Comments on: Texas Transportation Officials Secretly Videotape Motorists

By: Skip Tracer

Skip Tracer — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:17:11 +0000

It’s a better system than when they hold up traffic and hand out surveys.

Usually it takes ten minutes to get across the bridge in my city. Last summer, it took me 30 minutes just to get to the bridge, on a hot day with no A/C.

I was angry when I got to the bridge and found an intern with the DOT stopping vehicles and handing out surveys asking why we needed to cross the bridge. I threw it back in his face and yelled at him about slowing down traffic.

By: frank e nstein

frank e nstein — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 21:38:20 +0000

Dave S. comment is what is wrong with America. It is thinking like his that has wiped countless civil liberties away from Americans. That ignorant thinking is why the USA is now pretty much a fascist state. So keep on thinking like that and when the governments come snooping into your windows at home and start regulating what you can and cannot do, you will then realize it was this passive and or lazy thinking that got you what you have.

By: Ed Calderon

Ed Calderon — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 03:16:08 +0000

Another example of more goverment in our lives than most of us would care for.

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 05:57:45 +0000

The average person would be shocked to know how often the LEIN system is abused and how many of them have been run without their knowledge. Cops routinely run plates randomly as they’re driving on patrol looking for warrents and such. Do you have a neighbor who is a cop? You might find that he’s done a little spying on his neighbors. Are you an attractive woman? Some cop may have been curious where you live. A Michigan newspaper recently did an investigation of these abuses and found them to be rather extensive.

By: Dave S.

Dave S. — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 05:02:34 +0000

The cameras did need to be hidden to prevent some citizen from liberating them.

And the survey sounds like the legislators were trying to improve the roadways and looking for the best place to spend the money.

As far as consent, that’s given when you get the license and use a vehicle on public roads. Don’t like it? Build your own road and drive on that.

By: Lisa Hill

Lisa Hill — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 17:30:30 +0000

This really doesn’t sound right. IF this was supposed to be used for survey purposes, then it didn’t need to be hidden. Why not let the motorists know was going on and what to expect prior to taking the pictures? What, you didn’t think they would be mad after the fact?

By: Robin

Robin — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:38:50 +0000

Mine was one of the vehicles photographed on 9/12/07 on 45 between Dallas and Houston before they revealed this in the paper. I then received a questionaire, that I blew off because I saw it was from the DOT and didn’t really even read it. Then my husband told me when the story came out that he had read it and that that was what it was…I had already thrown it away.

I do think it is sneaky and underhanded, and I understand thousands of vehicles were photographed. Why hide it on the backside of a constuction barrel? What next??

By: David Snider

David Snider — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 18:49:48 +0000

As I understand privacy, if one ventures out in public, it is not illegal to photograph that person. However, when a government agency goes snooping as to who is using the road, that is another matter all together. In this case it is a wild stretch of the imagination as to what value answers to the above questions would be to the department of transportation.

By: Douglas Guerra

Douglas Guerra — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 19:36:20 +0000

This is another reason individuals should not use their home address when registering their vehicles or obtaining a driving license. I never did it because of my concern for someone breaking into my car and having access to my home through my garage door opener or me through the information provided on my license.

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 16:59:37 +0000

Yea it is an invasion of privacy.

Though there are people who feel that if you are on a public street you are fair game. I’am not one of them. When you start letting government monitor your movements without reasonable cause, you start down a very slippery slope.

It is one of the concerns I have with ITS, the fact that it could be abused as well.