Thursday, February 08, 2007

An interesting idea... Incorporate to avoid automatically-generated tickets from the increasing number of revenue collector cameras on the road.....

Arizona motorists who do not wish to be targeted by the planned statewide deployment of freeway speed cameras have an easy alternative. For as little as $100 they can form a limited liability company and re-register their vehicles in that company's name. State law requires personal service of an individual before any citation is valid, which makes pursuing a ticket against a company vehicle impractical to pursue. "If there are any corporations, I just go ahead and X them out, because you can't serve a corporation," Chandler Police Officer Jed Gunter told the Phoenix New Times. A New Times investigation found over 12,000 speed camera tickets from the Loop 101 freeway in Scottsdale were tossed out because they were issued to a corporation, trust, or government entity. Cities that run their own photo enforcement program such as Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa, routinely ignored citations mailed by Scottsdale. Corporations are free to accept or reject citation notices. Among car rental companies, Enterprise fingered over 2000 renters, forcing them to accept a ticket and license penalty points. Hertz, on the other hand, only turned in 7 customers after receiving nearly 5000 notices. The investigation also showed that 10,000 innocent motorists who had been mailed speeding tickets had their dismissed after they had proved their innocence. As a matter of policy, no human being, whether vendor or police officer, actually reviewed the tickets before they were mailed to ensure the correct individual was being accused.

As a byline, I truly oppose speed cameras and support the rising tide of vandalism in the UK and Australia, where they've been causing havoc on roadways much longer than here in the US. There's a report out there that shows increased congestion and collisions near speed cameras. Drivers who know where they are slow down in the cameras' view, then resume normal traffic flow, drivers who aren't aware of the camera's presence are now forced to deal with rapidly changing traffic flow speed, and then the added distraction of a camera. So much for the "safety" angle. If they were truly about safety, the proceeds would be funneled into driver training and roadway improvement, rather than being a "cash machine" for the municipality. Speed doesn't kill, doing stupid stuff kills.

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