Red Light Camera Wrongly Tickets Woman Who Was Out Of State
In another story that ticket camera companies will insist is an isolated incident (despite a new incident seemingly surfacing each week), a Peoria, Illinois woman was sent a ticket that should have gone to another driver.
WMBD/WYZZ TV has the story:
A Chicago traffic camera could cost you hundreds of dollars. It did for Peorian Casandra Davis, who wrote ‘We Hear You’ after getting tickets for something she says she didn’t do. Her ticket charged her $100 for running a red light in Chicago. The only problem is Davis was in Tennessee.
A red-light camera caught a picture of the car in action. The license plates look almost identical, with the exception of one letter. Plus, Davis drives a silver Impala, and the car in the photo is a red Buick.
Surely if she presented the city with proof of their mistake, they would immediately remedy the situation and apologize, right? Maybe not:
Davis says she called Chicago’s Revenue Department and sent proof, but instead of correcting the problem, Chicago increased her ticket to $200. Now Davis is worried she’s driving around with a bad driving record that’s not hers.
As usual, pressure from the media is the only thing that seems to force cities to fix their errors:
After we called the Department of Revenue we got Davis’ ticket overturned. Representatives say they confused some letters on the license plate.
For more information on red light cameras, check out our issue page.
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Don’t know whether to file this under incompetence or conspiracy… Lets face it, like everything else government does the stated purpose (which is usually benevolent sounding – i.e. reduce traffic injuries) is almost never the real motivation behind a “program”. Lowered speed limits in the name of safety are just a way of producing revenue by creating a ridiculous low limit that is unrealistic and difficult to maintain – the speed trap. These cameras are nothing more than that, a revenue producing device. In some places they even sink as low as shortening yellow light times to trick drivers into running a red…low. The best way to keep their thieving hands out of your pocket is to know where the cameras are an avoid them. The simplest way is to use your GPS unit with data you can get at a site like http://www.gpscameradetector.com.
Gary name the roads and sections of highways that are ridiculously under posted? When there are roads posted at 65 to 80 mph are those ridiculously under posted? I was on the highway today and saw a few people picking your ridiculously excessive speed in traffic and it was not a pretty sight. I would call them idiots and dangerous but you would tell them to go for it. There are many on this site that think the 25 mph residential side streets should be 40 mph or more. Why not, they feel safe in their cars driving that fast and if they kill a kid or other pedestrian it is only a number. Only one of thousands each year.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by trapster and Sean Fao, Brian Noe. Brian Noe said: Messed Up RT @trapster: Red Light Camera Wrongly Tickets Woman Who Was Out Of State – http://bit.ly/SURpn [...]
One more thing. What do they mean by Oops Wrong State Again? What does wrong state have anything to do with this situation?
Another artlicle that shows that NMA likes to make things up.
Wrong state refers to that not only was there a mistake made, but the operator who made the mistake didn’t even realize the license plate was from another state.
Will eliminating traffic cameras eliminate errors? Well, how many times did you hear of a clerk typing in the wrong plate number from a red light camera before red light cameras existed? My guess will be you didn’t, since the error couldn’t occur.
John G the woman was from Peoria Illinois. That is in the same state as Chicago if you did not know.
Sorry that last comment should have been for Bill. Chicago is in Illinois the same state as Peoria, Illinois unless there is another Chicago in another state they are referring to.
Cameras are not what made the mistake. It was a person. Believe it or not there have been parking tickets that have been put on the wrong persons record. What would that have to do with cameras? Sounds good I guess. Get rid of cameras and there will no longer be any mistakes in the world.
I am not sure why this report referred to the woman was in another state. Peoria is in Illinois which is where her car should have been registered. It says she was out of state at the time of the ticket? Does it matter where she was at the time except not in Chicago? NMA likes to put a slant on the truth to make things sound bad.
http://clusty.com/search?input-form=clusty-simple&v%3Asources=webplus&query=automated+number+plate+recognition
George, “Trained officers review every picture to verify vehicle information and ensure the vehicle is in violation. Tickets are issued only in cases where it is clear the vehicle ran the light.”
It is obvious the the trained officer made a mistake.