![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/blog.myphillylawyer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/3-29-11-speed-camera-iStock_000009747791XSmall-300x199.jpg\" "\\"Photo")
Photo of a speed camera in use. Image credit: \u00a9 iStockphoto.com\/richardwatson<\/p><\/div>\n
“Ridgeland (S.C.) Mayor Gary Hodges said the cameras in his town about 20 miles north of the Georgia line do what they are designed to do: slow people down, reduce accidents and, most importantly, save lives,” the story said.\u00a0 “But (state) lawmakers who want to unplug them argue the system is just a money-maker and amounts to unconstitutional selective law enforcement.”<\/p>\n
Supporters, including police agencies and safety advocates, say the speed cameras make the nation’s highways safer.<\/p>\n
Opponents say the cameras are an invasion of privacy and point to them as little more than revenue-enhancers for municipalities.<\/p>\n
Reality may be somewhere in between, but as a driver, you need to know what you are up against.<\/p>\n
The speed cams are used in 13 states and the District of Columbia according to the non-profit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), which works to reduce deaths, injuries and property damage from vehicle accidents in the U.S.<\/p>\n
Clearly delineated signs are used to tell drivers that they are entering an area where the devices are in use, so drivers know they are being watched for speeding, supporters say.<\/p>\n
And tickets aren’t issued unless drivers are speeding at least 10 mph over the posted limits.<\/p>\n
Russ Rader, spokesman for the Arlington, Va.-based IIHS, said that his group supports speed cameras because they “are effective in reducing crashes,” based on research and analysis done by the group.\u00a0 With excessive speed being a factor in 1\/3 of the vehicle crash deaths in the U.S., anything that can be used by police to lower speeds and reduce vehicle crashes is worthwhile, Rader said.<\/p>\n
“The question is not ‘why are communities using speed cameras or introducing them?'”\u00a0 he said.\u00a0 “The question really is,\u00a0 ‘why aren’t more communities doing it?'”<\/p>\n
“The only people who have to worry about getting tickets are the people who are breaking the law,”\u00a0 Rader said.\u00a0 “This isn’t about trapping people.\u00a0 Photo enforcement is about preventing speeding.”<\/p>\n
The cameras can cut the number of motorists who are speeding by more than 10 mph over the speed limit by as much as 90%, Rader said.<\/p>\n
“The whole idea is to tell people that the cams are in use in a very publicized way, not to entrap them,” he said.<\/p>\n