AAA endorses illegal speed trap in S. Carolina, and says this should be replicated everywhere.

A century ago, the forerunners of the American Automobile Association (AAA) formed as a service dedicated, in part, to warning motorists about upcoming speed traps. AAA Carolinas turned its considerable influence on Monday to support a speed trap declared illegal by South Carolina's attorney general and several of its lawmakers. Since August, the tiny town of Ridgeland has allowed a private company to operate a speed camera on Interstate 95 in direct defiance of a law enacted in June specifically to stop the program (view law).

"All branches of government are facing constricting budgets," a AAA Carolinas statement explained. "Law enforcement agencies will not be able to simply add staff to handle the growing traffic volume and therefore must look to creative solutions to do more with less. This photo-radar enforcement program in the Town of Ridgeland is one such example and should be replicated as opposed to rejected."

Subcommittee members were not convinced, as the mayor himself described a system that operates on autopilot. One state senator sarcastically pointed out that the police officer, whose salary is covered by iTraffic, must have been "real observant" when he failed to notice one of the speed cameras was rammed by a motorist.

"We can't put issuing any kind of tickets on autopilot," state Senator George E. Campsen (R-Charleston) said. "There's got to be an ability for people to give a defense."

AAA now derives a significant portion of its revenue from automobile insurance, an amount that increases for each photo enforcement ticket issued in states like California and Arizona that apply license points to photo tickets.


Link: http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/33/3399.asp