[NOISE] Re: photographed license plates

rpowell@algorithmics.com writes:
>Simon Spero <ses@tipper.oit.unc.edu> writes:
>     > In the UK they now use cameras to deter speeding [...]
>
> In Ontario, they tried this on some of the major highways.  The most
> interesting thing about it was that it was proved time and time again
> that the technology was not up to snuff: there was an almost 0% chance
> of being caught.  When the license plate wasn't obscured or unreadable
> (which it usually was) the computerized mailing system made some
> stupid mistake that allowed the person to get off if they challenged
> it.

One problem with using such systems in the US (I have no idea about traffic
laws in Ontario so maybe this was the loophole you mentioned) is that even
with a perfect shot of the license plate the system only identifies a car,
not a driver.  Speeding tickets are given to drivers, not necessarily to
the owner of the speeding car.  Here in the states the easy challenge to
such a ticket would be "it was not me driving when that photo was taken" and
the burden of proof is on the prosecution to prove that you were the driver.
Since some states do not require front license plates the cameras take shots
of the tail end of the car, not the best angle for identifying drivers.

jim

Regarding photographing cars for speeding, mccoy@communities.com (Jim McCoy)
notes that a drive could challenge a photo ticket by stating that

>"it was not me driving when that photo was taken"

When this was tried in (I believe) Sweden, the driver was told that
the ticked would be canceled.

Then, he was told that henceforth, he would be *required* to maintain
a log of precisely who was driving, the date, time, and the beginning and
ending odomoter. Required, that is, as a condition of keeping his license.
And that he must produce this log whenever a police officer requested it.

Amazing how this improved the driver's memory.

There is another problem that these tickets could cause. (This could
be an urban legend, of course): a former work collegue was speeding
in Switzerland. His wife opened the letter with the ticket -- and
photograph. The passenger was not his wife, and the location differed
from where my former collegue's wife expected her (soon to be former)
husband to be.

Drive carefully.

Martin Minow
minow@apple.com

Amazing how people forget that Sweden is, in fact, a monarchy. The king 
doesn't exercise his absolute power of life and death over his subject - 
he has appointed that to his government.

There is no liberty in Sweden. Merely googood humour on the part of the 
Sovereign.

In the USA, we have a system that ensures that the burden of proof is on 
the accuser.