This post is unrelated to writing, but is about a topic that may have affected you or someone you know. While it may seem humorous or simple, it's deeper than most people think. With little interest I watched the news and the quick story about red light and speed traffic cameras going up in select places here in Tucson some time ago. Big deal, I thought. I don't speed. I don't run red lights. In fact, I'd be more likely to get a ticket for going too slow. But there's a lot of fine print that the average driver doesn't know about these devices.
If your city is putting up these kinds of "traffic enforcement" cameras, take my advice and read up on what will and will not get you a ticket. Here in Tucson, running a red light means that you pass an imaginary line from the end of the curb to the opposite curb--not the crosswalk line like most drivers think. It can be a milisecond after the yellow turns to red and you will get a ticket. The cameras take a picture of your license plate, where your car's tire is on the road by that imaginary line, and a picture of your face.
Speeding here means that you have gone 12 or more miles over the posted limit. At 11, you're still safe. But who calibrates these cameras? Are they checked for accuracy? Are these even legal or are they a way to gather money in hard economic times?
Beware when turning right on red as well. You must come to a complete stop. Don't slow down and look both ways. Stop. Actually stop. The camera is watching you. If you do not completely stop, flash, and a ticket comes to you in the mail.
Also, a new tactic is movable vans that the police place at varying locations throughout the city to bust people for speeding. Because it's so random, they are likely to catch folks who aren't paying attention.
Before every one of these types of traps, the companies (yes, companies and not necessarily law enforcement) are required to post warning signs to let drivers know they are approaching a camera enforcement zone.
How do you feel about this type of law enforcement? Should it be cut and dry? Do we no longer need real, live police officers to cite drivers? Are they becoming obsolete? Or is governement phazing out an integral part of law enforcement--the human aspect, the warning, the curt but informative lecture to a driver who may not have known about imaginary lines and complete stops?
Then there is the alleged scandal behind all of this. Is the company setting up these cameras purposely shortening yellow light times? Are they calibrating the radar correctly? Are they treating their employees and law enforcement violaters the same as the average citizen? Is this even legal?
Arizona law states that a ticket must be served to the violater. That means that a company has been hired to do just that. If you do not respond to your ticket, a server will visit your home or place of work and serve you with your violation. So, welcome to Arizona. And don't even get me started about the cameras in Phoenix. On a recent family trip there, it blew my mind to see how many were on the highway.
Someone's making a lot of money off of this, and I have a feeling we are not any safer for it.
What do you think?
Check out the anger at CameraFraud.com
3 comments:
Hi Ana,
They put up the cameras in our city, too. My hubby, who is a reserve police officer, believes they are a violation of our rights.
On the other hand one of the reasons they started putting them up in our area was because pedestrins were getting hit and killed by drivers running the red light.
Supposedly, they are supposed to give the driver the benefit of a doubt if they are in the cross section when the amber light comes on.
I don't like it, and you brought up a good point about doing away with jobs.
We haven't had pedestrians killed here. To my knowledge, this is a trail that came from Phoenix, which is a much larger city. I've noticed that at the intersections where these lights are in place, many drivers are either speeding up to pass through the yellow lights or slamming on their brakes in fear of hitting the upcoming red. My opinion is that it's not made those areas safer, and I now completely avoid them.
Further rumors state that people have been advised by law enforcement to throw their tickets away, to hide from the servers, or that employees of the red light company do not get cited should they have violations.
Personally, I don't like the cameras. I feel that they are a violation of rights and that they have the potential to do more than what they are intended for. I do think there is corruption behind them.
Hi Anastasia,
I do not like traffic cameras. They are a wast of tax payer dollars. Some town in my area had them up, but took them down when people got wise to them. The towns found it costs more money to run them than what they take in. Traffic cameras are a way for cities to make fast money off of people.
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