Speed camera acceptance is sold under the guise of Public Safety, yet, this is a fiction. The argument is that if the cameras are placed in strategic areas suc
h as school zones and construction sites then the issuing of tickets by a State machine to a privately owned machine will some how change driver speeding behaviorand thus reduce accidents. No empirical evidence is presented to show this theory works. In fact, the state already has increased fines and penalties for speeding in school zones and construction sites. If fines were effective in changing behavior there would be no need for the addition of speed cameras.
At least, under the current system the fines and the penalties attach to the person driving the car. Under the new system there is no incentive to change behavior for the driver unless they also own the car. Even when the driver is also the owner of the car there is lessincentive to comply because there is no criminal penalty attached with the speed camera citation, no points assessed by the MVA.
The reason there is no criminal penalty is because our Constitution requires the state to allow a criminal defendant the ability to confront their accuser. This would require that someone would have to show up in court and prove that the speed camera was operating correctly. Instead of arguing about having to comply with Constitutional principles such as Due Process, the State has created a new legal fiction whereby, the State’s machines (speed cameras) can determine if your privately owned machine (your car) is violating a State law and regulation.
This is where the Governments argument fails. They are doing little to change the behavior of the person responsible for the infraction, the driver, is not the one to whom the penalty is directed. With speed cameras it is the car (not the driver) which is ticketed. The actualowner of the car, whether they are a parent, friend, employer, or a corporation, receives the ticket and the actual driver receives no penalty.
No matter who is driving, the penalty is given after the event has occurred and does nothing to prevent the occurrence. Speed bumps would actually reduce speed and thus actually protect the individuals whom the State claims it wishes to protect.
Further proof that speed cameras are about revenue generation and not about safety, fi found in the fact that the legislature rejected an Amendment to the speed camera bill that would havelimited the operation of the cameras to times when construction work or school activities were actually taking place, the Amendment was rejected because the State wants the revenue.
Now is the time that we, the citizens of Cecil County, must let the County Commissioners know of our opposition to speed cameras. We need to tell them we know that these devices are much more about revenue enhancement than they are about safety. The County Commissioners must realize that the citizens of Cecil County view speed cameras as another infringement upon our personal liberties, thus, while we can’t always stop what happens at the federal level, in Washington D.C. with the deterioration of our liberties we certainly can and will hold our locally elected officials accountable.
Enough is Enough! While our elected officials can break their promise about raising our taxes and tell us there was nothing to do because “services” to the public took precedent over keeping their promises, in the case of speed cameras the trade off of individual freedom is not acceptable. The one thing we know for sure is once the camera’s are allowed is the area they are allowed in will expand, the speed of the areas they are allowed in will grow beyond the 25 mph areas currently planned and the fines given will increase. If there is a traffic flow problem in front of schools or construction sites there are other ways to address the concerns other than speed cameras, the county can use speed bumps or place officers in the area so there is an immediate notice to the person driving, and responsible for the violation, that they have violated the law. Currently, if your daughter drives to school and speeds through the speed zone every day for a week, neither you or she would know it until the first of the five or six tickets started arriving in the mail 7 to 10 days later. If the officer was there the behavoir would immediately be corrected and not allowed to continue for a week.
To protect against any future group of the County Commissioners deciding to place speed cameras in Cecil County we are going to collect signatures to give to the commissioners to let them know the citizens are not willing to so readily give up their rights.
Call your commissioners and sign the petitions if you see them to tell our locally elected officials we do not need nor do we want speed cameras in Cecil County.
Your son or daughter leaves the house for school every morning, and returns the same route. They have a lead foot and trigger a speed camera on each leg of their trip. At the end of the month, when the data is processed and fine notices sent, you begin to receive $50 plus fines. When you receive the first, you put the brakes on your kid. However, the damage is done. If they drove 20 days, to and from school, and the fine is $50, your looking at $2,000 in fines.
Government will tell you that this is for “Public Safety.” False. If anyone believes this to be anything other than a revenue producer, I have a bridge on the bay I will sell you. When an officer stops and cites, or warns you, notice is immediate. After receiving a citation, most citizens will slow down, enhancing public safety. There will be those who continue to violate regardless of the notice, only now we will have criminals created from a process that is “civil.” How can that be? What happens when a fine cannot be paid? The State will suspend your tags. You now have a whole new class of criminal, produced by those civil violations. But why should this government care? They don’t, they have the revenue from those citizens who pay, and the criminal fines from those who don’t.
There are numerous studies showing the failure of cameras to increase safety. Cameras are about MONEY. period. Marylanders for Responsible Enforcement, mdscamera.com, and stopbigbrothermd.org are against camera enforcement in Maryland. The law was passed by questionable legislative means by the State. A grass roots, unfunded, spontaneous petition drive formed to fight it and fell just short of the first phase collection limit of 17,000.
As the law noted that it had to be adopted on a county by county basis, we then started preparing a county by county petition drive and contacted Baltimore County’s Board of Elections for the requirements. We received a rapid response-a copy of the Attorny General’s letter to Delegate Smigiel effectively stating that this law is exempt from petition referendum. The letter states a technical reason specific to Cecil County, but then continues on to say that the law is PETITION PROOF for the entire state! How can the government “exempt” favored laws from referendum. I find this COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE and a subversion of the democratic process. The government in Annapolis is insulated and ignores the wishes of a great deal of the voters of Maryland. I thank Delegate Smigiel for his efforts in investigating this matter, and hope that he does not let this issue quietly drop.
I am working on it. I find it interesting that I just got my copy of the letter in the mail today. I will work on legislation to give the counties the ability to decide for themselves whether they wish to have such intrusive invasions into the liberties of its citizens. I have not had an opportunity to review the law behind the Attorney General’s opinion but will. Please keep in touch with me and we will continue to work to stop this incursion into our local soverignty. As I argued on the floor “Freedom is seldom lost in one fell swoop, it is being lost in Maryland, one camera at a time”.
Thank you for your efforts on behalf of the citizens of Maryland.
[...] other was written by Eastern Shore Delegate Michael Smigiel and points out the real reason Maryland’s going headlong into allowing speed [...]
Speaking of accuracy of these cameras, I have got 3 “speeding” tickets driving 2 different cars and every time right away I checked the speedometer my speed was 2-4 miles higher than speed limit for that zone, and because I use the cruise control, those deviations are normal, so I am sure that private companies like Redflex etc. shamelessly are making millions of dollars with help of our government, I am shocked and disappointed.