Ohio town's traffic cameras send out 10,000 tickets in 1 month

If you can help it, I'd consider the town of Heath, Ohio to be a place to steer well clear of. That personal assessment comes after word that it's newly-installed traffic-enforcement cameras have sent out more than 10,000 tickets after just four weeks of operation. With the tickets being $100, after camera provider Redflex gets its cut that's $83,000 that the city government would put into its coffers.

As you can imagine (and you can see it in the comments of the above-linked article) quite a number of folks are honked-off about this. I would be too. Traffic cameras, be they for speed or at stop-light intersections, are not about enforcing laws for sake of safety. They are, first and foremost, a "revenue enhancing" scheme.

And these cameras are inherently not constitutional. We are supposed to have the right to face our accuser in a court of law, regardless of how small the offense.

How does one do that when the accuser is a robot?

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"Santa's helpers" disable traffic cameras with giftwrap in Arizona!

In August of 2001, I was p***ed-off enough about the "red light cameras" in Greensboro that I decided to do something about it. So I did some designin' in Photoshop, took it to a Kinko's and had it printed up huge and laminated, and for five hours in the hot sun stood next to one robosentinel that had particularly bothered me while holding a sign that read "SMILE: YOU'RE ON KOMRADE KAMERA!" Hee-hee-hee... got lots of supporters who honked in agreement as they drove past on Battleground Avenue.

So I think this next item is bigtime groovy...

Four people dressed as Santa Claus went around Tempe, Arizona a few days ago and put gift-wrapped boxes over three speed and red light cameras around the city. And for good measure they posted the video of their rebellion on YouTube...

It cannot be said enough: America is not her government. America is her people. When America's people lash out at government abuse, then that is the definition of a virtuous citizenry.

Bravo to you, "Santa's Helpers"! May others be inspired by your example! :-)

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Maryland teens using speed cameras for revenge on teachers, others

Slashdot has a humorous story about high school students in Maryland who have targeted those "speed cameras" there for clever abuse. The kids are finding people they don't like - such as their most-hated teachers - and using laser printers and glossy paper to create high-quality copies of their prey's license plates. Then they scram past the cameras at excess speed with the bogus plates on their cars and make the teachers or whoever get slapped with a $40 fine a few days later! From all appearances there is no oversight or investigation: the fines get sent out automatically.

We should start doing this with the cars of a lot of busybody politicians and bureaucrats. What say ye?

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