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The Absolute Best Usabilility Testing You Can Do...FreeNice Pic Of My Viper In The Mail
I checked the mailbox yesterday, and found a letter from Maryland addressed to me. I opened it up, and was surprised to see this:
A speed camera got me going 38 in a 25, which automatically sends me a citation. Luckily, it’s only a civil fine, so it was just $40 with no points and no affect on insurance rates. As you can probably guess, it’s just a revenue maker for the county.
Aside from the suckage factor of getting the ticket, the technology behind everything is actually pretty cool. They give you a website you can go to, along with your citation number and pin, you can access the high resolution version of the pictures the camera took. Here’s one scaled down slightly:
It’s actually a pretty nice picture, I was surprised they were using something so clear.
I posted this story on the Viper forums, and there are all sorts of responses about how this is unconstitutional, etc. I’m not really sure what the truth is, but it doesn’t seem right that they can give me a citation with a picture of the car and make me pay without proving I did anything of fault. Innocent until proven guilty right?? Some of the more interesting responses worth looking further into are below:
It doesn’t even matter if you weren’t behind the wheel, the car’s registered owner is the one who gets fined. Purely a revenue source for the county, under the guise of “safety.”
I don’t know how legislation like this even gets passed. How can you accuse/fine an individual when you have no proof they were operating the vehicle in question?
It’s actually unconstitutional since you can’t cross-examine a machine.
We have speed and red light cameras in metro Phoenix, with more on the way. I wouldn’t pay it. Throw it away if it wasn’t sent registered or certified mail. If no one signed for it, how do they know you received it in the mail? In AZ if you are not “served” within 90 days of the ticket…..your off the hook. Check your local laws, but if it was me, and you didn’t receive it by registered or certified mail……it’s in file 13!
The most interesting I think being the last quote. I wonder if that’s actually true. Any legal junkies know what the truth is?
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chris.pund
07/08/2008 11:05 amHey David, I got the same kind of mail a couple weeks back from a camera in Montgomery County. I live in Howard County and everyone here fought the legislation enough here that it did not pass. They wanted to put them on just about every street and neighborhood, even those that do not have a posted speed limit - talk about looking for some money.
Anyway, if you read the paper, it does say that if you were not the driver of the vehicle and your report who it was to the county they will then assess the fine to that person and not you. You can also have a court hearing to try to get out of it if you really wanted to…but they do have clear pictures of your car clocked by radar, so your chance of getting out of it that way is pretty much none. I just sucked it up and mailed the $40.
I’m not sure what the rules are in MD as far as “not getting the citation” because it is sent regular mail and not certified or with any delivery confirmation, and with the way the Post Office operates, you probably very well could fight that you never received it if you did not pay it and then got some sort of follow up notice. But at that point, I would imagine they would still be expecting you to pay or face some other consequences.
Christoph
07/09/2008 12:57 amI’d just pay it. Why bother for that small amount? But have to agree - the picture is actually pretty good. Always good to have something like this for the fun associated with it.;)
David Pitlyuk
07/09/2008 11:01 amI did pay it, it’s not worth $40 for me to fight it.
Scot
07/09/2008 2:04 pmWow, that sucks. How does it work out if they camera catches you doing 30+ over?
Scot
07/09/2008 2:05 pmthe camera*
Derek
07/14/2008 4:03 pmThat really blows, but at least the fine is only $40. Right now my drive to work is through a variety of construction zones on the highway, all of which have 45mph speed limits and indicate they are monitored by camera with the fine being $375 I believe.
I’m not sure I’ve seen one car obeying the 45mph speed unless a state trooper is on the road so I am knocking on wood that I never receive one of these.
Muzammil Khan
07/17/2008 2:54 pmWoah, you got another viper?! nice! This one looks sweet for sure.
Muzammil Khan
07/17/2008 2:55 pmI just got pulled over today too =( I was going 75 in a 45 by the underpass on lee hwy, and my inspection sticker was 3 months expires…i got off with a warning hehe