Filed under: Etc., Government/Legal, First Drive
They do it different in Texas: Speed cameras banned statewide
Finally, someone's fighting back against the fleecing of the general populace. Famous for liking things big, Texas lawmakers have laid the smackdown on red light and speed cameras in a large manner. HB.922 states "A municipality may not implement or operate an automated traffic control system with respect to a highway under its jurisdiction," which means that cameras, automated radar or laser, or anything else designed to snag an image of a car, driver, or license plate and record its speed is now forbidden. The even larger racket of red-light cameras have had the brakes applied by HB.1052, which requires giving motorists notice of the devices at least 100 feet out. These bills have passed through the legislature and are awaiting Governor Rick Perry's inscription. If the measures do make it into law, we hope that other states follow suit. Ticketing egregious speeders and actual red-light scofflaws is one thing, but the systems have been calibrated in a cynical manner to generate loads of revenue (and kickbacks) for the companies that sell and administrate the systems for municipalities. Rather than keeping people safe, random ticketing amounts to a tax, and that really sticks in our craw. We're pleased beyond words that Texas has taken up the motorists' cause, and we hope that the new legislation can stand as a precedent.
Thanks for the tip, Dylan!
[Source: caradvice]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
rubbercow 9:46AM (5/23/2007)
That's somewhat funny, as I live in Texas and they just installed 7 new red-light camera systems within half a mile of me. My tax dollars at work. :/
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Viv 10:00AM (5/23/2007)
Good job Texas. I doubt other states will follow this because this cameras have become a cash cow for the states.
Tim 9:52AM (5/23/2007)
DON'T mess with Texas! I love it! These Texas legislators need to move to California and knock CA off their soap-box!
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sammy z 9:58AM (5/23/2007)
I don't agree with red light cameras being removed.
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P to the C 9:59AM (5/23/2007)
Red light cameras are still legal, it's just speed cameras. This is a good start, now finish the job.
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Doogs 10:08AM (5/23/2007)
Wish this had gone into effect a month ago. The wife and I took a road trip to Colorado and, about a week after our return, received a nice speed camera ticket.
Thank goodness it was the wife driving, and not me, or I'd have never heard the end of it.
Either way, though, my wife is a pretty conservative driver, and the speed camera was obviously situated at a sudden speed limit drop as a means of revenue generation.
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John Paul Rowan 10:09AM (5/23/2007)
I hope this comes to Georgia as well, we have more and more of them going up every day.
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geo.stewart 10:16AM (5/23/2007)
read the wording. only applies to highways. nothing about city streets. not quite as encompassing as one might hope.
Remember; if there were no loopholes, there would be no lawyers.
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jpc 12:02PM (5/23/2007)
dude, hate to tell you this but any public road is considered a highway, this includes city streets. you are thinking about FREEWAYS (interstates and what not). so this DOES apply to red light cameras in downtown areas.
geo.stewart 3:51PM (5/23/2007)
well then, I stand corrected. and there is cause for rejoice.
Interestingly enough, in one case, highway also includes a 'building'.
MikeW 10:49AM (5/23/2007)
In my Driving Freedoms booklet that came yesterday.
Minnesota Court Reject Ticket Camera
'In a unanimous ruling, the Minnesota Supreme Court agreed with lower courts that the use of ticket cameras in Minneapolis was illegal. The city ordinance fined the owner of a car that was photographed violating a red light. This conflicts with a state law that clearly puts liability for traffic offenses on the driver.'
Bye-bye red light cameras. I'd like to that you for your help, but you haven't been of any.
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Colin Smith 11:14AM (5/23/2007)
Well done America. Well done Texas.
We in the UK have more street cameras, of all sorts, than the rest of Europe put together. There is now a move to put them on EVERY street corner - true. They dress the traffic ones up as safety devices, but we all know they are revenue-raising persecution mass observation machines installed by Big Brother.
Long Live Liberty - which WE have lost.
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Tool 11:32AM (5/23/2007)
These speed cameras are such a racket.
It's amazing that cities can spend millions of dollars installing these devices yet they are unwilling to do anything as simple as synchronizing traffic signals so that you don't have to stop every 1/10 of a mile.
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beanspants 11:37AM (5/23/2007)
Tool,
If they did that, then who would they catch with the speed cameras and the red light cameras?
and i drive through Richardson, TX to work, and they have alot of red light cameras, and lights that seem to be as unsynchronized as you can get. it's obviously a racket.
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AZMike 12:04PM (5/23/2007)
I think some folks have missed the point here.
first, the cameras are NOT installed by the municipalities; they are installed and maintained by the company that makes the systems.
second, they are not 'cash cows' for the cities that install them. they get less than 20% of the revenue that the cameras generate; the rest of the money goes to the company.
there are several ways to avoid needing to pay a photo ticket; first, if you see (or know) you are going to get snapped, put the visor down, with your head behind it, before the camera goes off.
we've had photo speed inforcement here in Arizona for years, and there have been quite a few hyper-speeders (over 140 MPH) who have gone past the cameras with Nixon masks on. we even had a case last year where a camera clocked a rental 4 cylinder Hyundai Sonata at 141 MPH. even Hyundai can't figure that one out.
if they can't see a face, the ticket will not even be generated to you. no face, no ticket.
AZMike
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John R 7:59PM (5/23/2007)
Just a point of info. The Hyundai was a V6 Sonata and it was clocked doing 147 mph. But As I understand it, that was on the downhill, according to C/D, and may be capable of 145 mph, drga limited.
http://www.caranddriver.com/carnews/12563/the-147-mph-hyundai-sonata.html
will 12:06PM (5/23/2007)
thank god i live in TEXAS!!!! Granted there are plenty of red light cameras in the city, but i don't run lights. So WOOHOO!!!!!!!
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dan 12:08PM (5/23/2007)
Good for Texas. Meanwhile, these Big Brother eyes are going up all over the place in Maryland. It's a red state/blue state thing.
There's a sign post near where I live with no fewer than 4 edicts on it:
Speed Limit 25
Fines Double
Photo Enforced
Nuclear Free Zone
When leftists run things....
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will 12:11PM (5/23/2007)
Now if only houston could field a decent sports team, (besides the Dymano)
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Sir Nigel 12:22PM (5/23/2007)
Fellow Texas residents and I are always arguing whether the toll roads ticket people based on their time from one toll booth to the other. Now it will be clear that's not possible. That said, almost every new traffic light in Texas has the white surveillance cameras and of course some wrongfully believe they're enforcement cameras!
They already have Gatsos and that camera ilk for red-light runners (which I might add are marked by signs) and this will hopefully stop any speed cameras.
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