Last December, a new bill involving red-light cameras across the state of Missouri was put into action. The bill, while it has not officially been passed yet, has already caused a revolution across the state. At the present time, St. Louis County is offering a settlement of up to $18 million in response to numerous lawsuits regarding red-light cameras. The bill, if passed, would effectively remove all automatic tickets from red-light cameras.

This action stems from the ability of police and government forces to hold too much power.

The red-light cameras, upon capturing the image of a license plate presumed to be running a red light, automatically tickets the registered driver and mails it to the individual’s home. The ticketing process, in theory, seems to be a great way to avoid further traffic violations by scaring drivers with tickets and other moving violations. However, like almost anything that seems good in theory, this process is not good in practice.

There are too many flaws in the system. First, the conditions might not be proper to make a stop suddenly. For instance, snow or other poor road conditions, or even a driver who is tailgating too closely, might make it impossible to successfully stop or make it all the way through the intersection before the light. Furthermore, the driver who actually violated the rule might not be the registered owner of the car. In a family of five legal drivers, only one may be registered to that car or the car may have been recently sold by the individual, title signed and everything, but not registered under the new name. While the actual offender might be able to pay the ticket, it would still remain on the record of the individual who did not earn it. Beyond that, addresses on licenses are not always up to date. If the ticket is sent to the wrong address and forwarding is not in place, a person could presumably end up with a warrant for his or her arrest for failure to pay without even knowing the ticket exists.

As of right now, St. Louis County is no longer able to prosecute for automatic red-light camera violations due to this issue. However, violations may still occur, people just won’t be ticketed until inspected by an authority figure. Regardless, there is still speculation as to whether the cameras will remain.

Whether they remain or not, the county’s decision to remove automatic ticketing is a major step in the right direction.