“Nowhere was it more apparent than on Geneva Avenue between Prague Street and Brookdale Avenue, where one camera averaged 1,779 violations a day, according to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. Another camera on Bryant Street, between Second and Third streets, zapped 944 speeding drivers a day.”
Nearly TWO THOUSAND speeding violations in one day, in the heart of a major city. These people drive like morons.
In my town, the red light cameras tend to cause drivers to slam on the brakes when the light changes. The equipment is often owned by a third-party that loans it to the city and places stipulations like very short light times to produce more profit.
It does look like there’s significant evidence that speed traps do improve safety.
This probably invalidates the tickets under the definition of a “crime” in basically every common law system. Crimes has to be willful.
If only it worked like that in practice everywhere. It’s a pretty addictive revenue stream, and the district is incentivized to bend the rules to collect their money.
Of course, I write this from the US, which is currently at critical levels of internal corruption, so this could be a factor.
Yes, yet another way even the requirement to show up in court is used to suppress regular people.
Many crimes have “Strict Liability” where criminal intent is not necessary for one to be guilty.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strict_liability
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strict_liability_(criminal)