It has been reported that a village located in Ohio has been summoned to return $3 million worth of speed cam tickets issued. These were based on the citation from automated traffic cameras in the area.
Village In Ohio Summoned To Return $3 Million Worth Of Speeding Tickets Issued
Butler County Judge Michael Oster summoned and issued the ruling last Wednesday, claiming that the village owed their residents $3 million of unjust implementation of the law. It has been previously ruled by the judge that the cameras were installed for safety and security reasons. Thus, he concluded that it was unruly for the government to issue speeding tickets being caught on traffic cameras wherein there purpose was not for that reason at all. He has ruled back in 2014 that the enforcement of the village's camera was not constitutional.
The ruling is already on its last round of appeals, and yet the village government is still continuing to fight for what they did. They strongly believe that they were in the right to summon and issue the speeding tickets, and used the traffic cameras for it even though they were not built for that reason alone. According to the judge's ruling, the cameras gave the village an unfair advantage to the law that was not implicated in the first place.
Traffic Cameras Built For Safety Precaution, Not For Traffic Enforcement And Extorting Money
The village has issued tickets to 45,000 people already in just a span of 15 months. Thus, it can be seen as an unfair use of the traffic cameras to extort money from the drivers. It has been enforced tht an officer must be present when the camera enforcement is used and not just to simply take advantage of the technology, which is not what it was for in the first place. This challenge has been taken before the Ohio Supreme Court, fighting the validity of the camera for safety and not for extorting money.
