Discussion
Red light cameras are intended to capture the registration numbers of vehicles if the driver runs a red light. This technology is coming up in several cities as the government speculates that if drivers are aware that they are under surveillance, they will be less probable to run the red lights. But the issue about its effectiveness arises where most people consider that it is another process of raising city income from traffic tickets. Red light cameras are considered to increase road accidents, a way of rising city income, and breach privacy rights.
In accordance with some research, instead of assuring motorist protection, red light cameras highly raise road accidents and thus promote insurance premiums. Most insurance firms support the implementation of red light cameras since they will greatly benefit from increased citations and accidents which will be caused by red light cameras. Applications of red light cameras are intended to reduce people causing death, injury, and property destruction, but this technology rarely solves these issues. For instance, the drivers would be alert to red light cameras, so they will begin to drive more unsteadily when they are under red or yellow light, as they hurriedly stopped to avoid a ticket. Therefore, bringing about an increased amount of rear-ends accidents.
Red light camera systems are designed to record all the activities in roads throughout the day and at night, this shows that drivers running red lights are being recorded continually. The pictures and videos are kept on private computer servers without any confirmable assessment trail of the time the pictures and videos are erased. Additionally, they assert that drivers have no likelihood of privacy if they break the law. The problem with this case is that it only functions if the red light cameras are 100% correct, but that is not the case. Actually, the camera producers have stated that the existing technologies may give four to 30% inaccuracies (Mulligan 13).
Traffic tickets provided by police officers and even parking tickets are often received immediately, but a red light citation is frequently received some days after the offense has happened. Therefore, this creates it hard for drivers receiving the citation to recall the situation of the incidence, even though they were drivers of that particular car. Since there is a delay of citations, drivers may be provided with several citations throughout this lag time without being alerted to the citations, hence creating charges to pile up without any notification.
Just different with obtaining a parking ticket or traffic ticket from police officers, where a driver provides the ticket, a red light camera should not be an “accuser” which is used in courts and should not give evidence regarding the incidence of the alleged offense. The accused person may not receive the citation or may arrive very late and if the payments in the citations are not made within the indicated period, the accused individuals may have a lien on their assets or may face warrant of arrest. The driver may face all this based upon non-confirmed delivery of citations or delayed citations.
In addition, since the red light cameras were functioning correctly when they were set up does not signify that they will function correctly during the period of the alleged infringement (Mulligan 12). All the above supportive argument should be considered since it will cause unfairness.
Works Cited
Mulligan, Christina. “Perfect Enforcement of Law: When to Limit and When to Use Technology.” Richmond Journal of Law & Technology 14.4 (2008): 1-49. Print.