I am no fan of the surveillance society nanny state crap that people seem content to take so uncomplainingly these days.

Privacy issues don't seem to bother people but boy...when it starts affecting their wallets people start paying attention it seems.

What ever it takes...I am glad someone is talking about cameras in public. Even if it's just red light cameras.

So, have you ever received a red light camera ticket?

Did you pay it?

Did you dispute it?

Do you know if they are being used in your area and if so what the laws regarding them are?


Motorists Seeing Red
over Red Light Cameras

Last Edited: Tuesday, 10 Mar 2009, 11:47 PM EDT
Created On: Tuesday, 10 Mar 2009, 10:53 PM EDT

New Carrolton, Md. - The town of New Carrolton's new mobile red light cameras are snapping up pictures like the paparazzi and motorists are calling the cameras out.
Danielle King got two tickets and says she's been wrongly accused. "I got caught by one up there," says King referring to the cameras along route 450.

E-mail us if you have been caught by a red light camera: webmaster@wttg.com

Motorists complain they are being wrongly accused. King says," I think they need to go away. I just think they are unfair. They need to go away."



Fox 5 camera's stood at one intersection near 85th Avenue and caught the camera popping off like popcorn.
75 dollar citations. One motorist shared his ticket.
He got cited in his white van, but a closer look at the ticket shows the vehicle is at a complete stop. Complaints are pouring in.

AAA Mid-Atlantic's John Townsend says it appears drivers are getting ticketed; not for running the red light, but for stopping over the white line.

Townsend blasted the camera saying, "This is the most egregious one we've seen. It is so beyond the pale. It not only violated the spirit of the law it violates the letter of the law. It may be illegal in the state of Maryland. "

During a short period, the camera flashs continually went off when cars were at a complete stop. We asked one motorist, "Did you go past the red light." The unidentified driver said, "no I didn't, I'm still stopped here at the red light. If I went thru then you wouldn't be talking to me know. The camera went off. So am I going to get a ticket? Oh no. "

Townsend said, "These people legally stopped for a red light, but they ventured into this box and they consider that technically to be red light running and it's not. It smacks of I got you; a game just for money"

As the camera snapped another picture, we asked another motorist, "Do you realize you just got a red light ticket. The unidentified woman said, "You've got to be kidding. You are kidding. Did you pass the red light? No!"

Some say it's not just a camera, but a cash cow--snapping up photos of unsuspecting motorist.
Townsend said many motorists don't even contest the tickets, in fact one woman confirmed that saying; "if I got it I wouldn't fight it no. If the camera is set to do it that way I just have to pay the ticket.

Townsend admits he's one of those recently ticketed, but he fought it.
Fox 5 made an effort to talk with the New Carrollton Police Department and the city about the issue.
The chief said he'll answer questions during office hours.
Triple A says they've received numerous complaints from several cities using the mobile red light cameras along the Route 450 corridor; including Bladensburg and Riverdale.

Arguably, red light cameras are the hardest tickets to dispute, if not impossible. You have to basically prove the light is triggered to turn red in an unreasonable amount of time. Although this has happened in rare instances, its not commonplace.

Personally, I wonder why people take issue with these as far as privacy goes when you are on film whenever you stop at the bank, a convenience store, or any number of other places, not to mention probably where you work.

I hate redlight cameras!! I'm glad the city I live in decided to take them out!

I suspect there might be something unconstitutional about them.

HA HA HA

"Personally, I wonder why people take issue with these as far as privacy goes when you are on film whenever you stop at the bank, a convenience store, or any number of other places, not to mention probably where you work."

Why is this okay?

Have the peoples expectation of privacy really eroded to this point? That an adult would blithely dismiss being monitored by cameras at work, at the bank, on the street...

Sheeple...damn...

A surveillance state is not okay!

I have news...it doesn't make you any safer either.

Will the camera save you from an armed robber or a rapist?

I repeat! A surveillance state is not okay!

the people will sit blindly and take the abuse as long as it is administered in small increments. after time, they will see it as normal to be surveiled. once it is considered normal, there is no way of changing the direction of that wind.

On this issue I think think2deep you and I might be in nearly complete agreement. A surveillance state is not okay.

I am not sure you will agree with the rest of it but here it is.

I find it especially troubling that children now feel it is perfectly normal to be on camera in their schools and adults, who should know better, seem to increasingly feel the same about their workplaces and in public spaces.

Police departments love to publicize their video surveillance of crimes asking people to identify criminals but where are they when crimes are taking place? Sure there is some argument to be made about stopping someone, via an identification and arrest from committing a future crime, but was the victim any safer because they were on camera?

I think not.

People really need to start thinking about this.

Think2deep is correct here, "people will sit blindly and take the abuse as long as it is administered in small increments"

Freedom and right's are seldom snatched quickly away. Instead they are chipped away until what was once unthinkable is now commonplace.

Speak out against trend folks before it is too late...if it isn't already.

I don't have an issue with the red light cameras or the speeding vans we have here. I always figure like this those cameras may one day stop me from being falsely accused of something. I follow the laws and if I am speeding or running a red light, I get caught, it is my fault and must pay the piper.

Do you know that in Europe they have cameras on almost ever corner? People there are under surveilance most of the their time out of their house with the exceptions of bathrooms and such. They do not seem to have a whole lot of problem with it. I guess they figure like I do, the cameras may someday catch the gun toting person who shoots me for no reason, ya never know

protocol #6
3.) In every possible way we must develop the significance of our Super-Government by representing it as the Protector and Benefactor of all those who voluntarily submit to us.

people will believe that the cameras will protect them and that they are put there for the people's protection.

Paranoia is a ***** it would seem. With technology will come change and with change will come new issues. I choose my battles accordingly.

Speeding cameras are the least of these battles. Now when they want to film me in my home then I will have an issue. I am the only filmer of home activities...lol

when one reads of injustices to others but dismisses them because it isn't happening to ones self, that person is just as guilty as the perpetrators of injustice. there is a word called 'bystander apathy' that comes to mind. by the time they are videoing you in your home you will have accepted it and believe it is just as normal as the red light cameras.

fight the ticket

call the camera as a witness

when it does nit respond move for dismissal

you have the right to face your accuser

Or when they send you a picture of you speeding/running a red light, simply mail back a picture of the check you wrote out for the ticket.

What an owner of private property does with that property is their business. Cameras reduce crime. If they're used properly. In an ideal world, the police would be able to be everywhere a crime could possibly happen, but this isn't an ideal world.

Mississippi is banning Red Light cameras!

Some lawmakers say emergency responders and vehicles in funeral processions have been ticketed for running red lights.

(House Bill 1568.)


It is awaiting Gov. Haley Barbour's signature...(He is expected to sign it.)

Cameras already installed must be removed by October 1st.

That's funny.

most cameras are installed because of a shortage of cops....or they need the cops for serious offenses.

that has happened, they just send back a picture of handcuffs and a jail cell.

IMO....i have no problem with the cameras. they aren't invading my privacy. i would rather have the camers catching speeders, light runners, accidents, and anything else that would help...than to have a cop doing this when there are more immediate things they are needed for

my brother in law (who works for texas dept of transportation) was in an accident that wasn't his fault 3 months ago. the women turned left and t-boned him. she had a red light....bro in law didn't. there weren't witnesses....just the camera and the timings of the lights. he now has a car (the truck was totaled) and the woman got a ticket. and her insurance paid. without the camera....it would be he said she said