Missouri Supreme Court strikes down red light cameras in St. Louis

[Sherman A1]

Getting caught on camera running a red light in St. Louis will no longer result in a fine.

In a 6-1 opinion issued Tuesday, the court called the city's ordinance governing red light cameras unconstitutional because it assumes the owner of the car was the one driving the car at the time of the violation.

This is the third time a court has struck down the city's red light camera ordinance. In 2013, Judge Mark Neill found the law unconstitutional because the state had never given cities the authority to enact red light camera ordinances and because it violated due process. In 2014, Judge Steven Ohmer ruled the city had been wrongfully enforcing an invalid ordinance, though he did not rule on the constitutional issues. That case resulted in Tuesday's Supreme Court decision.

Ohmer allowed the city to continue enforcing its red light ordinance until the Supreme Court issued its ruling, though the money was put into an escrow account. Budget Director Paul Payne said the fund contained about $5 million as of June, though some of those funds were meant for the operator of the cameras, American Traffic Solutions. Payne said he was not immediately sure about what would happen to the city's share of the fund.

http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/missouri-supreme-court-strikes-down-red-light-cameras-st-louis

[Travis_0004]

1. Makes sense

I don't really have a problem with them if they can identifty the driver of the car, but ticketing the owner always seemed dumb.

Around here, if you get a ticket, the only way you can get out of it is if you can tell the courts who was the actual driver. It kind of went against ones right to remain silent, even in cases where it was obvious the person getting the ticket is not the driver.

[PSPS]

2. American Traffic Solutions in Tempe, AZ

The old shakedown with American Traffic Solutions getting a piece of the action. These are all about extorting money and have nothing at all to do with safety. American Traffic Solutions comes in, installs all the equipment, then rakes their share of the take off the top before paying off the city. It's quite a racket and is done in a lot of cities whose citizens haven't yet put a stop to it.