On The Mark

“At the constitutional level where we work, 90 percent of any decision is emotional. The rational part of us supplies the reasons for supporting our predilections.” Justice William O. Douglas

How many times have you run across a traffic law that makes no sense? The sad truth is that laws are seldom made by those with knowledge of the subject. It is more likely that the bill was written by lobbyists representing a group with a financial interest and whose members have contributed handsomely to the campaigns of the legislatures, usually through a Political Action Committee (PAC). Special interest groups are cleverly named to make them sound innocuous; however, many of them funnel billions in contributions that are blatantly partisan. In addition to being expert at spreading money around, they’re also expert at using emotion to further their causes in lieu of – or even contrary to – facts.

Recently, I saw a local member of the state legislature and I engaged him since he represents my district. To his credit, he has listened to well-reasoned inputs I’ve made on motorcycles and ATVs. For example, because of rampant, scofflaw gangs riding ATV’s through the streets of Baltimore, the legislature introduced bills to register, license, tag, and tax all ATVs and confiscate any of them not in compliance. Of course, that would have only hurt farmers and hunters, but facts have never bothered the legislature much. My representative informed me near the end of the session that the bill died in committee. I doubt it had much to do with his influence, as our area is not part of the gerrymandered, perpetual supermajority, but it was nice to know he was tracking it.

During the most recent session, the legislature approved the use of speed cameras in our district. Speed and red-light cameras are a hot-button topic, because frequently, they become easy moneymakers to those who use them and the contractors who provide them. An October 2024 report by a DC news station noted: “The city doubled the number of traffic cameras this year.  There are now around 500 cameras snapping pictures, between speed enforcement, red lights, stop signs, and even cameras on Metro buses.  The District generates a significant amount of revenue, with numbers showing that over $113 million in fines were collected from automated traffic enforcement (ATE) in 2022, back when only about half the number of cameras were installed(!). More than 95% of traffic tickets in D.C. are now issued by a camera.” The pro-camera crowd always argues that “once driver behavior is changed, the cameras are no longer needed” as they recently did to promote the ones in our district. Unfortunately, once the local governments get addicted to the revenue crack, that’s not the case. Some argue that DC doesn’t WANT people to stop or slow down because they love the revenue and some drivers see it as the cost of urban commuting, as camera violations do not accrue points.

Camera-driven enforcement also inverts the burden of proof, forcing drivers who receive a summons to prove their innocence rather than requiring the state to prove their guilt. In addition, traffic cameras and the technicians who read them are prone to errors. Some people who receive the citations in error simply pay them because it’s easier and cheaper than taking the time to fight them (and the camera companies know that). Annapolis wrongly cited me: I got a ticket in the mail claiming I ran a red light; however, only a few digits of the license plate were visible and the technician clearly just checked the database and took a wild stab. The only problem was that the photo was of a burgundy Ford F-150 and I was driving a red Toyota. I finally prevailed by taking numerous photos and pointing out that my license was not for an F-150. It was time-consuming and the threats they made of not renewing my registration were clearly designed to encourage me to just pay the fine. Sometimes motorcycles don’t trigger the light to turn, giving you the devil’s bargain of safely running it and risking the fine, or sitting there until a car comes along.

With this background, I approached my legislator, explaining the revenue part, the inversion of burden of proof, the propensity for error, motorcycle stuff, and the difficulty in correcting those errors. His answer was abrupt and emotional: “I hear you and we talked about some of that stuff, but you know where I stand on traffic safety!” Over a decade ago, his wife was in a horrible traffic accident that led to her death. I believe the person who caused the accident was speeding, ran a red light, and was under the influence of alcohol. Now, there is no evidence to support, even WITH cameras in place at that intersection, it would have made any difference to what was a proven scofflaw, but that is what happens when legislators vote with their emotions, egged on by contractors and others with financial axes to grind. The intersection at which his wife was hit will not have cameras, as they are touted to be used “only in school zones” (at least at first). You can bet that whenever someone wants you to swallow a big dose of constitutional castor oil, they’ll claim it is “for the children,” until it isn’t.

I didn’t press the issue with him any further because it was clear that, like Justic Douglas said, the brunt of the decision on his part was emotional and he was just rationalizing to support what he believes is honoring his late wife by striking a blow for traffic safety. Ultimately, despite the assertions of the county bosses, I believe we’ll go the way of DC and see more cameras rather than fewer, with negligible effect on traffic safety. But bad laws are most frequently about emotions…and money.