-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
In Baltimore, Montgomery County, Maryland, there’s a growing number of cameras set up to catch speeders and red light runners. They work well. They work regardless of the type of vehicle. The cameras can’t detect if the vehicle has flashing lights and a siren, so police have been getting snapped. There’s no “officer courtesy”, where a brother officer would be given a break.
The fine for going through a red light is $75 and speeding is $40. The police are crying foul.
Unless police officers and emergency personnel can prove they were responding to legitimate emergencies at the time of the photo, they’re being held personally responsible for the tickets. Two creative police officers were caught putting stolen license plates on their unmarked car.
Nonemergency officer speeding puts the public at risk and is per se negligence. Any tort cases resulting from nonemergency officer speeding could cost the city millions and the police department the respect of the citizenry. None of the Montgomery County officers that have been caught by the cameras have been responding to an emergency.
Police officers are not above the law.
H/T: The Baltimore Sun.
Tony Sidaway QUOTE “John, it’s easy enough. Don’t run a red light and you don’t get slapped with a fine. Why is it so hard for some people to understand that the red means you don’t go over the stop line?”
Your kidding…you do know that the time on the yellow light is based on the speed limit…there is a standard.
If the speed limit is 45 you need a longer yellow than a 30mph zone.
So when they shorten the light then your actually making things more dangerous, because people slam on the brakes to avoid going through a red light…and this isn’t my opinion, its documented.
So the people that are preaching that this is for safety are actually putting everyone’s lives at risk…for revenue.
THIS is what I’m “whining” about…think about it…
Tony S.,
With these cameras you don’t know how much time you have before it turns yellow and people get into accidents stopping and slowing down because they think it may change on them when they are in the middle of the intersection. I haven’t been issued a ticket from them so maybe I am not whining about it.
You can’t say I didn’t warn you. See light and speed cameras are nearly as bad as global warming. Just mention them and a whole shitload of whiny drivers show up with their sob stories.
what they don’t tell you is how hard these things are to get off your record when they make a mistake.
my ex-sister in law received a ticket for running the toll booth on the new jersey turnpike. big problem when she lives in florida, has never even been to new jersey and the tag # was not on the type of vehical they said.
she thought it was straightened out untill she was pulled over for a tag light and was told her drivers license had be suspended for nonpayment of fines.
between florida dmv, nj turnpike auth. and a fl judge who told her she should “just pay the ticket” except then she would have no defense for driving with a suspended license.
long story short, the camera may not lie, but it isn’t always right and anything that’s right 99.9% of the time means for every one thousand events somebody gets shafted.
John, it’s easy enough. Don’t run a red light and you don’t get slapped with a fine. Why is it so hard for some people to understand that the red means you don’t go over the stop line? Whining about people fiddling with the length of the yellow period is missing the point. It’s like a thief complaining that he didn’t realise what he was up to might cause damage.
Tony Sidaway QUOTE “It’s ridiculous the lengths some people will go to to evade responsibility for and to excuse law-breaking on the road.”
This isn’t an attempt to “evade responsibility”, it’s an attempt to show you that even well meaning things can be subverted.
If you read the articles, there is no excuse for changing the timing on yellow lights to catch more people in a red light, just because they weren’t getting enough revenue with the cameras.
And then to try the brand the person as a lawbreaker is beyond idiotic.
Plus there have been more articles that show cameras that were faulty, were actually taking pix on the yellow lights, instead of the red.
Kind of off topic but a conclusion to a earlier thread :
“Victim Found in Trunk of Stolen Car After Fender Bender
Published 1, February 2, 2011 Bizarre , Criminal law 4 Comments
Barion Blake is being sought by police to answer for something found in his trunk after a fender bender: a body. Police charge that Blake store a BMW from an owner, stabbed him, and stuffed him in the trunk. Akeem Ajimotokan was saved when an accident put Blake to foot and New York police noticed blood on the trunk.”
“A New York fugitive wanted for mutilating a Columbia University lawyer and stuffing him into the trunk of a BMW was shot dead in Florida yesterday in a gunfight with cops.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/02/11/2011-02-11_barion_blake__fugitive_wanted_for_slicing_mans_ear__shot_dead_by_cops_in_florida.html#ixzz1Dnamr4bS“
40 dollars for a speeding ticket. last speeding ticket i got cost me 180.00. 40 bucks sounds like what i paid for them in the 70’s.
It is difficult to keep control of a city’s police in their everyday driving habits. This has worked well and I assume that the officer’s complaints will fall on deaf ears?
Makes sense to me…
Oh here we go. It’s never the driver’s fault for breaking the law and driving dangerously, or so it seems. It’s ridiculous the lengths some people will go to to evade responsibility for and to excuse law-breaking on the road.
I love it … speeding cops snitch on shortened yellow light timing … everybody wins!
The cameras do not take into consideration that someone going through a light was avoiding an accident. The Cameras here in San Diego were determined to have altered the timing of the yellow light.
Hey Tony S.
6 Cities That Were Caught Shortening Yellow Light Times For Profit
http://blog.motorists.org/6-cities-that-were-caught-shortening-yellow-light-times-for-profit/
These are just the cities that were CAUGHT…
CUT & PASTE
Five photo enforcement vans are deployed statewide, including two currently on expressways and other highways where roadwork is being done in the six-county Chicago area, officials said. The vans were introduced in the Chicago region four years ago in an effort to reduce work zone accidents and fatalities, but the results have been up and down.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-10-31/classified/ct-met-getting-around-1101-20101031_1_tollway-construction-enforcement-vans-work-zone-speed-limit
These vans were bought with the claim that on an average 7500 construction workers were killed a year…(which is true)…BUT what they DIDN’T tell anyone is that HALF of those fatalities are caused by their OWN PEOPLE, NOT outside drivers.
So if this wasn’t JUST for revenue, did they get some OSHA vans too, and fine the construction companies, to try to keep the deaths down?
😉
These cameras work well, but for some reason they’re hated by drivers who say they’re being used primarily to raise money. The logic of that argument is very odd, because a speed camera or red light camera doesn’t make any money at all from law-abiding drivers. Anyone would think the drivers think they have a right to break the law…
“Two creative police officers were caught putting stolen license plates on their unmarked car.”
And they are still police after being caught with stolen plates?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dofXnlIjQwU&w=480&h=390]
There’s a few other places I’d like to see them place those cameras…..:)