A majority of judges on an Ohio Court of Appeals panel decided last week to overrule the state legislature on the issue of speed cameras and red light cameras. Judges James D. Jensen and Arlene Singer insisted that no regulation of any kind could be imposed on cities that outsource traffic tickets to private companies like American Traffic Solutions and Redflex Traffic Systems of Australia.
At issue was the bill commonly, but incorrectly, referred to as a “ban” on automated ticketing machines that lawmakers passed in an effort to rein in municipal use of the controversial devices. The most hotly contested provision of the law required cities to position an actual police officer near a camera before a private vendor would be allowed to mail out a ticket. The 2 to 1 appellate decision affirmed a lower court ruling (view case) that found this requirement too burdensome on localities, citing the 2005 Canton v. Ohio state Supreme Court case that held only “general laws” passed by the General Assembly could overrule a municipal ordinance.
“In effect, the conditions established by the legislature actually render illusory most municipalities’ right to use photo detection devices for enforcing traffic laws,” Judge Jensen wrote for the Court of Appeals majority. “To the extent that the relevant provisions of Senate Bill 342 operate primarily to limit the legislative power of municipal corporations to set forth their own police, sanitary, or similar regulations, they fail to satisfy the third requirement of the Canton general law analysis.”
The court’s description is undermined by the explosion in Ohio municipalities using fully compliant hand-held speed cameras to issue just as many tickets under the new law. These jurisdictions include Girard, Liberty, Linndale, Newburgh Heights, New Miami, Parma, Weathersfield and Youngstown. In fact, Toledo began testing the devices earlier this year.
The court majority was also offended by the law’s restrictions on the ability of municipalities to ticket motorists for driving less than 6 MPH over the speed limit, requiring safety studies and setting up administrative hearings with at least a minimal set of due process protections.
The majority decision, however, is already in conflict with another Court of Appeals decision (view ruling) from February, meaning the issue will ultimately be resolved by a forthcoming Ohio Supreme Court decision.
In a dissent, Judge Stephen A. Yarbrough argued that the majority completely misinterpreted the state Supreme Court’s direction on the definition of a general law, citing a case where the high court rejected a municipality’s challenge to statewide limits on vehicle sizes and loads.
“I disagree with the majority’s premise that Senate Bill 342 does not operate uniformly throughout the state simply because it has an arguably greater impact on those municipalities with fewer traffic cameras,” Judge Yarbrough wrote. “Although this may be true, the cost incurred for each camera would be consistent across municipalities since the same regulations apply statewide… The fact that Toledo’s program may be more expensive than a suburban municipality’s program is due to the fact that Toledo has decided to employ 44 cameras, not because Senate Bill 342 regulates Toledo’s program differently than any other municipal traffic law photo monitoring program.”
A copy of the ruling is available in a 1.2mb PDF file at the source link below.
Source: Toledo v. Ohio (Court of Appeal, State of Ohio, 7/8/2016)
American Traffic Solutions and Redflex Traffic Systems of Australia have purchased the Ohio Court of Appeals. I wonder how much that cost them. No worries as these scum sucking companies are now set to make record profits.
Im currently ignoring one of these unconstitutional tickets .. I wasnt even driving the dam truck .. i was 78 miles away at the time and date they say I was going 5 over ( they ticket the truck, not the driver , the truck is registered in my name , it is a picture of my truck , other people drive it, a TRUCK cant pay a ticket ) when i say “truck”its not a car .. its an SUV- or pick up truck, not a commercial vehicle
violation of my 6th amendment right to face my accuser , and they want me to implicate who was driving the truck , and that is a violation of my 5th amendment right
they say they will treat it like a debt and hand it over to a collection agency and it will affect my credit ..Like I GAF.. im not getting any dam loans , or getting any new credit cards .. so they can KMA
who knows , maybe Ohio will soon KMA, and lose any sales revenue from me too while they are at it, go a head and hurt the companies in your own state acting like revenue thugs, I live close to that states border, so I just wont spend my $ there.. very simple
all this is , Is they are so broke, they have turned revenue from traffic tickets into a new tax, due to the falling tax monies , loss of jobs and income taxes etc etc.. not to mention the loss of companies doing buisness in these states
they can suck on their Non registered mail that I never got ! LMFAO suckers
anyone got any advice?
Carry on, soldier! Kick ’em right in the nads.
They spend all of their tax money (ransom) buying expensive toys to play with leaving them no other way to meet everyday expenses. “You wanna be safe? Pony up then!” “How else are we going to pay our legal fees?”
Emergency barf bags for all! Once Hillary takes office, the pigs will be on puke cleanup from nationwide induced vomiting. A river of puke will swell over it’s banks and flood D.C., replacing the current nose-hair curling stench with another, more “old lady” smell. I can’t wait, it will be nauseating! Mirrors across the nation will crack at her image. A giant cesspool will replace D.C. and one whiff could be deadly. Wonderful times ahead, make sure your gas mask fits properly. Be sure not to vote in this farce. Just get your rope ready.
Got enough rope
Just waiting for someone to build the hangin stands
Of course they want more speed cameras.
with Ohio’s state economy crashing as it is, they’ll need more speed cameras, litterbug cameras, jay-walking cameras, and any other device they can use to generate revenue.
When someone says of surveillance “if you’re not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about”, you really need to smack some sense into their empty heads.