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Posted on 03/15/2009 12:35:41 PM PDT by george76
CLIVE, Iowa - Minutes after Neel Manglik illegally turned right on a red light in the Des Moines suburb of Clive, a video popped up on a computer at an office park outside Scottsdale, Ariz.
The $75 citation arrived in the mail weeks later, making Manglik one of the millions of Americans ticketed as part of a growing industry that is making handsome profits for companies that operate video cameras at busy intersections throughout the nation.
As more cities sign up and others invest their profits into more cameras, those companies expect increased revenue for years to come.
What's less clear is whether the cameras improve safety. While studies show fewer T-bone crashes at lights with cameras and fewer drivers running red lights, the number of rear-end crashes increases.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Hick and friends love catching their citizens for some extra revenue.
There are these unfortunate constitutional issues of a mail in bill from a private company from another state.
No sworn officer, no proof of receipt of this bill, etc.
There are yellow minimums plus a lawyer might argue some constitutional issues on this.
Maybe a new paintball sport.....
That’s great! What are the laws regarding it?
I’ve read stories of kids photographing the plates of teachers, then printing copies of the plates and putting them on a similar make and model of car, and intentionally running a light. Guess who gets the ticket?
Maybe if we start doing the same for our municipal “leaders” they will get the message....
I see.
Isn’t that wrong, as you can’t indict or charge someone without proof. . .like in the case of cameras recording a crime/violation and not actually recording who did the driving.
It is the state that has to prove you committed the violation/crime, not the other way around, otherwise our whole concept of innocent until proven guilty is thrown out.
This stinks on so many levels.
You are absolutely correct, on all counts.
/sarc
I see some higher court appeals in the future and (hopefully) this whole thing thrown out.
When they had the photo radar in Anchorage, the camera needed a picture of the drivers face or they couldn’t issue a ticket. The ywould mail you the photo of your car and of you.
2 things happened to get rid of the photo radar. First, it was discovered that if you challenged the case, the company had to send the attendant out to defend the case, since they were too valuable collecting revenue that never happened, which led to everybody contesting them and it bogged the courts down to a crawl, the judges in charge basically threw all the photo radar cases out . Then the people of Anchorage got an initiative on the ballot making photo radar illegal, which passed overwhelmingly, and the company took their ball and sulked off back to Phoenix.
If the city or state has direct iniative available, this is a no brainer. Get the petitions out and get started. What better way to get the direct democracy drive going than a gimmee like this one?
I’m glad these things haven’t infested the Augusta area yet.
Read the article, it’s even worse. With most of the operators, half the ticket revenue goes to them and only a small percentage ultimately drops into the government’s general fund.
Unfortunately, many people are mailing in checks and governments are making big money without the expense of hiring / training actual officers of the law.
The cameras take a picture of the windshield and they compare the driver’s face to the license photo. If I’m ever at risk of violating a red light camera I flip down my sunvisor and stick my face behind it, just in case. I know it’s not safe and I’ve only had to use that technique twice, but it works. And twins can appear in court and ask the “prosecution” to prove which one of them was the driver. If there’s doubt, the case must be dropped.
Fight it and ask the judge to allow you to subpoena all photographic records of your incident. If the car behind was close enough - and shows up in a photo - the judge may see your point and find in your favor. Probably not, but maybe. It never hurts to try.
There likely is a large slush fund to reward and re-elect their political pals.
Free private plane rides for vacation junkets, etc.
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