This is as much a rant as it is an oppinion question.

In our area as in many others, municipal governments have been instaling "red light cameras." for those who dont know they are an elaborate camera at an intersection that identifies and photgraphs the license plate of cars that slip through the intersection after the light has turned red.A ticket is sent to you in the mail and everybody is happy.One intersection near where I live resulted in over two hundred thousand dollars in tickets in its first month.

In addition to this development, local, county and state police have been instructed that "there are no more warnings.If you stop someone you will issue a ticket." I got stopped and ticketed for five over in a 35 MPH zone. As a professional driver I spend more time and put on more miles on the highways of a six county area in a day than most people do in a month.Over the last seven or eight months it has become apperant....no...obvious that the local, county and state police have been dramaticly stepping up thier traffic enforcement efforts.To the point that in places that used to see one car doing traffic enforcement once or twice a week will now see five or six cars doing it every day.And many of them will be there all day, not just at certain times.

Here is the question. We all fudge alittle with our speed when we drive.I dont care who you are or what you do for a living...we all push the needle alittle bit higher than its supposed to go.The police are especialy bad about this and are always more than willing to travel much faster than the posted speed limit even when I end up seeing the same police car pulled up to a resturaunt five minuets later.Much of the increased enforcement is a result of buget problems and by issuing tickets the police can help offset some of thier cost by raking in money on tickets.The five minuets I spent pulled over grossed the county $118.00. Not a bad five minuet haul. One county police officer I passed had pulled over two cars within five hundred yards of eachother just a few minuets appart. It would be safe to assume that a good hiding spot and a diligent cop can rake in over a thousand dollars an hour if he plays things right. So...the question is...is it fair for law enforcement to use this as nothing more than a revenue enhancement measure having little or nothing to do with actual "public safety?"

Knowing full well that in addition to getting a ticket and having to pay a fine, you will likely spend the next three years paying higher insurance premiums to our corperate masters.In our state car insurance is required by law.If you fail to produce proof of insurance the fine is almost five hundred dollars.This puts, in my oppinion, the police in the position of corperate enforcers.Making sure that we all pay our dues to one of several insurance corperations "or else!" Does any of this seem just slightly wrong to anyone else here?

 

This wasn't a problem before Republicans took over state houses in the 90s.

Stop voting Republican.

 

No.

Don't break into houses and you won't be arrested for burglary.

Don't pull a gun on people and steal their money and you won't be arrested for armed robbvery.

Stop breaking the traffic laws, and you won't get tickets.

Simple.

 

And don't try to argue that "well they did it too!" is a good defence. That doesn't pass muster in a six-year-old, and it's laughable to see an adult trying to use it. If everyone breaks the speeding laws, then everyone should pay the fine. You included.

 

Really? Are you serious? I'm not espousing a political party, I'm just wondering how you manage to turn EVERYTHING into a political discussion...ROFL

 

Tim929, don't run a red light and you wont get done...easy peasy.

I would have thought that you being a professional driver you'd appreciate the fuckwits that try to run a red light getting stung, I imagine you've seen some horriffic T-bone accidents in your time.

 

A few weeks ago I turned left at one of those cameras. It turns out that the light turned red .27 second before I got into the intersection. That's two hundredths of a second past a quarter second. My speed was a slow 17 mph but that turn cost me $496 for making a left turn when the light was red. First ticket in over 10 years.

 

Absolutely! It's true. There was this Conservative Republican revolution in the 1990s that included lots of new forms of revenue generation. As Rethugs across the country cut business and investment taxes to support their benefactors, they had to find new sources of revenue - and tax hikes on the poor would be resisted, and services were cut as far as they could without resistance (often services for the poorest of the poor, or for the handicapped).

To bring in new revenue localities were forced to collect more in punitive measures. And we get silly people justifying it by saying things like, "Don't wanna do the time, don't do the crime."

And now Michigan, as an example, has 2500 separate driving infractions, of which no driver can name them all. Fait accompli.

 

I don't have a problem with, I don't want tickets so I don't speed. Occasionaly i'll not see or misread a speed limit sign and I am willing to pay for it if I get caught. I've had a decent amount of tickets, all within reason an my insurance is still fairly low. My age is the only thing that kills it.

 

Red light cameras ARE NOT a form of revenue generation. They can't generate any revenue, except from people breaking the law.

 

Which is exactly the same as speed cameras!!

 

people remember what it said when you went for your lic. IT IS NOT A RIGHT BUT A STATE GRANTED PRIVILEGE and they can do what they want. you can own a car but that does not give you the right to drive it on the road, you can in your own yard,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

that aint got a goddamn thing to do with it. all parties are crooks and they all take a cut off of the top. the governments drug monopoly is down and the politicians are pissed because they are having to live a $10 million lifestyle instead of $25 million. once the drug cartels start making money again it will die down.

it is sad that everything the government does is based on how much of a profit they can turn.

 

It built a hell of a attorney business here in Dallas....get a ticket call any number of attorneys and for 50 to 100 bucks they fight it till it goes to court and 90% of the time ( a year Latter) cop does not show up and it gets dismissed...Our courts are so fucked up down here now it is unreal...

I beat one like this and I have one that has been on hold for going on a year and a half now....

If the cop does show up --- just to not bring in a jury the DA and attorney plead down to 100 bucks ...no record ...no driving school...

Loopholes...simple as abc go fish...

 

Tim, I agree with you that most of us push the speed limit a bit...that's become rather ingrained in our culture. But if we do, we can't really complain when we get caught. We don't have a right to expect that we're going to get cut any slack just because so many people do it.

I do think, though, that when state and local governments start looking around for ways to raise revenue, they might hit on the idea of more rigid traffic enforcement. For most of them, it's either that or lay some more people off.

 

Politics aside

I suppose they have their place in as much as they can detect other crimes besides traffic violations. I read in the paper last week about a pregnant woman and her husband being run down in a crosswalk The driver got out and was cursing at them, and then got in his truck and fled, leaving the scene of an accident. They caught him with the help of the camera recording the license plate. The poor woman was talking on the cell phone with her mother, the second person to hear about her pregnancy and the husband the first. Her injuries were such that they had to induce a comma, while her husband escaped with minor injuries.

 

You have a retarded judicial system. Over here, the fine is 100 bucks if you pay up immediately, but if you insist on going to court and lose it can cost you twenty times as much.

 

I agree 100% however we base our laws on the British Common Law...

 

We also base our system on inclusion and not only for those who can afford 2 grand to contest a wrongful allegation from the state.

 

As a person learning to drive, I am GLAD for traffic cameras. At least with traffic cameras, there is less women who are stopped by BAD cops who use their power to their advantage. If I speed or run a stoplight, then I deserve a ticket. If I am driving recklessly, then I deserve to be penalized.