I-Team: Backlash growing against school zone speed cameras in Georgia
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- Опубликовано: 4 июн 2024
- By Johnny Edwards
Aired February 22, 2024
ATLANTA - Georgia’s school zone speed cameras, which snap pictures of license plates and cite car owners by mail, face a battle for survival.
While police say the cameras help keep children and school employees safe, drivers have complained for years about ticket-happy cameras that benefit private companies and governments. Both state lawmakers and plaintiffs’ attorneys have taken notice.
link to FULL STORY: www.fox5atlanta.com/news/back...
If a private company is running the speed cameras then it’s not about safety it’s about maximizing dollars. In our city we voted them out then voted out the mayor and council for milking us with this money grab
That's a great story. What city would that be?
just like health care.
Simple solution, don't exceed the speed limit.
I personally think the city should be running the program. However nobody ever said drivers were innocent.
It's a school zone, slugger. Why not try being constructive and proposing a well reasoned alternative?
I want to know how much these two companies “donated” to which politicians, and how the politicians voted.
The cities actually lose money in some cases. my town is small and a cop told me they pay 3 million a year for the camera's and said they would have to issue tickets 50 times over a day, each officer to break even..
@@thedbcooperforum That checks out. Either your cop friend has a 50 ticket a day quota set by the PD (which has nothing to do with the cameras), or the politicians who deliberately voted for this stuff knows the city is losing money on it but they don't care because the vendor companies are loyal "donors" to their political campaigns. That, or both are simultaneously true.
Does it matter? It's Georgia so it was republicans who did it. Republicans have been trying to privatize ALL public services for the last 40 years. .
@@Soloong_Gaybowzer Nobody will get 50 tickets a day unless they set up traps on a highway, it would take too long to do..a lot of cities take a loss using camera's...
@@Soloong_Gaybowzer…it’s literally illegal for PD to set quotas.
Also drive around your own community for a couple hours and you’ll see several traffic violations. Police are almost guaranteed to see traffic infractions daily.
2:31 the owner of the company saying the lawsuit to shutdown the cameras is a cash grab…now that’s some rich irony.
I thought EXACTLY the same thing!! WHO's grabbin the cash here??? LOL!
A representative of private speed cameras calling the lawsuit a 'cash grab' is the most egregious pot calling the kettle example I've ever heard of.
I am totally okay with a company making money off of dangerous drivers. We need these cameras on every street!
If Politicians are pushing it, you know it's a lucrative deal. Don't be fooled into thinking that they care about you or your children.
*Oh hell no they don't care. If they saw a $100 bill blowing across the street they would run you and your kids down to get that bill.* *Someone is getting a kickback from stuff like this.*
💯
If all politicians are corrupt, you could always run for office... but then I guess you'd automatically become corrupt. |
What a thoroughly unproductive ideology.
"If politicians are pushing it, you know they're getting paid off."
There, I fixed it for you. 😉
Yup. No doubt they're ALL getting kickbacks and payoffs.
It stopped here in Washington state when people started sending back pictures of money to pay the fines. The camera's was removed.
- pictures of money, lol, that's cool.
The great people of Washington State sounds like smart people.
In Texas, it was ruled that since these companies are not law enforcement agencies, tickets issued by these cameras are no longer enforceable nor are citizens required to pay them. I’ve received a couple of tickets and just put them in the trash.
Some states add the unpaid tickets to your car registration renewal.
😂😂😂😂
So it's like HOA tickets?
@@themachoechidnaugandarandy7583 exactly
I wipe my butt with them.
Any time a private company is contracted to perform "law enforcement" duties is ripe for fraud. There is a financial incentive to write as many tickets as possible no matter the time or day or road conditions.
There's 110% fraud with everything cops & government related too but I agree ir shouldn't be going to a private company.
When they did that in NYC it was for the "safety of the children" and would only be operational during school hours. When they realized the money they could make they were left on 24 hours a day. Won't be long before they come to a highway near you. Never forget it's not about safety but about money, ALWAYS about the money.
Never let them get a foothold. It starts with protecting the children, it always starts with that. Next thing you know they'll be littered along every mile of every paved road in the country.
It might end up like the red light cameras did though. We had them in Georgia in the 2000s, but after people got used to them they stopped making money and then they shut them all down
The government’s involved,its mentioned as safety but ALWAYS its the money
If you drive the speed limit, you won't have to worry about speed limit enforcement cameras unless they're broken. What a crazy idea.
"It's not about safety, it's about money".
Well yea, only way you're going to learn if it hits your wallet, not a prison sentence. I don't speed anymore ever since I got my $500 ticket.
Though I don't agree with it being a private company since the tickets can become fraudulent
If only there was some way not to exceed the speed limit, some indicator or speed gauge in the car perhaps?
A friend told me about his ed light camera ticket. His employee was driving his company vehicle so my friend asked about arbitration. He was told it was available and the fee was $350.00 and it was about a 300 mile round trip to the arbitration site. The ticket was for $75.00. This was not about public safety. It was about the money.
I love the lawyer's messy desk. 😂 😂
To run a radar in Georgia as a deputy sheriff, I had to take a class, perform an accuracy check on the unit before and after each shift, complete training hours where I was able to check speed, but not pull over vehicles for speeding during said training. After I received certification to enforce speed, I had to have my certification available upon request for an accused to view as well as offer an accuracy check to the accused on the traffic stop. The camera does none of that. Those cameras may not be accurate. There is no way to challenge the accuracy of the unit at the time of incident. These things are just money grabs and should be illegal!
In Ohio surrounded by Cleveland is a small village called Lindale. Lindale solely relys on speeding tickets to sustain their village. What does that tell you…
I love how the lawyer for the cash grabbing camera companies is calling the lawsuit against the cameras nothing but a cash grab
Can these cameras record the speed of an approaching bullet?
Don't even need that. If they had had these cameras in Colonial times, our forefathers would have been climbing the poles with axes in hand.
@@davidcox3076are you always this dramatic or is it only on youtube?
They don't care about bullets. It's about the money not the kids.
So if the cameras are vandalized, it's not destruction of public property. It's private property so the companies would need to report it...
Just curious and asking for a friend.
That very thing has happened to a plate reader camera in the rural county in Colorado that I live in. The contract with the company that operates it and a few others in the county is not being renewed.
The government is leasing those cameras and theft is still theft. But there is a better way of solving the problem. The government gets the money and pays out the 30%. So to keep the children safe and keep from paying a private company, slow the F**k down!
I hear there is about 5 lbs of copper in those things.
@@michaelgates8257 Post that in every homeless camp in the area. Those cameras won't last 24 hours.
😂😂@@michaelgates8257
We had these in Texas and they got banned statewide even at stoplights. Reason being is that the cities and counties across the state were calibrating the cameras to ticket people even if they stopped at the red light so long as the "nose of the car crossed the line". That, and Texas law states that in order to receive a citation an officer of the law has to be present issuing the ticket and verify the identity of the driver. It's unlawful to issue a ticket to the car owner without verification of who was actually driving the car.
I got 3!! In Forest Park by a “School Zone” when the school that use to be there, was DEMOLISHED. So no school but still tickets people. Ridiculous
I would go and hammer it out 😂 they tried it in the hood and the kids busted those machines within seconds 😆 no more tickets 😊 they not going to keep coming back to replace them trust me
Wow, that attorney’s desk was so well organized.
My wife is a teacher and has to drive through he school's zone every day and has received 3 tickets even though she is actually driving below the speed limit.
Take it to court and ask to question your accuser.
Red light ticket 3 years ago. I didn't come to a complete stop on a free turn. No traffic is coming for 2 blocks. I ignored the thing, and nothing happened. I just renewed my license, and my insurance didn't go up. And my credit score is great! Been 3 years now.
No part of governing the public should be privatized. There will always be a conflict of interest when there is a profit motive, and businesses have no duty to the public. Private companies exist solely to maximize profit for their stakeholders. These governments are outsourcing their responsibilities and oversight with the excuse of keeping taxes low.
Don't teach the kids to use crosswalks or look both ways when crossing the street.
A speeding ticket is a MOVING violation. You cannot ticket a vehicle for a moving violation, you have to ticket the driver. I am not going to pay a ticket for my vehicle if i was not driving it. That is why Texas banned all these types of cameras.
Private companies should not be allowed to profit off of the justice system in any way.
So, speeders are upset about getting caught. If you want to attack the profits, then stop speeding.
@@Andorian323 Oh I've gotten tickets. I just don't gripe about it when I'm caught.
So much for the people in Atlanta claiming to be concerned about protecting children.
This is one of those things that lawmakers say it’s for public safety, but everyone knows what it’s really about. Just like civil asset forfeiture. It’s revenue generation. Plain and simple.
I mean, if speeding through school zones was such a safety issue, they’d give us the statistics in a heartbeat showing how many children have been injured/killed recently to back up their argument. Instead, it’s just: “trust us, bro, we need cameras people aren’t aware of to deter speeding.”
Micheal Moore talke about this. This is exactly what happens when a public service is privatized because of money. The Judge that sent hundreds of juveniles into a private detention facility.
How dare they give someone a ticket for doing 56 in a 45 speed zone! 🙄
I'd suggest they pass a law Capping the maximum Allowed revenue per Segment of road (A choice must then be made re. Which violators to Ticket), also the Maximum percentage of a Violation that can be paid to a Service provider as a transaction fee or service fee should be capped, And mandate that actual Traffic Citations and Bills themself demanding payment for a traffic citation must be Printed by And Receipts of payment be made by a government office to a Government-administered account and cannot be made out by a contractor (Contractors can only receive their Payment for management from a Check written out to them by the government agency, so Private companies don't get first dibs at money).
We had them in where I live and had similar issues. They passed a law that a police officer had to be present near the camera to observe the infractions. None of the police departments wanted to tie up man power observing vehicles or manpower going to court. While they are still up they have not been used in several years.
All ticket money should go to public school fundings
That’ll make up for increased local taxes to pay for machines, maintenance, postage, etc.
No one should have a problem with tickets for people who speed in school zones.
It’s not legal in most states to issue traffic citations unless it’s directly from a police officer.
These are all over Chatham county ticketing people outside of posted school hours or the flashing lights at school zone speed limits. Any information on how we can join the class action?
Jails and prisons should not be privatized either.
This happened to me in Gwinnett county!! My ticket was $150 for supposedly going 1ile over the speed limit when school was CLOSED.
Well if a kid died there would be outrage at lack of traffic enforcement. You cant win.
Don’t speed in a school zone and there’s nothing to worry about.
Vote for Biden, there's nothing to worry about.
@@jackburton7062 what does that have to do with the video?
its called a speed LIMIT, not a speed suggestion. speeding is a crime.
I was told by a cop in So. Calif. That he had to witness a traffic infraction, in order to issue a ticket. Same in Florida. Trooper Steve actually said the same thing on News 6 Orlando. Also, those speed cameras need to be calibrated everyday, if not multiple times a day, just like hand held speed guns.
I would be okwith those speed cameras, if they were owned by and monitored by the city/police department. Otherwise, they are a money grab
I got a school zone ticket in NYC. There is no school visible anywhere in the area, and it was a Saturday. I looked up where I got the ticket, and it says that the law is that it is a school zone if it is within a quarter mile of the school, and school speed limits are for 7 days a week. That is not a camera that is in place to keep any child safe. It is a money grabber.
If people just, I don't know... slowed down and drove the speed limit, especially in a school zone, you wouldn't have to worry about any of this.
I was sent a ticket and the school light was not flashing! I paid but I will be joining this class action suit
We had them for a while here in NC; red light cameras and portable speed stations. After I got a ticket at a red light when I was more than halfway through the intersection (NCGS allowed for this), I bought those mirrored tag covers for my truck and bike. I was in the Blue Knights at the time (LE MC), and during one of our poker runs, a federal agent walked past my bike. I don't remember if he was with the FB Lie, US Marshal Service or a US Postal Inspector. He saw the tag turn into a mirror, stopped and walked back. He looked at me and said, "I like that!"
Just ask for a jury trial and ask to confront your accuser. Tell them to bring them in. (Camera)
I got one in Canton on a 4 lane road (which was about to turn into a 2 lane) on a road where no school is visible during the week of Thanksgiving break for the schools. The school is actually on a road that intersects with the road where the cameras are. The locals will know where I'm talking about.
We know. Going east, the camera takes the photo when the car in about 20 feet from a sign that says "SPEED LIMIT 40." People see or know the sign is there and speed up before they get to it. Very confusing - and intentional.
Charlotte, N C, had cameras, but after it was found that the camera owners made 70% of the money, they were removed.
Doesn't the city give them the parameters to use for issuing those tickets? Like, don't ticket for less that speed limit + 7mph, school zone times and things like that? If the taxpayers want safe driving but don't want to pay for the police to monitor all school zones every day and they don't want to pay for the cameras themselves, exactly how is the goal to be reached? Suggestions?
Interesting news piece. To me it doesn't sound like a private company should be doing what the government should be doing.
The news reporter said a glitch with hundreds of false citations. All I heard was people who sped, got caught and want to complain.
You have to be able to face your accuser in court...this is nonsense
The private company should pay the customer if they wrongfully ticket them one
Whether you like the cameras or not, they shouldn't be privately owned. They should be owned by the city or state.
There was one camera system giving citations for 10mph over the school zone speed limit of 35, but the lights weren’t flashing so the speed limit was technically 45. That’s the bs
We had them in Anchorage but we got together and passed a law that made it that only a sworn police officer was the only one that could write a traffic ticket.including parking tickets
First of all you are supposed to be able to face your accuser in most states if you take a ticket to traffic court. Exactly how are you or your attorney supposed to be able to question this camera?
I'm wondering out loud here. How many politicians have ties to these companies?
The worst are school speed limits "when children are present". Present where? In the road, next to the road, behind a fenced playground?
I got a ticket for running a red light in Atlanta Georgia and wasn't me. I knew who had borrowed my car and was in Atlanta. I sent the ticket back with the drivers info. They then got the ticket and I got cursed out by the guilty party who will never borrow my car again.
Same thing in NW Florida. They were taken out after lawsuits because most of the money was going to the company and not back to the county and the time the light changed from yellow to red and pictures taken was determined to not be adequate resulting in the companies sending out more tickets than they would have be able to otherwise. Pretty much all of our schools up this way have a deputy with his/her lights on parked on the side of the road or in the median if there is one and nobody speeds through them…
Few years ago I was driving in a 2 lane 20mph school zone.. cop caught up to me.. goes in oncoming traffic and flies by me with 40-50mph. No lights, no sirens, drove by me like I was parked. I figured he's going to a call.. Nope, cop pulled over into a parking lot at the end of the street. I saw him pull out his radar to try to get a speed reading on me just as I passed him... the cop is trying to catch other people speeding meanwhile he's crossing into oncoming traffic speeding with over twice the speed limit in a school zone.
If this had anything to do with public safety, every school zone would have flashing yellow lights to warn drivers to slow down.
Revenue should never be an incentive for enforcement.
If it was about safety violations would go on your driving record. Imagine if a police officer got 30% of each ticket they wrote.
We have them in Hamilton, Georgia too. They run even when the school is not in session.
I got one of these a couple of months ago. Not only was the school closed that day (and no flashing lights, like the video talked about) but they charged me a service fee on the "ticket" I got in the mail, and then when I went online to pay, rolled the first one into the total and charged a SECOND service fee. When I emailed them, they said one was for the police, and one was for them. I replied that it is shady business practices to do it sneaky like that, and one larger service fee would be less slimy. Also, they didnt comment on the school being closed. I paid the ticket just in case, but still am salty about it.
You still violated the law. I am so glad you got the ticket. Do you drive properly now?
@@Chris-fn4df So glad you chose to be a dick. Point is, there was no school, and the school lights were not flashing, so I was not speeding. Dick.
Since I am being trolled, lets be clear. There was no school. Lights were not engaged, because you know, there was no school that day. Hence, I was not speeding. The camera was incorrect.
Spoke with a guy who worked for Ga power and he said they refused to work with them because of this.
we got them at a local school that sit a mile off the road its on and there is not a single kid walking from this school
Hahaha, if LE does the enforcement then people claim tickets are just writing tickets for revenue. Now that private companies are doing it - it’s a money grab. And the claims that just parking 1 patrol car in the one is just as effective is laughable. They can only stop 1 at a time with the rest speeding past them. The cameras get all of them. No one will be happy regardless. Some child will get hurt then EVERYONE. Will scream something needs to be done.
I understand if they were to be contracted with a rate based on overall services, but a per-ticket commission is pretty sketchy
Speed cameras SHOULD be in school zones. But ones that work properly and NOT run and profited by private companies. Use the profits on the schools themselves, not to go in the pockets of paper shufflers and politicians.
I guess you’re ready for your local taxes to go up.
What happened to being able to confront your accuser.
Hm… I literally got a ticket at this exact same place with no flashing lights. Same speed was on my ticket as well. I had no idea I was even in a school zone, felt like a complete trap.
So don’t go 11 mph over a school zone speed limit. Hell we need these cameras everywhere so idiots will stop putting other lives in danger because they think they’re Vin Diesel.
Tickets around schools should go towards additional funding for the school
I like the way you think. No city government would ever install a camera if the revenue went to the school district instead.
I received a ticket on an exit ramp in a state 400 miles from home, a small town while on vacation. I couldn't go back and fight it. Instead I wrote letters to the chamber of commerce, the hotel, the restaurants where we ate, and a letter to the editor (it was published), telling them they got their final $95.00 out of me.
I got the letter about a year later saying there were so many complaints that it was removed, come back.
Smart move. Most people just complain but don't do anything. Nice to see someone "motivating" the town to stop shortsightedly acting against its own interests for a change. Sad that it took them a whole year to come to their senses.
Don't speed. What a novel idea.
John bell needs to organize his damn office.
Had one set up in Baltimore where I worked. It was always being repaired because the locals would vandalize it. I think it actually created more crime. They had to assign man ours to patrol it because of it constantly being attacked. Somebody stole a truck and ran over it. That happened twice that I know of. It cost them way more money to constantly repair it and eventually they took it down.
2:35 that is Tallulah Falls and is the goofiest speed zone i have ever seen in my life.
Normal Non-School Hours - 45 MPH Speed Limit on US23/441 about 1 mile in each direction from the School Zone Speed Limit which is also 45 MPH
What is the point of the School Zone if its the EXACT same speed as the Non-School Hours and Zone ?
Note the ticket, the issue time was 2:44, the school zone does not activate until 3PM
School Hours for that zone are 7-8A 3-4P
Not feeling the courthouse reporters , professional outfit ? G. HELP US ALL 😮
you do not have to pay these tickets if they are runned and operated by a third party company they have no authority to ticket or fine anyone
I had one of these "tickets" in Delaware. Fought it and won. I still get notices in the mail. And that originally happened. 25 years ago.
I lived in that area for 8 years, now back in Mississippi where Speed Cameras of any type are illegal.
We are a poor state, but the government does look out for the individual, not government.
That pics during yellow is a red herring. How will you know if that is being enforced?
How do we know if we actually speeding. They can rigg it to just randomly give you a speeding ticket who is monitoring the company if they are being truthful.
How about don’t speed?
I supported these cameras, including at red lights, here in Tennessee until a private company sued for lost revenue when the State passed a law saying you can't be ticketed by these for turning right on red. BIG nope!
Yes that's right !!! It is a golden goose for the state and the people who get a cut of this
I have the right to face my accuser and my accusers not a camera and secondly, I have no contract with a private company to give them any of my money
There are things that should never be privatized. And we're well beyond crossing that line already.
There should never be a monetary incentive to punish people.
Private companies giving out tickets instead of the cops. Smfh. This needs to be illegal.
I got a toll ticket a few years ago from Illinois.
I never went through a toll in Illinois.
They said it was a mistake, the plate number was 1 number off.
I asked, is that an Illinois plate ?
Yes, she said.
Well, Im from Pa and this ticket was mailed to my house.
The picture shows a truck, I have a car, from another state, how'd you get my address if it was an Illinois plate ?
She had no answer to give me for their fraud.
She told me the ticket was taken care of and I have not heard back from them.
Think about it.
Im from Pa, got a ticket mailed to me in Pa from Illinois, claiming I never paid a toll fee and the fine was for over $500.
They claimed and show a picture of a truck, with its license plate number clearly visable, totally different, not off by 1 number as they claimed. Totally different letters and numbers and the truck plate said ILLINOIS on it, not Pennsylvania.
They send anyone a ticket whether you visited the state or not.
Spalding Co. would give you a ticket even if it was 3am in the morning on a Sunday. 😡🤬
One of our company drivers got one of these tickets while going the speed limit. The stupid camera was operating off schedule, an hour or more after the school had already let out.
Blue state, red state, doesn’t matter they’re both crooked.
I had a friend that made a license plate cover with clear plastic strips. It looked super weird off of the car, but it was actually hard to see on the car. It just had 20 or so strips from left to right and it made the plate almost completely unreadable at any height over 5 feet. At 4 feet it was totally legible. He never got stopped for it and never got a photo ticket as far as I know.