Speed Enforcement Cameras Concern Motorists
Houston, TX (PRWEB) February 28, 2014 -- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) states that almost 10,000 lives are taken each year due to speed related incidents. To help control traffic flow and incidents some states such as Arizona, Washington and New Mexico have turned to radar camera enforcement cameras. Those for the devices argue the technology helps control speed limits or deters motorists from running a red light; they insist the technology reduces the amount of accidents on the road.
Typically, when a driver receives a citation from one of these devices they are usually unaware they have broken the law. The party is notified through the mail and is given the time and date they violated the law. Red light cameras already had this issue and many motorists had situations like the following.
“I had no idea my wife had ran red light. The way I found out is that I got the mail one day and was given a link to a website where I saw her run the light,” states Brian, a Texas defensive driving student. The guilty party can simply pay a reduced fine to the municipality and be done with the whole process. There is very little room or no room at all for negotiating or dismissing the citation to avoid paying the fine.
Those against the technology strive to do away with them and may have even had unfortunate occurrence with the devices. Take the recent controversy which occurred in late January in which a Missouri resident received 3 speeding camera tickets within 10 days. When the resident tried to challenge the citation she was told to go home. Most recent, on Tuesday February 25, an Ohio Judge ordered to stop the use of speed enforced radar cameras.
Large cities like Houston, TX have done away with red light cameras. Citizens voted against the cameras and managed to have the cameras turned off. This was not done without a price; the city negotiated a lawsuit settlement in which they agreed to pay millions over money due to the supplier of the red light cameras. Other cities outside of the Houston area still have these traffic devices in place, but the controversy remains.
Around the nation cities are giving technology a try to combat the safety issues of the roadways. Some of their residents may embrace the idea, but there will be those that protest the equipment. The cities may spend millions of dollars putting the cameras up and like Houston; they may end up paying millions of dollars taking them down.
Comedy Driving, Inc. teaches defensive driving for Texas and a 4-hou r Basic Driver Improvement Course for the state of Florida.
Jeffrey Bitner, Comedy Driving Inc, +1 (713) 465-0042, [email protected]
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