To Pay or Not to Pay
by The Panda Man · 02/07/2007 7:24 pmThat is the question. Remember Houston’s red-light cameras? The money machines have been in operation since last September, spitting out $75 civil citations to Houston vehicle owners whose cars fail to stop on red, even if someone else is driving. It now looks like another attempt will be made in the legislature to ban the devices in the Lone Star State.
The dreams of greedy city governments for a windfall from red light cameras may be about to hit a red light in the Texas Legislature.
State Representative Carl Isett (R-Lubbock) has introduced a bill that would outlaw the use of the devices in Texas, 1200 WOAI news is reporting exclusively today.
Perhaps this effort will be successful. In the meantime, things are not looking too good down at Houston’s red-light camera collection department.
1200 WOAI news reported exclusively last month that there is no enforcement mechanism which requires motorists to actually pay the tickets they receive in the mail from the Arizona based company, and, in fact, the compliance rate in Houston, which installed the cameras last fall, is in many cases no better than 10%.
Ouch. Why the large-scale ignoring of the tickets? A camera-issued citation is a civil fine, with no real penalties for failure to pay. The worst the city can do is turn you over to a collection agency. It seems that quite a few of those vehicle owners who have received one of these citations have discovered this fact and are probably just tossing the toothless ticket in the trash. Of course, this practice is not recommended for a police officer-issued citation, which still carries criminal penalties and involves all that cumbersome “due process” stuff.
There you have it, Houston, another wonderful accomplishment in the tradition of $afeClear, brought to you by the City. And do not forget, it’s all about $afety!
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Has anyone here at LST gotten one of those “tickets ?”
And how many rear end collisions have been caused by these camera$?
It would be one cold day before I payed such a ticket. I doubt that I will have to worry about it unless the yellow is shortened to cause it to be impossible for the last vehicle or 2 to stop before the red occurs. In that case I would have to test the time of the yellow light and run the calculations on how long it takes to stop a vehicle on a particular type of pavement given the posted speed limit.
No I do not trust the money grubbers to not run short yellow cycles to increase revenue.
I would not pay.
Anarchy Baby!
This says a lot
“Arizona based company”
Also Taser International is in Phoenix Az.
Both of these were introduced after Cheef Hurt arrived….. Hmmmmmm??????
And the ole boy still hasn’t moved his family here.
Photo Blocker:
http://www.photoblocker.com/www/index.html
Houston has become the biggest money grab with absolutely NO RESULTS on any of it. God forbid White and his crew get hold of Austin, We think Perry is bad a state with White’s record would be a NY decade ago.
Houston has become the biggest money grab with absolutely NO RESULTS on any of it. God forbid White and his crew get hold of Austin, We think Perry is bad a state with White’s record would be a NY decade ago.
Houston has become the biggest money grab with absolutely NO RESULTS on any of it. God forbid White and his crew get hold of Austin, We think Perry is bad a state with White’s record would be a NY decade ago.
Just noticed “new” “Photo Enforced” signs at the light on the southbound 59 access road at Beechnut. They are set back far enough from the intersection that if the light turns yellow when you are between the signs and the lights, you’d have to be a moron not to stop!
Just throw some mud on a few letters of your liscense plate and registration sticker.
Anarchy Baby!
I. Will. Not. Pay. Period.
Please don’t run red lights - for your own safety - don’t run red lights - I agree cameras are invasive but they are comming will be more sophisticated and real tickets will be issued soon enough, so as Bsue says “Stop”
Remember driving is not a god given right - its a priviledge and by signing that application for a license you agreed to ubmit to all rules and regulations and enforcement
If you disagree, sell your car and take the bus.
I can’t sell my car…no one wants it (16 years old) not even the thieves - but it’s okay - I have kept in tip top shape and will not give in to having car notes and will get a new car next year when I can pay cash. I refuse to subsidize Metro.
Actually, there’s more than one bill in the works on this. As of yesterday, there has been 6 bills filed relating to the devices. The legislature is getting real creative at slowing down the spread of them.
I have more details on my blog at http://www.otsc.com/blog I will update it if more bills have been filed.
Michael,
#13
I agree with you on this. Just waiting to see what the legs or supreme court do. Nice blog, BTW!
Hey, Eric Pee. Nobody said to run red lights. Nobody said that driving is anything other than a privilege. Enough with the strawmen already.
Some more if your inside knowledge? Perhaps you gave Dan the bill to file personally?
Hey Ep If you don’t agree keep it to yourself!
Number 12:
You are so wrong, no time to discuss the difference
between driving and travelling. One is commercial
and the other is private.
City Council has no authority to regulate you. Allow me to expound.
All Civil actions begin with a contract, is there a contract with you and the public corporation known as the City Of Houston?
If IBM sent the same notice would you feel compelled to comply?
City Council does not make law. Get over it.
It is a scam. Donate if you like.
The law is your friend if you know how to
participate.
I don’t know if I missed the answer to this or not but does anyone know if the red light cameras work at night or not. All the pictures I ever seen on TV show it during the daytime.