Despite the fact that study after study has shown that traffic cameras cause more accidents (people are more likely to slam on their brakes at a yellow light) and benefit nobody except the camera companies, municipalities still love that ticket revenue. Montgomery County, Maryland, decided that it was better to become a surveillance state than lose a few bucks in traffic tickets.
Aside from having messed up ideas about liberty, Montgomery County has a kick-ass school system. Smarter kids means more sophisticated pranks. The high school kids there decided that it would be funny and/or great revenge to make fake license plates and speed through known traffic cameras.
I like the British version of civil disobedience against traffic cameras — setting them on fire. However, the Maryland version seems to be less likely to result in arrest, less violent, and it certainly makes a clearer statement about the civil liberties issue these cameras present.
Hat Tip to Matt.
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Respectfully, I disagree. While the cameras might be obnoxious, and they may well cause more accidents than they prevent, they do not interfere with any liberty or privacy interest that I can identify. When you’re out in public, people can see you. You never had a right to speed through an intersection or run a red light in the first place. And you have the ability to contest the ticket if you are wrongfully accused — I’ve seen plenty of mistaken identity cases dismissed without trial when I’ve served as a pro tem traffic judge.
You’re right… my language was a bit too hyperbolic and inaccurate.
[...] The Legal Satyricon comments on a story out of Maryland: The high school kids [in Montgomery County] decided that it would be funny and/or great revenge to make fake license plates and speed through known traffic cameras. [...]