Red Light Cameras

  By Florida Bill 

             In this day and age of cyber electronics and wireless everything, visionaries have created the high tech red light camera, which looks down from above like an all-knowing, all-seeing deity.
             Even though electronics seem to run our lives these days,  I wonder if the life of the famed red light camera is on the verge of being consigned to the black hole of irrelevance.  
              The overhead camera does its job taking videos of the traffic around red lights, thereby accomplishing the two-fold task of bringing in revenue and nailing reckless drivers. But there is a wrench in this engine. Under the Bill of Rights, a defendant of a crime, serious or trivial, has a right to confront and question his accuser, and when his accuser is a camera--well that's a problem. 
             In recent months and years, there have been a number of legal complaints about the devices, leaving municipalities concerned about whether courts may outlaw their expensive investments.
            Right  now, the cameras are operating at intersections in  twenty-six states and in the District of Columbia in America, and in many countries throughout the world.  It is a sticky situation in the USA with some judges giving cameras the okay, while others believe that judgments based upon pictures are skipping over constitutional requirements guaranteed to motorists. To be precise, say legal experts, you cannot always trust shutter bugs checking up from a metal box in the sky. There are photos and videos--yes, but who is reviewing them for their accuracy?
             Even in trivial matters such as red light tickets, the Constitution gives motorists the right to confront their accuser. However, it's rather difficult to apply the Constitution to a dispute over the accuracy of a video produced by an unattended camera. But as far as financially strapped municipalities are concerned, "We gotcha, it's right here in black and white (or living color?), so pay up."   But there are some outraged drivers willing to take on the power behind the lens and demand their day in court.
             In Florida, a circuit judge dismissed a ticket issued to a motorist on the say-so of a camera, which had photographed his vehicle making an illegal right turn.  The ticket was contested on the grounds that the citation was being issued by a company rather than by a policeman.  The lower court dismissed the ticket, but the 3rd District Court of Appeals, in a 37-page opinion, reinstated the ticket, finding that it was the police behind the ticket.  
              Appellate courts often differ in their opinions, and the 3rd district finding was at loggerheads with Florida's 4th District Court of Appeals covering Broward County, which decided in 2014 that a red light ticket issued in Hollywood was without constitutional legs, since in that case the law was allowing the company hired to run the cameras to issue the tickets. Only police have authority to enforce traffic laws, the court ruled, and the fall-out from that opinion triggered dismissal of 24,000 tickets, leaving open questions of refunds for motorists who had paid fines based on a law subsequently declared illegal.
              A friend of mine, Mike Hanley, a resident of South Florida, got flagged by the cameras at an intersection in Miami.  With all the commotion about camera tickets, he was given a court date 10 months later in the Miami City hall and invited to contest the ticket.  He did have the option to pay $158 and the violation would be dismissed, with no untoward consequences.  Or he could request a hearing, which he did, but he risked a doubling of the fine if, after a trial, he was found guilty.  Not a bad deal for municipal coffers, if the driver accused by camera is indeed adjudged guilty by a real court, and that is generally the outcome.    
               So Hanley, a feisty retired Delta airline captain and former Naval fighter pilot during Viet Nam days, went to court prepared to go to war with the red light faerie.  
             Without fanfare, the ticket was dismissed.  Maybe it was because he had to wait 10 months for the hearing, or maybe the authorities saw the writing on the wall, and were not in the mood to cross swords with the enraged Hanley, who was in court with a copy of the constitution in his pocket.
               The long and short of red light activity is that its future is in limbo and will no doubt eventually end up in the lap of supreme courts throughout the nation. Perhaps someday, if a targeted driver is persistent enough in his or her anger, it could end up before the nation's top court.
               Red  light cameras started appearing in various states  some 30 years ago. Visionaries saw the possibilities of increasing revenue and safety in one clean  punch. Over the years these magic overhead eyes have triggered much needed dollars for struggling municipalities and states.
            The inspiration for the cameras picked up real momentum in the USA  in the 1980s following a highly publicized crash involving a red light runner who collided with a mother and her 18- month-old daughter in a stroller in New York city.  
              The accident led to research into automated law enforcement systems to identify reckless drivers who run red lights.  Scientists put their heads to work and presto--the eye in the sky.  But no one is really sure right now whether it will be forced to blink shut in the future.

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