I have traveled to the United Kingdom for years and I watched as their police forces stopped policing and started to rely on cameras for all speed enforcement. I understand why it was appealing, the police officer never has to listen to another excuse or deal with a belligerent driver but I would point out to my friends in the UK that it would never pass muster in the US due to our right to face our accuser, a right they lack in the UK.

I was wrong of course, the ease of the cameras is just too sexy as is the ‘free’ money they provide and they are starting to pop up in the States, even here in Maryland. They use a number of tricks to get them pass muster, mostly by not making the fine a criminal penalty. However I am proud to say kids in Maryland are fighting back by being rotten to each other. I want to thank them, they are showing how little the emperor is wearing with these bloody things and I hope they do enough damage to bring attention to what a wretched thing these cameras really are.

Nobody likes getting a traffic ticket and few sane cops like writing them but it is a process that ensures everyone involved is legit, which cameras just can’t do.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 22nd, 2008 at 10:34 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.