Tuesday, May 5, 2009

City council member removed from Meeting by mayor - Texas

Youtube video

Video cameras were being used to catch red light runners, and this city council member wanted to discuss a solution which involved cutting the mayor or city manager's pay.

I had read about the "red light" camera project in Texas and thought they were a good idea at first. The program was so successful in reducing red light running in fact, that the city was considering "idling" some of the cameras, which were rented. Later I read that a woman who got a ticket contested it. Her husband was a lawyer, and he argued that it was wrong for the camera company to act like law enforcement. The tickets get processed according to, I believe, reviews of the tapes made by the camera companies... that would be a conflict of interest. Here's a link to a 12-page report on red light

Do you think if we placed cameras in all of the courthouses, randomly turning them on without the judges knowledge, we might get decisions that actually make sense?