Posted on 11/17/2014 6:22:27 PM PST by george76
Red light camera programs in Florida are in a state of flux after a Florida District Court of Appeals judge said the current system of issuing tickets is unconstitutional.
On Monday, a class action lawsuit was filed in federal district court in Miami, seeking $5 million in damages from American Traffic Solutions, which operates most of the cameras in the state. The lawsuit also demands that ATS reimburse every driver who has paid tickets issued by the company.
But its not the only lawsuit against ATS in the Sunshine State. So far, plaintiffs have filed three suits.
...
this means that cities have to issue the tickets, not the red light camera company. Already, several municipalities have suspended issuing red light camera tickets pending further court action.
Fines issued by the cameras last fiscal year totaled about $100 million, so local governments have a financial incentive to keep the cameras going. But with the legality of tickets in question and lawsuits filed in federal court, the future of red light camera revenue is in jeopardy.
(Excerpt) Read more at watchdogwire.com ...
To get around this Colorado sends a ticket in the mail. If you pay it by mail there is one price. If you don't, then they will send someone around to issue a ticket personally, but they will charge you the added expense.
So basically they use blackmail to get around the unconstitutionality.
I'm sure the pols in FL will figure this out too.
I would like to see this stuff banned. Unless a cop is watching the monitor and does it himself, with no private company trying to collect fines without trial.
Do we expect anything different in the state of Morgan and Morgan ??!
You ain’t seen nothing yet. Once cars are connected to the net, traffic infractions will be immediately recorded and tickets will be dispensed completely automatically.
Better get used to driving the speed limit whenever you get in the car, because you will get a ticket every single time you exceed the limit.
ugh
bicycles too?
St. Petersburg has removed their cameras.
GOOD. Now do the same to speeding camera tickets.
Great news.
> I would like to see this stuff banned. Unless a cop is watching the monitor and does it himself, with no private company trying to collect fines without trial.
I’ve done much research on this topic at differentti times over the years. Its better than anything than Mafia has ever dreamed up at extorting and shaking down the public and they are jealous they didn’t dream it up first.
First the red light camera companies rig the system by paying donations to the council through some of their employees to make them look like private donors. Then they approach the city and open up dialog to see if they are i terested in creating more revenue without having to pay a dime (that gets their attention). They wave the bait of easy money with no up-front costs in front of the city council’s nose saying there will be no installation or setup fees on the cameras in exchange for about 40% of the cut on the tickets paid but they have to send out a certain number a month or they are penalized. To top it off they even have PR firms that have websites setup with skewed statistics, stories about how the red light cameras will make their neighborhoods safer, basically just hyped up fear mongering to make you think a red light runner is oing to run over a child every hour that you don’t put them up. Of course it’s all complete BS. It’s really ALL ABOUT THE MONEY.
All automated traffic ticketing devicesneed to be outlawed. Period.
French site, with some rather flamboyant methods of destruction and much information about the cameras around the site.
http://english.controleradar.org/destroyed-speed-camera.php
ATTENTION! This FREEPER is part of this lawsuit!!! I contacted the law firm involved a few weeks ago and sent them information from my citation.
Most states, to issue a criminal citation and not a civil citation, require that the citation be issued by the person (cop) witnessing the crime (speeding) to the person(you) whom the witness (cop) saw commit the crime. This means that the cop witnessed you speeding, caught you, identified you, confirmed that you are the person stated on your driver’s license and issued the citation to you. Not perfect but the state has a solid case against you.
In a red light camera. There is no way yet to confirm the identity of the person driving the vehicle. Even if a picture is taken of the driver how does the state know who it is? They don’t which means all of these automated scams rely on self incrimination.
As for adjucation of the citation most states require that notice of a hearng be given in person. Similar to the cop above, someone must identify that you receive the notice.
Most of the so called tickets for red light cameras are actually invitations to confess and affirm that you have been roperly served. Once you do that yu are sunk.
Yes, I am that annoying person who obeys all traffic laws and has an unblemished safe driving record.
Those camera's are not about safety, they are only and all about revenue generation.
I have not noticed any increase at all in police presence in areas with high instances of vehicular accidents.
It's all about the revenue.
“In Colorado the law is written such that the ticket has to be delivered by an officer of the law. This made perfect sense in the days before red light cameras.
To get around this Colorado sends a ticket in the mail. If you pay it by mail there is one price. If you don’t, then they will send someone around to issue a ticket personally, but they will charge you the added expense.
So basically they use blackmail to get around the unconstitutionality.”
That’s not how it actually works here in Colorado. Any camera ticket here is a civil matter only, not criminal. All you have to do is throw away any mail you may have received about the matter. After the second piece of mail, they may or may not send a civil process server, which is usually an off-duty police officer, but doesn’t have to be.
Just make sure you don’t personally accept service within 90 days and there’s not a damn thing they can do to enforce the ticket.
After they try personal service one time and fail, they’ll cut their losses and give up. If they haven’t managed to serve you within 90 days, the whole thing is automatically mooted under state law. Whether you pay the ticket or dodge it, there is no criminal record of the matter kept (because it’s not a criminal matter), no points on your driver’s license, and no cop can serve you if you are stopped for some other traffic matter because service is a civil matter.
I successfully went through the entire dodging procedure for a camera ticket issued by Boulder a year ago. Cost ‘em a bundle on the process server. He tried one Saturday morning but I wasn’t up yet and my wife (who had been alerted) refused service.
The cop then illegally left the service in my mailbox without a stamp. I laughed because it was big and red and had all of this scary sounding language that meant absolutely nothing. I did have fun though in turning them into the U.S. Post Office.
I was actually surprised they attempted service since I don’t live in Boulder and the off-duty cop had to drive 30 miles to attempt service. But I did have a lot of fun dodging service.
If more people did this, they’d lose money and give up.
“Most of the so called tickets for red light cameras are actually invitations to confess and affirm that you have been properly served.”
Indeed. That’s exactly what happens in Colorado. Any camera ticket here is a civil matter only, not criminal. All you have to do is throw away any mail you may have received about the matter. After the second piece of mail, they may or may not send a civil process server, which is usually an off-duty police officer, but doesn’t have to be.
Just make sure you don’t personally accept service within 90 days and there’s not a damn thing they can do to enforce the ticket.
After they try personal service one time and fail, they’ll cut their losses and give up. If they haven’t managed to serve you within 90 days, the whole thing is automatically mooted under state law. Whether you pay the ticket or dodge it, there is no criminal record of the matter kept (because it’s not a criminal matter), no points on your driver’s license, and no cop can serve you during the service period if you are stopped for some other traffic matter because service is a civil matter.
I successfully went through the entire dodging procedure for a camera ticket issued by Boulder a year ago. Cost ‘em a bundle on the process server, too He tried one Saturday morning but I wasn’t up yet and my wife (who had been previously alerted) refused service.
The cop then illegally left the service documents in my mailbox without a stamp. I laughed because it was big and red and had all of this scary sounding language that meant absolutely nothing. I did have fun though in turning them into the U.S. Post Office.
I was actually surprised they attempted service since I don’t live in Boulder and the off-duty cop had to drive 30 miles to attempt service. But I did have a lot of fun dodging service.
If more people did this, they’d lose money and give up.
was there a movie called the demolition man where stallone would say a swear word and a ticket would come out of a machine.
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