LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan's local governments would have the option to put cameras at intersections to spot drivers running red lights under proposed legislation in the state House.
A measure recently introduced by Republican Rep. Wayne Schmidt of Traverse City would give local communities the power to put cameras in place.
This isn't safety. This is about revenue enhancement. I learned that from experience. I despise these cameras from personal experience.
I got a $100 red light camera ticket from Chicago in the mail today. One problem. I haven't driven in Illinois, let alone Chicago, in at least 12 years. I also have never driven my current wheels there. The vehicle's license plate was off by one letter (Which I can tell even on the red light camera picture sent to me). It was a different vehicle from Michigan. I won't post pictures but you can bet your arse that I'll be sending a nice file to Sh-tcago (gave up swearing for Lent) to contest this piece of trash. They got the wrong car.
I'm even more insulted that they sent a picture of a foreign car to me and claim that it was my car. Anyone that knows me knows I drive Fords, not Scion. My family would disown me otherwise The picture of the vehicle was a Scion XD. I drive a older truck based Ford Explorer. There is a big difference. M and N are different letters. Fords and Scions are different vehicles. One quick license plate cross check should have handled that.
I got a letter last week with the ticket dismissed. I would have gone to Chicago to fight this if I had to. This is guilty till proven innocent measure. For one thing, cars don't run red lights. Drivers do. These cameras don't send pictures to drivers, but to license plates they think they have. Sometimes, they get the wrong one. I know! I know! In order to beat this ticket, I had to:
A. Prove that I wasn't the owner of the car that ran the light.
B. Prove that the license plate wasn't of my car.
C. Send the information taking time out of my day to fight something I didn't do.
D. Cough up about $10 in postage and printing costs (Certified mail to make sure they received it).
That is because people didn't read a license plate properly, nor check which VEHICLE is licensed on the DMV, although they did enough work to find an address to try and get their $100, that's for sure.
If a cop is there instead of a camera, they can ding the driver. They will see who drove the car and give the driver a ticket whether or not, it is the car's owner. Cameras don't do that and open things up for a long list of abuses.
HB 4763 is a bipartisan turkey that needs to be defeated. Wayne A. Schmidt - (primary)Fred Durhal, Jr., Thomas F. Stallworth III, Brian Banks, Michael D. McCready, Woodrow Stanley, Henry Yanez, Scott Dianda are the sponsors. Six democrats and two republicans. Unfortunately, Schmidt is the committee chair on transportation, so this might not easily be killed in committee.
Wayne Schmidt (R) Committee Chair, 104th District
Ben Glardon (R) Majority Vice-Chair, 85th District
Kevin Daley (R) 82nd District
Kurt Heise (R) 20th District
Bradford Jacobsen (R) 46th District
Margaret O'Brien (R) 61st District
Peter Pettalia (R) 106th District
Dan Lauwers (R) 81st District
Michael McCready (R) 40th District
Marilyn Lane (D) Minority Vice-Chair, 31st District
Scott Dianda (D) 110th District
David Rutledge (D) 54th District
Gretchen Driskell (D) 52nd District
Tom Cochran (D) 67th District
Charles Smiley (D) 50th District
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Time to make some phone calls to defeat this thing.
