5 Ways Speeding and Red Lights Cameras Are Causing Political Outrage

[Tommy_Carcetti]

29. There are so many things wrong with red light cameras.

Yes, yes, I know. "Don't break the law and there'll be nothing to worry about" and all that jazz. Sounds common sense, right?

Except you are putting faith in a machine over human observation. And machines know nothing about context. And machines cannot be cross examined.

Plus there's the question of whose actually driving the car versus whose getting ticketed.

Plus there's the fact that drivers automatically tense up and become much more edgy around these cameras, leading to less safe driving.

Plus there's the whole "cash cow" factor, not only for local governments, but much more disturbingly, for private companies who serve as vendors for these cameras.

I'm sorry. If I've allegedly run a red light, I want to be told about it. Immediately. I want a human being who is a sworn law enforcement officer to observe it with his human eyes and with his human sense of context, and for him to pull me over and tell me he saw me, the actual driver of the vehicle, allegedly run the red light. And I want him to give me a ticket immediately, not have it mailed to me several weeks later. And if I disagree with his judgment, I want to be able to take the matter of court and have the human being police officer's account questioned in a court of law. And if I ultimately have to pay a fine, I want my fine to actually go 100% to my government and not a private vending company.

Anything less is a violation of my due process rights.