To the people of Greensboro who are about to get red light cameras (again): How to beat the system

Dear friends and family in the Greensboro, North Carolina area:

It has come to my attention that after an absence of several years, red light cameras are due to be installed again all over the city.  These first appeared circa 2001 and it was soon apparent that they were more a liability than they were an asset.  Well, not an asset to anyone but the city government and the company running the cameras (who got a healthy percentage of each ticket issued).

I could spend all day writing about why the cameras are wrong.  How they violate our rights articulated in the Constitution.  How it also seems that the intersections equipped with the camera have speeded-up the yellow caution lights so that there's more a chance of running the red light and getting your car's photo taken.  Volumes have already been published about how bad the cameras are and why.

I'm not going to reiterate those.  Not this time.  Instead I'm going to do something more pertinent to your situation.  Namely, how to beat the cameras.

This is what I did in 2002, when a red light camera snapped a pic of my car as I was speeding through an intersection to avoid getting rear-ended.  Now, you can file a protest through the company running the cameras, but that's going to do no good.  You have to rigorously attack them.  Maybe if enough people do this the city fathers (are we still allowed to call them that?) will get the message and pull the cameras out once more.

Okay well, this is what happened.  Here is how I didn't have to pay the ticket:

If you get a camera-derived ticket, go to the courthouse.  Ask where to go to in order to have a subpoena issued.  Go there.  Tell them that you are subpoenaing witnesses in your court case.  Subpoena the company that runs the cameras.  Specify that you require the source code for the software running the camera.

You have a constitutional right to face your accuser in a court of law.  You also have the right to cross-examine any witnesses against you.

The fact that the "witness" in the red light camera situation is a robot is not germane to the situation.  That is still most likely the only thing that the government (and the camera company) has against you in its attempt to deprive you of money.  You have the right to your day in court and to request the presence of the witness.

So tell the government and the camera company that you require the source code for the computer that was operating that specific camera on that date.  Tell them that you're going to post the code on the Internet, so that others can better examine the code.

In my situation 23 years ago, the case was dropped like a hot rock.  No company is going to want their proprietary software distributed to the general public.  They were cornered and they knew it.

It could also be asked what authority does a municipal government have the right to bestow upon a private company that has a vested interest in a system that makes them a profit at the cost of individual rights.  You can bring that up in court too.  So far as I know nobody has ever argued about that before the United States Supreme Court.  But there can always be a first time, right?

It worked in 2002.  It will probably work again.  Let me know if it does.

Now you know.  And knowing is half the battle.

"G-I-JOE!!!"

Categories: civil rights, constitution, government, greensboro, law, north carolina, red light cameras, what the hell were they thinking