cameras more expensive and less effecient to operate.
Heck I'd support the widespread belief that these things stole the soul of those they photographed and having the populace smash the with crude implements of destruction.
But thats just me.
I drove from northern NJ down to DC last week, and spent a good portion of the trip on the NJ Turnpike. It is a toll road and I used the EZ Pass system. (For those of you in less taxing parts of the country, EZ Pass is a transponder you affix to your windshield which automatically deducts the amount of the tolls from your account, obviating the need to wait in line to pay with cash.)
EZ Pass records the time and entrance point onto the Turnpike, and the time and exit point, with the amount charged being roughly proportional to the distance traveled. It would be an easy accounting function to compute the average rate of speed of the driver. Assuming one didn't stop for lunch or a potty trip, getting on the Turnpike at noon and getting off at 1 pm, while covering a distance of 80 miles, might be used as evidence that you were exceeding the 65 mph limit. They could just add your $250 speeding ticket to the amount of the tolls. (I'm not giving anyone ideas--I read about this potential a while back.) Scary, no?
Although they'd still have to prove who was driving. Oh yeah, the dreaded camera could get put into the mix.
Another revenue enhancement scheme bites the dust. Hallelujah!!
But thats just me.
Long Winded Rant ModeTM ON:
This brings to mind a quote from humor columnist Dave Barry:
"...it served me right when the two alert police officers fired up their siren, pulled me over, and pointed out that my car's registration had expired. I had not realized this, and as you can imagine I felt like quite the renegade outlaw as one of the officers painstakingly wrote out my ticket, standing well to the side of the road so as to avoid getting hit by the steady stream of passing unlicensed and uninsured motorists driving their stolen cars with their left hands so their right hands would be free to keep their pit bulls from spilling their cocaine all over their machine guns."
"Not that I am bitter."
Cheers!
Hey, if the cops had to actually spend their time chasing crack dealers with machineguns, they might like, get, like <<< shudder... quake... >>> SHOT at, or something.
I mean, wouldn't YOU rather spend your time collecting "Revenue" from Dudley Dooright, than trying to take Jose Manuel Rodriguez "El Butcher" Domingo Garcia's machinegun and cocaine away from him?
I thought so...
LOL
Has Dave Barry ever written anything that was not superb ?
If so I haven't seen it yet.
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