Red Light Camera Solution

Traffic ticket pack a double whammy: the cost of the ticket and there is the cost of traffic school or increase your auto insurance premium.

The cost of traffic tickets and the rate of being fined are both increasing. A major reason for the increase in the number of tickets issued in the course of traffic is the proliferation of red light cameras. These red light cameras are there to take pictures of license plates of vehicles crossing an intersection after the light has turned red. Somewhere between two weeks and two months later, a ticket to the offender is placed, often with his photo attached. Tickets can range from $ 30 to more than $ 300. Private companies that provide and manage these red light cameras share the revenues with the municipalities where there are cameras.

We are told that these cameras are placed at intersections for our good, and not for financial boon. The fact is that there was more than $ 1 billion in fines issued up to now because of these red light cameras. There are also people who swear that some of the traffic lights are calibrated to increase the number of red light tickets.

There are three major flaws of this system of photo ticketing.

First, there is the obvious one of a camera photographing a vehicle malfunction and when the light is not illuminated red. How do you sustain a successful case?

Secondly, if there was a legitimate reason to be in an intersection when the light turned red. Perhaps there was a pedestrian walkway through the straggling. Or maybe late, the oncoming traffic prevented a driver busy intersection make a left turn before the light turned red. Perhaps there was some obstacle in the road caused a driver to have to slow down, and then get caught in the intersection when the light turned red. Such mitigating circumstances may be explained and verified by a police officer may decide not to issue a ticket. But how do you explain anything to a camera?

Thirdly, there is the problem of the time lag between the infringement of traffic and the actual receipt of the ticket. It may be shorter or two weeks to two months. How is someone to fight a ticket for an infraction that can not remember, or did not even know that he has committed?

The case against the use of red light traffic cameras went to court and in some towns there were moratoriums placed on their use. But, despite these small wins, do not use continues to spread.

While the law struggle with the legality of red light cameras, people have decided to react. The resistance is twofold: legal and creative.

On the legal front, groups like the National Motorists Association (NMA) provide resources to help fight the red light camera tickets. Their website, http://www.motorists.com, is full of useful information for drivers in a jam.

Others have sought a much more active and preventative. The law says that the plates must be clearly visible on the front and rear of each vehicle, but says nothing about their being photographed.

Fed-up, drivers have come up with resourceful ways to make clear the plates with the naked eye, but virtually insensitive to be clearly photographed. One way to do this is by applying a glossy coating on the plaque that causes the red light camera's flash to reflect on itself, producing a well, overexposed unreadable blur. This is perfectly legal because the plates are clearly visible.

Thanks to a refusal to roll over and accept this money taken, once again we are able to address the intersections of traffic without worrying about whether a rapid red light, camera failure or misstep child trafficking will become a business and $ 300 higher auto insurance premiums .......