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Friday, May 28, 2010

Attorney subpoenas red-light cameras to appear in court (they didn't, she won)

Something very similar to this happened to me in 2002, but I don't pretend to be an attorney so I couldn't do it as awesomely kewl as Georgia attorney Regina Quick did in court this week. I had to speed through a red-light camera intersection in Greensboro 'cuz the car behind me was about to rear-end me hard. A week later the citation came in the mail, and I didn't think it was fair.

So I filed a subpoena at the courthouse in Greensboro to have the source code for the software operating the cameras be given to me, so that I could "cross examine" it. 'Course, my real motive was to post it on the Internet so that better heads than my own could examine it.

Suffice it to say, my case was dropped like a hot rock.

At trial in Athens-Clarke Municipal Court on Tuesday however, it was the red-light cameras themselves which had been summoned to court in order to testify against two of Miss Quick's clients. The cameras were a no-show, and the judge found in favor of the defendants.

The story goes on to say that Athens-Clarke County is considering installing more of the cameras at intersections. Which tells me that they are another government jurisdiction with a budget shortfall, and is looking at making up for it by putting the safety of its citizens at risk. The Palm Beach Post this week ran a story in which it found that red-light cameras cause the rate of rear-end collisions to soar to more than double what they had been before the cameras were put in place. Figure that it's common knowledge by now that the duration of the yellow light at these intersections is usually much shorter than at a non-camera "assisted" intersection, and that the private companies under contract to run these cameras are profiting from each guilty citation, and there's a lot of reason to despise these things.

Remember: a robot is not a citizen. Not yet anyway. It doesn't enjoy the rights under the Constitution that you and I have. So if a droid sends you to court, dare it to take the stand.

3 comments:

Jordan said...

I like what you wrote in your last paragraph. I think you got some great points there. From so many things important these days, why are these red-light cameras become more important then the other issues!

Charles said...

Your article is very good. I also agree with your article that explains "he found that red light cameras cause rear-end collisions levels to soar more than double what they had before the cameras were put in place". Thank you for sharing the information in this post.

Stewart said...

There is a bigger problem than just a camera. I don't understand why the authority consider this as a huge problem. Don't they have any other problems? I mean, real problems?