BAD REVIEWS FOR TRAFFIC CAMERAS IN BRITAIN:
Even if they agree that speed limits are necessary, many motorists resent having to obey them all the time. They say they hate being constantly on the lookout for cameras and accuse the government of treating them like cash machines.
“It’s just a road tax,” said Ian Murray, a sales clerk at an army-navy surplus store in Kelvedon Hatch. He understands the need for cameras in residential areas, he said, but feels aggrieved when he sees them on the highway, where the national speed limit is 70 m.p.h. but where the fast lane generally clips along at 80 m.p.h. or higher.
“What happens is you see the speed camera, and you put on your anchor and drop your speed, and then when you get past it you speed up again,” Mr. Murray said. Also, he said, the cameras cause people to brake suddenly, endangering themselves and the people behind them.
Paul Smith, head of an anti-camera group called the Safe Speed Road Safety Campaign, said that drivers spent so much time scouring the roadside for cameras that they forget to pay attention to the road.
“We’ve got a nation of people who have one eye looking out for the next speed camera, another looking for a speed limit sign and another looking at the speedometer — which is a bit of a shame, when you only have two eyes,” he said.
As I’ve noted elsewhere, there’s evidence suggesting that these cameras make things more dangerous, not safer. And it seems beyond dispute that the primary motivation for deploying them is financial.
Somebody’s just filed a traffic-camera lawsuit in Knoxville. You can see a copy of the complaint online here. I hadn’t realized that Knoxville’s system makes you pay $67.50 up front in “costs” if you want a hearing on your $50 ticket . . . .
UPDATE: Don Jacobs of the Knoxville News-Sentinel says that I’m in error about having to pay that $67.50 up front. But I’m looking at an image of a “Hearing Request” form that someone sent me and it says “To schedule a hearing you will be assessed a court processing fee of $67.50.” So am I missing something here?