Red Light Cam Tickets Temporarily Suspended Throughout New Jersey Over Timing Concerns

Almost three quarters of New Jersey's red-light cameras may not be timed correctly with the yellow lights, according to the Star Ledger, and will be tested by the state's department of transportation. The cameras, 63 of them in 21 towns, including all 19 in the state's biggest city, Newark (which apparently raked in $3 million in fines from the camera in 2010 alone), will remain on and if they're found to be in compliance tickets will be issued. Otherwise, the state may face a class action lawsuit over any fines charged because of the bad cameras. Of course, local officials in the towns involve insist their cameras work correctly.

Reason on cash cams

Reason.TV chronicled the defeat of Los Angeles' red light cams:

Comments

[Pro Libertate]

States crave revenues.

[heller]

In New Jersey, you can just ignore the ticket and they have no way to prove you ever received it.

[sarcasmic]

That seems kinda silly. If you don't pay and don't go to court, won't they pull your license and issue a bench warrant?

[Agammamon]

Probably not - there's a similar mechanic at work here in AZ. Since there's no way to officially say that the notice has been served if its sent by mail you can get away with ignoring the mailed ticket. After that if the police want to take it further they've got to get someone to serve it personally, which gets expensive.

Its this concern for rights over government expediency that makes AZ one of the better states. Far from perfect though as the recent immigration law hoopla has shown.

[BakedPenguin]

So you don't live in Maricopa county?

[Doctor Whom]

According to the New Jersey Supreme Court, that state's law presumes that mail properly addressed, stamped, and posted was received by the party to whom it was addressed.

[heller]

I have a relative who is a New Jersey lawyer. She told me it works every time.

[R C Dean]

that state's law presumes that mail properly addressed, stamped, and posted was received by the party to whom it was addressed.

Maybe for contract disputes. For criminal actions? I doubt it.

[Pro Libertate]

Even for contracts, that's nuts. Our standard language for notices requires more than that crap.

[Tulpa the White]

In some states, non-arrestable speeding offenses are considered administrative in nature, not criminal (which paradoxically makes things more difficult for the recipient of the ticket). Not sure about NJ.

[Suthenboy]

In Louisiana, because you cannot confront your accuser ( the camera ) in court, the ticket is not considered criminal, but civil.

Municipalities send them out ( most notorious is lafayette ) hoping you will be stupid enough to pay. If you dont, they turn you over to a collection agency. When the agency contacts you looking for money all you have to do is demand to see proof that you owe the money.

The whole thing is a scam. In every locality where the use of traffic cams have been put to a popular vote, they have been voted down by 80% or better.

[Suthenboy]

Ooops. I looked it up to make sure my info wasnt outdated and discovered that New Orleans is different. Of course. What a shithole N.O. is.
Please God, send another Katrina, but have it make landfall just west of N.O. this time.

[Auscifer]

Correct me if I'm wrong - The collections agency will report it to credit agencies which in turn will negatively affect your credit score.

I would not know, as I have not needed any type of loan for quite some time.

[Tulpa the White]

In Louisiana, because you cannot confront your accuser ( the camera ) in court, the ticket is not considered criminal, but civil.

That's crazy. If a store gets robbed overnight and the act is caught on video, can the burglar get off by claiming he can't confront the security camera?

[o3]

just remove the front plate as i did over 3 yrs ago. been through several safety checkpoints since nary a word.

[KDN]

It's illegal to remove the front plate in NJ. They will pull you over and write a ticket for it.

[SugarFree]

Red Light Cam Tickets Temporarily Suspended Throughout New Jersey Over Timing Concerns

Oh, darn. Robo-tyranny is going to be so upset.

[Pro Libertate]

Killer drone process. Red-light cameras. Faucets that control how you wash your hands.

The end is nigh!

[Episiarch]

For you, ProL.

All they need to do now is give tickets by using drones to measure speeding. It'll be the new rage in revenue!

[Agammamon]

NJ turnpike already does - measures average speed between tollbooths and can mail tickets for exceeding the alllowed speed if you arrive the the next booth too early.

[Episiarch]

Yes, I know. So does the NY Thruway. In fact, I was once traveling with a friend who got pulled over by a cop for "speeding", even though the cop hadn't been running a radar gun--the cop waited at the toll plaza and the toll booth operators would tip him off as to who had gone from plaza to plaza "too fast".

[ALHaines]

I hear this said all the time, but I have yet to meet a single person for whom this is true.

However, Port Authority is issuing tickets for people who speed through EZ Pass lanes. In NJ, all EZ Pass lanes are 15 mph. Exceeding that limit could get you a ticket.

But speeding between tollbooths? Hasn't happened yet, unless someone can produce a speeding ticket issued because they did 75 between exits 119 and 123 on the Parkway and EZ Pass picked up on it. Pics required. I'm not saying it couldn't happen, just that it hasn't. Yet.

[sarcasmic]

NJ turnpike already does - measures average speed between tollbooths and can mail tickets for exceeding the alllowed speed if you arrive the the next booth too early.

False according to snopes.

http://www.snopes.com/autos/law/ezpass.asp

[KDN]

I get from exit 13A to 9 on the NJTP going an average speed of 85 once per week, breaking 100 fairly often. If I haven't gotten one yet, nobody has.

[Tulpa the White]

How could they possibly manage to tell that in real time? Well, assuming you're not using EZ Pass, which you'd have to be crazy to speed without stopping while using.

[Pro Libertate]

Which should I read? The short story or the novel?

[Episiarch]

Read both. The first chapter of the novel is the short story.

[Pro Libertate]

Very well.

[KDN]

The 22 cameras that are in compliance include 12 in Jersey City

The only JC camera I see regularly is on 19 and Sip; that one goes off about 5 seconds after the opposite side turns green. If all cameras worked like that I might not be so opposed to them.

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

I always laugh when supporters of the cameras wail that "it's not about the money it's about teh safety!". Sure it is. Okay, so let's just pass a law that says that cities cannot make a profit from red-light or speed cameras. Not because I think it would actually work; I'd just like to see the "it's not about the money" crowd shit their drawers over it.

[Tulpa the White]

It's perfectly legitimate for law enforcement to be funded by ticket revenue. In fact, several anarcho-capitalist luminaries (David Friedman for instance) have proposed this model as the SOLE source of funding for justice systems in ancap societies.

[Auscifer]

I deal with this bullshit every day of the week working in Fleet Administration for a large company.

IIRC, the citizens of Austin, TX passed a law to ban such cameras. I hope to one day be involved in such an effort in my own city.

Speeding/Red Light cameras have zero basis in "Safety" and are simply extortion rackets. But Reason readers knew that already.