* It is against the law to make a left turn on red light EXCEPT:…
Every year, thirty four million speeding tickets are issued in the U.S. That amounts to 93,000 tickets per day, 3,875 per hour, and 65 tickets per minute. Traffic tickets are big business as public and private companies via for their share of the very vulnerable but lucrative driving public. Everyday across the country police officers are out in full number armed with the very latest in speed detection technology and ready to issue tickets to drivers. More and more, drivers are wondering if the increase in the number of tickets being issued along with the escalating costs of the average fine is justifiable. Research shows that issuing more tickets leads to fewer accidents and fewer crash-related injuries. Other articles report that police leaders mandate ticket quotas and that although the number of tickets being issued is rising, accident rates decreased at a much lower rate. While most drivers would agree that this issue is of concern, the majority feel as they are simply easy targets for states and municipalities seeking to increase revenues. This research paper examines the nature and cause of ticket writing to increase revenue and why speeding tickets are a key to a city’s economic growth. It details methods used by police departments, courts, lawyers and the insurance companies to extract money from the driving public. Finally this paper directs motorist’s on how best to minimize their exposure to receiving a speeding ticket and how states can increase revenue without imposing an unjust burden on motorist’s.…
For a final, cynical look at whether red light cameras are truly run for safety or money, take High Point, NC. When the city was court-ordered to pay 90 percent of its citation revenue from red light cameras to the local school system, what did it do? It shut the system down and found a way to break its contract with the…
The topic of police body cameras is very controversial. When the looking at the big picture, the cameras are beneficial because of the general positive influence it has on both sides of the police- civilian interaction. There might be slight concerns about the privacy of the public but there is substantial proof that the police body cameras have an overall positive affect on…
There have been major accidents throughout the United States that have produced over 100,000 crashes and roughly 1,000 deaths in the past. In 1979 Ken Fishel was at the intersection of 436 and highway 50 when a woman ran a red light causing him to T-Bone the passenger side of her vehicle. Ken ended up with serious injuries consisting of whip lash and a mild concussion to the head. While the women escaped the accident with minor injuries this could been easily prevented (interview). To combat this problem the United States has placed Red light cameras at certain intersections across the states. Safety should always be the top priority on the road, and one way of limiting car accidents is for everyone to make sure they always stop at a red light. Since these cameras have been in place accidents and death tolls have decreased tremendously. The government should continue the use of red light cameras at intersections throughout the United States.…
Though not all of the authors references are backed up or clearly stated as having come from an actual, truthful, or real source, he makes a strong argument. From his references to the laws in Vermont and New Hampshire, the military, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, to rates and laws in other countries as well as the United States, Voas is convincing in his argument. In the end of Voas 's article, after making numerous references as well as…
In light of recent events, tensions amongst American communities and police officers have heightened due to the shootings of unarmed civilians and the alleged use of excessive force. These events have brought the integrity of police officers into question raising the question onto whether or not police officers should wear body cameras. This would serve to improve public relations with the local communities and provide a new source of indisputable hard evidence. Unfortunately, everything also comes with its disadvantages and while the benefits of body cameras do outweigh the negatives on paper, they may still not be enough to result in wide scale implementation. Such disadvantages include cost, as the cost of a single body camera ranges from $400 to $700 (Taser International Inc.) The reliability of these cameras may also be called into question as technological bugs are inevitable. According to research conducted by PERF and the COPS office, officers should be required to activate their cameras when responding to calls meaning that they are turned off while on duty. This may allow a police officer to tamper with evidence or to manipulate the cameras as they are in total control. Body cameras may be a potential solution for a growing problem, and while there seem to be an abundance of benefits, many drawbacks do also question the viability of such a project.…
These devices allow a firsthand look into an incident and give immediate evidence to a case. Heather Ann Myers wrote about a yearlong investigational study of body cameras for law enforcement and said, “The findings suggest more than a 50 percent reduction in the total number of incidents involving use of force.” In this investigation conducted by Chief Tony Farrar, it is clear that body cameras not only traduced the number of occasions where force was used, but also made these situations more clear, in giving video and audio for every situation. In the article “Police Body Cameras: What are the Pros and Cons?” Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum said, “There are certainly benefits . . . in documenting encounters with the public. It provides the context of what happened.” Wexler noticed the benefit of having these cameras and their video at their disposal as well. These cameras help add to the police officers accountability by reinforcing their stories, or in some cases, denying them completely and help eliminate forceful officers from the…
Speed cameras are expensive to maintain though, this is the only con. When a speed camera is experiencing technical issues it can give inaccurate readings of the speeds of vehicles, and sometimes it won’t pick them up at all. Most speed cameras also have a limit of reading how fast a vehicle is traveling. If a car is traveling over a set speed the camera will not pick it up as it won’t have enough time to capture a picture of the vehicle. These cameras lead to a lot of dispute in court because a lot of the accused persons feel it violates their privacy. This is a violation in article 21 MD of declaration of rights which states the accused must have the right to face the accuser. The driver loses either way when they get a ticket from a camera, they are forced to either take time off work to go to court and fight the ticket or just pay a fine in cash. So either way the driver is losing. Drivers are at a huge disadvantage when caught by the red light camera as they don’t know for possibly weeks or months until the ticket comes in the mail. By this time it will be hard for them to fight the ticket in court so they are more than likely forced to just pay the fine. The camera manufacturers receive around 50% of the revenue generated by the cameras, as the government has no dealing with them. If a vendor’s camera needs maintenance the private vendor must come and fix the problem. These cameras are extremely effective, a report from a school zone reports that for 13 years they have had speed cameras in the school zone and zero accidents. Some court cases from the private vendors which have photo evidence have been…
In this experiment we tested for the first time the effect of mobile cameras on…
body cameras has impacted society and law enforcement over the past few years. These cameras…
These body cameras will be keeping the officers reliable for what all they do near and to the citizens. The cameras that wants to be issued to the officers might not be avoiding a person’s privacy but at times may be shut off will be helpful for court cases and finding criminal justice caused by the citizens or officers. Using the body cameras on officers may cost the United States more money than usual for police officers but will help greatly for criminal justice. There for the officer body camera will help us greatly improve police behavior towards certain crimes and…
Body cameras are having an effect in police-public interaction and are decreasing anomalous behavior by police officers. According to a study made in the Mesa, Arizona, police department “Officers who wore the cameras experienced a 40 % decline…
With the use of body cameras, the tension between the police officers and the citizens will begin to loosen up. Body cameras will give a more clear picture of what the police see from their point of view and why they acted the way they did. They will also show the wrongful things some police officers are doing to certain people. The Mayor, Mr. De Blasio, states that the use of body cameras will give the police officers a, “real sense of transparency and accountability.” (Santora and…
“Surveillance cameras have become far more sophisticated since their invention in 1942. Cameras can now show images in full color and high definition and can be remotely controlled by computers” ( Godwin, Christopher. ) As cameras become more advanced, They can be used for stopping people from…