These things need to be taken out;
If you happen to drive too fast through Elmwood Place, Ohio, the cards are stacked against you, according to a judge who calls the village’s automated speeding camera “a scam that motorists can’t win.”
Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Robert Ruehlman on Thursday ruled that the village’s ordinance violated due process. He issued an injunction barring its enforcement.
There have been numerous legal challenges across the U.S. to red-light camera laws but observers said this is the first ruling they know of striking down a municipality’s speeding-camera law.
“Speed-camera cases have been litigated but we have not come across one where a judge has said, ‘Stop this,'” attorney Mike Allen, whose firm brought the case, told MSN News on Friday. “I think it’s going to touch off a firestorm around the country. I really do.”
Pretty sure Sioux Falls doesn’t have any active red light cameras anymore.
Can anyone else confirm that?
Yes AG you are correct – and we have never had any speed cameras.
The issue with the Ohio cameras is due process, which makes it all but impossible to appeal a violation (where have we heard that before). I’m not familiar with Ohio state law, but if it is anything like South Dakota it probably makes it difficult for them to have these cameras since it treats them like a civil violation that is assigned to the vehicle’s registered owner rather than a driving violation assigned to the vehicle.
Other states have enacted legislation allowing such fines to be applied directly to the vehicle rather than treating them like moving violations (I believe Iowa falls into this category) and in several of those states the cameras have held up against courtroom challenges.
So the solution? Either take down the cameras, or change the law allowing civil penalties to be applied to the vehicle owner (essentially treating these speeding tickets as if they were parking tickets).
AG – I was just pointing out how they are causing problems across the country.
Sioux Falls learned their lesson with a State Court ruling. Sioux City has one camera trap. Tickets are mailed (improper service). You pay to a private company in Connecticut. There’s no appeal into court. You can contest to another private company in Arizona. Government is supposed to protect us. They’ve become another scammer comparable to some of the best Nigerian letter schemes. Do not pay these tickets. It’s an admission of guilt. You’ll get a few letters but they have no legal recourse. It’ll not affect your license, insurance, or credit.
I’ve thought of license plate size magnetic signs with graphic of ‘the finger’. Place it over your plates and race through Sioux City. Interested?
PL – you are aware SF no longer has any cameras right? By all means put a magnetic sign over your plate… but don’t complain when the SFPD cites you for obstructing your license plate.
Yes, South Dakota has no cameras. Sioux Falls makes all the mistakes so the rest of the state doesn’t have to. The red light camera was ruled unconstitutional and damages were settled confidentially out of court. It’s rumored the settlement was something a million. The camera company received most of the revenue from fines. Sioux Falls taxpayers paid to settle. I don’t have magnetic license signs but I have sprayed my plates with a clear marketed substance. A camera doesn’t see the numbers but they are visible with the eye.
The best thing to do is buy a clear license frame and spray with $11 substance (see internet). I travel south where states have cameras. It’s become such that citizens must protect themselves from government should be protecting us.
“It’s rumored the settlement was something a million.”
I heard a rumor that Sioux Falls is going to dig a canal to the Missouri River so we can have direct access for boating purposes too. I think rumors are always true because I read it on the Internet.
“I don’t have magnetic license signs but I have sprayed my plates with a clear marketed substance. A camera doesn’t see the numbers but they are visible with the eye.”
Too bad you wasted your money. Not only do those products not work, but cameras are typically outfitted with both traditional as well as IR sensors which means they can actually see a wider range of visible light than the human eye.
Also, Mythbusters tried every one of those magical Internet products and none of them worked, although that isn’t about to deter con-artists from selling them on the Internet.
As they say… a sucker is born every minute.