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Mississippi Passes Law To Ban Traffic Light Cameras

Posted by Soulskill on from the guess-i-know-where-i'll-go-to-run-red-lights dept.

DaGoatSpanka writes with news that Mississippi Governer Haley Barbour signed a bill into law on Friday which instituted a ban on automated cameras that would snap pictures of motorists when they ran red lights. "The new law says the two cities that already have the cameras, Jackson and Columbus, must take them down by Oct. 1. Other cities and counties are banned from starting to use them." We've discussed situations in the past where cities looked at such cameras as "profit centers," and even tampered with their traffic light timing to catch more motorists. Now, in Mississippi, the contractors who installed the cameras are unhappy, since they received a cut of the ticket revenue generated by the cameras. However, lawmakers overwhelming voted to get rid of them (117-3 in the House, 42-9 in the Senate), because "the cameras were an invasion of privacy and their constituents thought they had been unfairly ticketed."

7 of 629 comments (clear)

  1. Wow... by Akido37 · · Score: 5, Funny

    An elected government responding to the wishes of the electorate?


    Inconceivable!!

    1. Re:Wow... by dkleinsc · · Score: 2, Funny

      You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

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      I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
  2. Democracy works?!? Huh? by Kostya · · Score: 5, Funny

    However, lawmakers overwhelming voted to get rid of them (117-3 in the House, 42-9 in the Senate), because "the cameras were an invasion of privacy and their constituents thought they had been unfairly ticketed."

    So despite the company and local municipalities profiting from this, constituents actually made their voices heard and their representatives acted accordingly?

    I am deeply confused. This is not the democracy I am used to. I'm going to have to find something else to be cynical about today.

    --
    "Doubt your doubts and believe your beliefs." -- Switchfoot, Ode to Chin
  3. Holy cow... by Jonah+Bomber · · Score: 3, Funny

    Mississippi a leader in something. Amazing. Way to go!

    1. Re:Holy cow... by Spazztastic · · Score: 2, Funny

      Mississippi a leader in something. Amazing.

      That's rather crude to assume they never were the leaders of something. The Mississippi Legislature removed fractions and decimal points from the curriculum in their public schools. Clearly they're a leader in the degradation of the American educational system..

      --
      Posts not to be taken literally. Almost everything is sarcasm.
    2. Re:Holy cow... by Shadow+Wrought · · Score: 3, Funny

      Indeed. I thought the bigger story here is: Mississippi has traffic lights.

      --
      If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
    3. Re:Holy cow... by svallarian · · Score: 2, Funny

      Why yes, we do have traffic lights, but they're really not needed cause they don't do much except scare the horses.

      --
      I patented screwing your mom. But it got revoked for "prior art."