(Photo: Shutterstock.com)
A Maryland lawmaker has said if it’s fair for speed cameras to fine those justifiably caught in the act, the reverse should be true of the camera vendor themselves when they’re not capturing accurate information and yet still sending the ticket.
The suggestion for a $1,000 fine for “bogus” tickets by Baltimore County Democrat Jon Cardin comes after the Baltimore Sun’s investigation of the city’s speed cameras, which found at least five out of 83 had issues.
“Over the last few weeks, the speed camera issue has really shaken all our confidence in what our government is here to do,” said Cardin at a news conference, according to the Sun. “Is government here to raise revenue, or is government here to keep our residents safe?
“We want people to drive slow,” Cardin continued. “We want our citizens, our construction workers and our students to be safe. But we can’t undermine the confidence of residents in the process.”
To go along with a $1,000 fine for cameras that aren’t working properly, Cardin wants the companies to submit camera audits to the General Assembly to prove they are issuing accurate tickets.
The Sun reported that legislative auditors recently criticized the State Highway Administration for not having the cameras calibrated independently before they were officially put into use in 2009.
House majority leader Kumar Barve (D) agreed with Cardin’s call for a “penalty for bad behavior” on the speed camera company’s part.
According to the Sun, Baltimore has backed off of 6,000 of 1.6 million tickets issued by the cameras since they were installed in 2009. The total revenue brought in from the speed cameras for the city is around 40 million with increased safety cited as well.
Cardin clarified that not every ticket that was forgiven by a judge would result in a fine for companies either, only those that are legitimately unjust on the driver’s part.
There’s also a way for the state’s speed cameras to verify accuracy of the ticket that the Sun reported Cardin saying he thinks should be used statewide (it is already being done in Baltimore). Here’s how it works:
When the city issues a ticket, the two time-stamped photos are measured to a fraction of a second. The time between the two photos, plus a measurement of the distance a vehicle traveled, can be used to calculate the speed — which can then be compared to the alleged speed.
Tickets issued by surrounding counties and the state highway agency round off the time to the second, meaning both pictures often have the identical time, making such an analysis impossible. The jurisdictions all say they comply with the law, which does not specify how precise times must be.
It was through such time-stamp analysis that the Sun was able to find wrongly issued tickets in the first place.
WJZ reported some locals who have lost faith (or never had faith) in the speed camera system would support a fine for companies giving out unjust tickets as well.
“Just like we’re accountable at work every day or held to a standard that we should be producing our work correctly, I think they should be held to the same standard,” one man told the news channel.
Watch the report:
Cardin is beginning to draft legislation along these lines, which will be brought to the General Assembly, once completed and co-sponsored.
Related:
- ‘Embarrassing’ Source of Revenue?: New York Could Institute Speed Cameras
- New License Plate Tech Jams Traffic Cameras Targeting You for a Ticket — See How
- ‘Costing…Taxpayers Money’: Council Votes Out Red Light Traffic Cameras After Two Years
Featured image via Shutterstock.com.
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SGT Rock
Dec. 13, 2012 at 3:12amWhen I was a young man we had no cameras and higher speed limits, know what no more dangerous. Now we have cameras to raise revenue, cars made so well that people do not fear a wreck and drive recklessly and at high rates of speed. cars today are like the hot rod and sports cars of yesterday, drivers are over confident, are we safer, hell no. I grew up without seat belts and people drove safer because they could get hurt or killed. Do I wear seat belt and obey speed laws, yep.
Cameras and tickets are just for revenue raising. When is the last time you heard of the local police solving a major crime???? Thought so, police now are revenue raisers. Not the cops fault its the municipalities fault. I say ban all the cameras to include the crime watcher cameras and hire more cops. Remember when cops use to walk the streets, not anymore. There really is no longer a police force prescense and when someone sees a cop they wonder if he/she is going to come over and bug them about some trivial issue and write a ticket. No longer does our society look on the police as a good thing but more of a nuisance.
With less police officers has come the problem of cops being minutes away when seconds count. They always arrive too late to be effective due to the cost of maintaining a proper sized police force.
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banjarmon
Dec. 12, 2012 at 1:22pmRED Light Cameras…another source for money for the camera company and the government.
Brooksville Fl has them ALL over!!!! $158.00 for the fine!!
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SeekerEmerald
Dec. 12, 2012 at 12:56pmHere is an unbreakable argument that speed cameras are NOT about safety, but revenue. The same can be said for speeding tickets, and the associated fines.
If they REALLY wanted people to slow down, and were not just in it for the money, the fines would be $100 per MPH, and 1 point per MPH. The fines are enough people will NOT be deterred by the occasional speeding ticket, so that speeding still occurs, and the local/state govt. gets to take prize every now and then.
If a speding ticket was $1000 I’d certainly NOT be speeding. Since they are usually in the $100-$180 range now, I don’t let the threat of a ticket every couple of years hold me back. I usually get one every 2-4 years. I don’t sweat it, I just pay my “tax” and keep driving the way I’ve always driven.
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KEELHAULUM
Dec. 12, 2012 at 8:34pmYou sir are an idiot and a danger to all freedom loving Americans.
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Dr Vel
Dec. 12, 2012 at 10:06pmIdiot raised to the power of infinity. Vehicle speedometers are not extremely accurate, and parallax causes error for the driver depending upon the angle they look at the speedometer. Enough to be off by 1 or 2 MPH, made worse by substandard tire diameters or amount of air pressure. Or non standard tire profiles. A tire above normal pressure a few PSI is raised along the center increasing it’s effective diameter. This causes the speedometer to read slightly lower than actual vehicle speed. If they can grab a hundred bucks for every mile per hour in effect they could raise millions by robbing virtually every single car or truck on the road considering no one is perfectly on the limit within less than one MPH at all times. Not humanly possible especially when you are trying to watch the movements of everyone around you. This is bar none the most insane proposition I have ever heard a citizen raise concerning traffic safety.
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Independent4233
Dec. 12, 2012 at 10:58amAs the economy worsens and people get up in arms over the slightest injustice look for these cameras to be taken out, probably by roadside snipers from a safe distance away. That will hold true for stop light cameras as well.
Surveillance cameras designed for public safety are helpful. These kind of cameras are nothing more than a scam to bilk the public and enrich the Gestapos in power.
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JRook
Dec. 12, 2012 at 12:20pmWrong its about the money. A really useful report would include the income that the for profit surveillance industry is making off these cameras and tickets and how much money they are “investing” in political campaigns.
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handsmcml
Dec. 12, 2012 at 10:04amMost regulations are used to generate revenue for the government, not to really make us safer.
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HOLYSMOKES
Dec. 12, 2012 at 9:39am1.6 million tickets since 2009 prove that these cameras do nothing to slow people down or make anything safer. These cameras were never designed to do anything but raise(steal) more money from the public.Besides, when politicians talk of making us more safe it always means comes with being less free.
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Displacedsoutherner
Dec. 12, 2012 at 8:48am“Just like we’re accountable at work every day or held to a standard that we should be producing our work correctly, I think they should be held to the same standard,” one man told the news channel.
This man is obviously not familiar with the nature of a union job site.
Years ago when under Jimmy Carter the national speed limit went to 55 MPH Maryland was relentless in their efforts to raise revenue off speeders in lieu of actually reducing speeding. They had a full range of camouflaged police cars including a Ford Ranchero with hay bales in back. AAA cautioned that the entire state was a speed trap. Ir was so bad that Car and Driver Magazine did a photo spread on the various vehicles MSP were using to catch unwary motorists, and 60 in a 55 was definitely in their violation window.
It was then and is now about the money and not about safety, the Dems don’t change their stripes and I’ll bet Mr. Cardin was the recipient of at least 1 “bogus” ticket.
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love the kids
Dec. 12, 2012 at 7:54amI found this story incredible. I built a system for a snowmobile club that has “Grass Drags” for a fund raiser. The system has 4 lanes and was first built to determine the placement of the 4 lanes. With simply adding 4 sensors, 1 to each lane over a 50 foot distance, it was very easy to calculate the speed of each racer. I calculated the speed to the thousand’s place. It was child’s play.
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Xiccarph
Dec. 12, 2012 at 7:44amWhen you hand government the power to raise money anyway they can, that’s exactly what they will do. Any state or city that uses cameras to raise money and gets away with it, have idiots and sheeple as citizens.
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matt_c
Dec. 12, 2012 at 7:41amIf they really cared about safety they’d have an actual police presence out there. Nothing slows people down like seeing a police car. That’s what they want right? For people to slow down? Oh, but if people actually slowed down then no money would come in would it?
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Smokey_Bojangles
Dec. 12, 2012 at 7:28amSpeed cameras are unconstitutional and Baltimore County Democrat Jon Cardin should be kicked in the nuts for saying it is ” fine those justifiably caught in the act.”
No Private company should have the power to levy fines and punishments.
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Zipit
Dec. 12, 2012 at 8:39amCardin doesn’t give a crap Smokey! My guess is that he got popped for a violation himself and is using this as an excuse not to pay the fine!
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