Judge orders Ohio village to pay back $3 million to lead-footed drivers

Good story about those pesky traffic cameras that are always sending tickets to drivers.

A Judge in Ohio has declared something unconstitutional and has ordered $3 million refunded to victims !!

Ironic.

Judge orders Ohio village to pay back $3 million to lead-footed drivers

The town, with a population of about 2,200, collected over $3 million in revenue from heavy-footed motorists after it installed stand-alone speed cameras along one of its major throughways, US 127. The speed cameras in New Miami, which is less than one square mile, automatically fined motorists $95 if they drove faster than 50 miles per hour.

It proved to be a lucrative venture for the village just 35 miles north of Cincinnati. Flush with cash, it raised its annual budget from roughly $1.5 million to $2.5 million in 2013.
newmiami Expand / Contract

New Miami has just over 2,000 residents, but red light cameras brought in huge revenues. (Google Street View)

But now, the Village of New Miami must pay back every cent of the $3 million it collected from the speed cameras, which were ruled “unconstitutional” in 2014 when drivers filed a class-action lawsuit against the village.

and more ironic, Chicago has a case dispute with one camera company.

this one was a classic "corruption vs corruption" case HaHaHa

Chicago agrees $20M settlement with red-light camera company

The city of Chicago has settled a lawsuit for $20 million that it filed against a red-light camera company whose former chief executive pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the settlement Monday with Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. of Arizona and its Australian parent company Redflex Holdings Ltd. The lawsuit accused Redflex of fraud and making false statements when it contracted in 2003 to run the city's red-light camera enforcement program.

Tampa has a judge like that too, whom I happened to see in action once. He had a soap box going, and was giving them each this easy pay almost nothing and no points kind of deal.

The traffic cam at one intersection in our town was destroyed so many times they finally stopped repairing it.
It took pictures of people 'running' red lights, the ticket was 250 dollars.

All that remains is the pole, a tribute to jurisprudence by remote.

The camera in the case you're describing probably just took the picture of the offender. The speed control was in the road itself, if you crossed between two road sensors faster than the speed limit the camera took the picture.

How do you contest the ticket, there is no eyewitness, just a camera.

a reply to: intrptr

I talked to a camera tech pro guy once, some years back, as they were running amok across the city with them. He said certain models of cameras cost on the order of six figures! I was aghast, the tax burden alone int he name of surveillance, but he reassured me on the 'tax burden' part, that the expected returns were many fold (annually).

I know from experience, equipment built to make money with (such as vending equipment), the pricetag isn't based on what it costs for them to produce, but instead based on what you can make with it.

The RCMP set those up here, the mayor said if they did not remove them he would impound them..poof gone.

a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

For people getting the tickets in the mail it didn't matter the cost of the camera. They destroyed it out of revenge.

They finally stopped the policy for the same reason, imo as Ohio.

Its illegal.

Tickets are issued by officers, sworn witness to the crime.

A computer is not the same thing in that regard.

In many places they use traffic cams at toll stations to capture license plates. They then mail the person who took thoroughfare through the toll's "easy pass" system without have an "easy pass".

Why are those legal? If this is unconstitutional, why aren't those?

a reply to: Tempter

Because going through a toll is not a moving violation/offence..arbitrary conviction.

WAY back in the day now, I wanted to be a cop and took a lot of Criminal Justice courses.

One of the questions we got asked on a test (and later discussed) was what you would do if you caught your parent going 10 MPH over the speed limit.

A lot of people would say that they would issue a ticket, the rest would say they wouldn't give them a ticket. The correct answer was to use officer discretion. So if it's in a school zone or heavy traffic, yeah give a ticket. If it's at night and the roads are clear it's a warning. There is no discretion with these things.

I got a red light ticket once because the woman in front of me slammed on her brakes for no apparent reason and sat in the intersection without any cars obstructing her forward travel, she wanted to get in the left lane to make her turn. If I wasn't a stubborn asshole that could take the time to fight it, I would have been hit with a fine.

In this day and age, I can see anyone altering a video.

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

For people getting the tickets in the mail it didn't matter the cost of the camera. They destroyed it out of revenge.

They finally stopped the policy for the same reason, imo as Ohio.

Its illegal.

Tickets are issued by officers, sworn witness to the crime.

A computer is not the same thing in that regard.

Speeding is not a crime its an infraction. Thats how cities were getting away with them.

originally posted by: Xcathdra

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

For people getting the tickets in the mail it didn't matter the cost of the camera. They destroyed it out of revenge.

They finally stopped the policy for the same reason, imo as Ohio.

Its illegal.

Tickets are issued by officers, sworn witness to the crime.

A computer is not the same thing in that regard.

Speeding is not a crime its an infraction. Thats how cities were getting away with them.

Riiight, breaking the speed limit is not the same as breaking the law.

or whatever you call it.

Red light cameras were also ruled unconstitutional here in New Jersey as a third party was processing the summonses and the courts ruled that a law enforcement officer has to perform this task as per our state's statutes.

originally posted by: intrptr

originally posted by: Xcathdra

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

For people getting the tickets in the mail it didn't matter the cost of the camera. They destroyed it out of revenge.

They finally stopped the policy for the same reason, imo as Ohio.

Its illegal.

Tickets are issued by officers, sworn witness to the crime.

A computer is not the same thing in that regard.

Speeding is not a crime its an infraction. Thats how cities were getting away with them.

Riiight, breaking the speed limit is not the same as breaking the law.

or whatever you call it.

Learn the difference between the 2 then come back and be rude to me.

originally posted by: Xcathdra
Speeding is not a crime its an infraction.

The majority of the time that is accurate, there are however criminal speeding violations for excessive rates of speed.

originally posted by: Xcathdra

originally posted by: intrptr

originally posted by: Xcathdra

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

For people getting the tickets in the mail it didn't matter the cost of the camera. They destroyed it out of revenge.

They finally stopped the policy for the same reason, imo as Ohio.

Its illegal.

Tickets are issued by officers, sworn witness to the crime.

A computer is not the same thing in that regard.

Speeding is not a crime its an infraction. Thats how cities were getting away with them.

Riiight, breaking the speed limit is not the same as breaking the law.

or whatever you call it.

Learn the difference between the 2 then come back and be rude to me.

Ad your distinction is semantic.

Who cares what its called when the ticket arrives in the mail and you don't even know you got 'pulled over', ticketed, tried and convicted. That alone is cause for rebellion, more to the point of the thread.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: Xcathdra
Speeding is not a crime its an infraction.

The majority of the time that is accurate, there are however criminal speeding violations for excessive rates of speed.

Yup usually when you are double the speed limit or driving in an unsafe / imprudent manner. State and municipal laws / statutes / ordinances are usually broken down into several categories based on speed over the limit. On the citation you will see a section (in general) for the law / ordinance violation. Next to that (in general) is a box labeled charge code. The charge code is used to define the violation and whether or not its an infraction or a misdemeanor.

Probably more info than you cared to know so my bad.

Example (The blue is a municipal violation section and the black is a state violation section). Speeding is at the bottom and you can see what im referring to.



generally speaking exceeding the posted speed limit by more than 25 mph is a misdemeanor and not an infraction. The info above is based on my home state and the image is not current (about 5+ years old from an old job).

originally posted by: intrptr
How do you contest the ticket, there is no eyewitness, just a camera.

I contested a ticket in this town and won. The hard part was getting a Court date. They said "Just send us a check." It took me about a week and ten phone calls to get a Court date. When I went to Court I told the Magistrate "Sir. If you can tell me which car was mine, I'd plead no contest." There were seven different cars visible in the picture. He threw it out. I found out later that they had sent a citation to every car in the picture with a readable license plate.

a reply to: intrptr

Its not semantics any more than trying to argue a felony and a misdemeanor are the same thing. An infraction is not the same thing. They have differing standards, punishments, etc.

As I said before.. You have to learn the difference between the 2 before you can be rude to me.

Try again.

originally posted by: JIMC5499

originally posted by: intrptr
How do you contest the ticket, there is no eyewitness, just a camera.

I contested a ticket in this town and won. The hard part was getting a Court date. They said "Just send us a check." It took me about a week and ten phone calls to get a Court date. When I went to Court I told the Magistrate "Sir. If you can tell me which car was mine, I'd plead no contest." There were seven different cars visible in the picture. He threw it out. I found out later that they had sent a citation to every car in the picture with a readable license plate.

Wow, there, see? Thanks for the experienced look. Its just that simple for corruption to take hold of our pocketbooks.

I'm glad to hear you stood up, most people would just pay the fine.

a reply to: JIMC5499

Good stuff, I wonder how many just rolled over and paid?