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The way it is now - the owner of the vehicle gets mailed the fine - not the driver. There is no attempt to find who is driving and that holds true even if your vehicle was stolen and driven by the thieves (Unlikely, but not impossible in New Mexico) - it is up to the vehicle owner to prove he or she wasn't the driver and to then get the actual driver to 'fess up and pay.
My problem with this is not the fines but if you get 3 tickets in two years then you'll lose your vehicle under this program. Lot of people have invested their life earnings for their $10,000, $20,000, $30,000 ..etc... vehicles just for the city to confiscate. I worry that citizens will invest thier savings only to lose it and then enter the Poverty Syndrome as we in NM have a high abundence of. Thats alot of money to invest and lose do to 3 tickets in two years when other places only fine you and not confiscate your personal vehicle.
Second thought is outside of confiscation of vehicle....i have no problem with the fines but why not have the fines go to a worthy cause(s) i.e. Boys and Girls clubs, Homeless shelters, Battered Womens shelters, Skateboard Parks etc..instead of a company based out of another state.
I stand by my original post and further state that these cameras are on public property and are visible. This is not the same thing as cameras in your car as that is illegal in NM since your vehicle is an extension of your home. You anti-government people are taking this a bit too far and I am very anti-big government. This just takes the pressure off the street cops so that they can solve more time and labor intensive crimes. The burden is on the driver to follow the laws; if you are really driving cautiously there will be very few yellow/red light conflicts, especially if you are not tailgating the guy in front of you. As far as the car getting the ticket, well don't lend your car out. My parents taught me to never loan my car to anyone because I couldn't be sure what they were going to be doing in it. If your kid is driving it and runs a red light then make the kid pay the fine and suspend driving privileges. Yeah, that's right, driving is a PRIVILEGE not a right. If more people felt that way we wouldn't have half the probelms we do today.
I stand by my original post and further state that these cameras are on public property and are visible. This is not the same thing as cameras in your car as that is illegal in NM since your vehicle is an extension of your home. You anti-government people are taking this a bit too far and I am very anti-big government. This just takes the pressure off the street cops so that they can solve more time and labor intensive crimes. The burden is on the driver to follow the laws; if you are really driving cautiously there will be very few yellow/red light conflicts, especially if you are not tailgating the guy in front of you. As far as the car getting the ticket, well don't lend your car out. My parents taught me to never loan my car to anyone because I couldn't be sure what they were going to be doing in it. If your kid is driving it and runs a red light then make the kid pay the fine and suspend driving privileges. Yeah, that's right, driving is a PRIVILEGE not a right. If more people felt that way we wouldn't have half the probelms we do today.
You're argument would benefit significantly without the following line:
Quote:
Originally Posted by snomom2000
This just takes the pressure off the street cops so that they can solve more time and labor intensive crimes.
Why? Because the net gain in serious crime focus has been effectively nulled due to the recently passed cell phone ban. In other words, cops have been relieved of a monotonous task in actively enforcing red light infractions only to be encumbered by a new, monotonous chore of actively enforcing a cell phone ban. In my opinion, I do not see how police officers will benefit from the presence of both laws and efficiently serve the public to a greater degree. Pretty ironic, the way I see it.
Btw, I am not trying to modify my argument against red-light cameras by including the cell phone ban as a connection. I faithfully maintain my position against the red-light cameras for the previously cited reasons alone.
I believe the police shouldn't focus on the cell phone ban either. If you get in an accident because you have a cell phone attached to your ear your penalty for being in an accident should be higher, even if you didn't cause the accident. When I say more time and labor intensive crimes I'm talking about robbery, assault, rape and murder. If you are robbed or assaulted in Alb. forget about any justice. Here's an example: A business owned by a very prominent Alb. family has their banking info stolen and counterfiet checks made and used. The police actively worked this case and arrested one of the suspects. My husband's debit card number was stolen, a new card generated and used. No one investigated it and it took over 1 month get the police report for the bank's insurance company. We had more money stolen than the company that profits a million dollars a year. I have first hand knowledge of both cases because I handled the details in both of them. The police force just doesn't have time to pursue your case. Rape and murder don't even receive the attention we need. Police do not get (and some do not deserve) the respect they need to perform their duties. Part of this is because over the years they have been reduced to traffic cops. It's hard to respect a guy for giving you a ticket for speeding when you know he was speeding 5 minutes ago. My point is that we should police ourselves in every way we can and leave the important stuff for the police (yes, robbery, assault, rape and murder ARE more important than traffic crimes). If that means using red light cameras at intersections where traffic violations are highest then so be it.
Sorry...this person writing has a clean driving record, and was scared out of my pants a few weeks ago when the most blatant red light runner I have ever seen nearly blindsided my vehicle with my 2-year old daughter in it, which very likely would have been a very, very serious accident. I was extremely shaken up...and angry. But I do not connect that to believe that now the government should monitor more of our actions - all of our actions - because of such irresponsibility on the part of himself, and others like him. No, had my daughter suffered a bad injury in an accident (say I swerved into another car to avoid him), it would not have brought me some sort of comfort knowing he got a $100 citation in the mail.
(And frankly, had that intersection had a camera, this gentleman - and most like him - was so irresponsible, that I can assure you he would have run the light whether a camera was there or not.)
My problem with this is not the fines but if you get 3 tickets in two years then you'll lose your vehicle under this program. Lot of people have invested their life earnings for their $10,000, $20,000, $30,000 ..etc... vehicles just for the city to confiscate. I worry that citizens will invest thier savings only to lose it and then enter the Poverty Syndrome as we in NM have a high abundence of. Thats alot of money to invest and lose do to 3 tickets in two years when other places only fine you and not confiscate your personal vehicle.
Second thought is outside of confiscation of vehicle....i have no problem with the fines but why not have the fines go to a worthy cause(s) i.e. Boys and Girls clubs, Homeless shelters, Battered Womens shelters, Skateboard Parks etc..instead of a company based out of another state.
Thats just my thoughts anyway....
FINES ARE TOO HIGH! IT'S ok TO SLAP SOMEONE'S HAND FOR MAKING A MISTAKE, BUT NOT SLUG THEM IN THE GUT!!! You'll also notice there's no cameras in the valley.....hmmmm...could it be because the is no money down there???/?
I stand by my original post and further state that these cameras are on public property and are visible. This is not the same thing as cameras in your car as that is illegal in NM since your vehicle is an extension of your home. You anti-government people are taking this a bit too far and I am very anti-big government. This just takes the pressure off the street cops so that they can solve more time and labor intensive crimes. The burden is on the driver to follow the laws; if you are really driving cautiously there will be very few yellow/red light conflicts, especially if you are not tailgating the guy in front of you. As far as the car getting the ticket, well don't lend your car out. My parents taught me to never loan my car to anyone because I couldn't be sure what they were going to be doing in it. If your kid is driving it and runs a red light then make the kid pay the fine and suspend driving privileges. Yeah, that's right, driving is a PRIVILEGE not a right. If more people felt that way we wouldn't have half the probelms we do today.
Glad they're going to put the flashing amber lights in the intersections now. The tiny signs they put very near the intersection now remind me of the tiny disclaimers in drug ads. Technically they are visible, but they don't really get your attention, and are easy to miss. If SAFETY really were the issue, they would do everything possible to make sure you know the camera is there! They are counting on you not paying attention and generating revenue for them.
And you just keep chanting that "driving is a priviledge" mantra the commies want you to believe. The cameras will be coming to a bedroom near you in the near future!!!
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