Man, nothing makes me happier than when someone in power thinks that speeding cameras are terrible.

From cnet.com:

Judge Robert Ruehlman this week declared that speed cameras were “a scam.”

He vehemently criticized the authorities of Elmwood Place, Ohio, a village that installed speed cameras and then began to bathe in revenue as divas bathe in champagne.

The Columbus Dispatch reported that the judge also described the cameras as “nothing more than a high-tech game of 3-card Monty.”

Zing!

In the first month of the cameras’ activity, Elmwood Place sprinkled 6,600 speeding tickets, each of which generated $105.

Oddly, there are only 2,000 residents in the whole of Elmwood Place.

Locals decided this resembled backstreet robbery and so went to court, also offering the legal defense that the cameras were installed without displaying the appropriate public notices to warn people this was coming.

The judge ordered the village to just stop it with the speeding tickets.

The village, perhaps concerned that its pockets might cease to bulge, is to appeal his verdict.

Laws to declare radar enforcement cameras illegal are forthcoming. Take, for instance, HB 2477, which we mentioned in our “25 Bills to Watch” cover feature last month: as Skinny scribe Jim Nintzel notes, “HB2477 forbids cities and towns from putting photo radar on state highways unless they jump through various hoops to justify it. The bill passed the House Transportation Committee with bipartisan support last month and awaits a hearing in the Rules Committee.”

Well today (according to Capitol Media Services via the local daily), HB 2477 passed the House. Not long yet, folks.

This article appears in Mar 7-13, 2013.

5 replies on “Reason to Consider Moving to Ohio: A Judge Rules That Speed Cameras Are “Scams””

  3. Public intersections and public medians are public property. Any cameras located in these public places for the purpose of extracting revenue from the public would be expected to entitle the public to a vote prior to their installation. Otherwise it would be taxation without representation (very UN-American) and possibly a form of legalized extortion. I expect the residents of Elmwood Place were refunded properly and provided apology. Bravo to the Judge and thank you to David Mendez, keep up the good work!

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