The old cat and mouse game just tilted dramatically in favor of the cat.
All along the I-95 corridor – which runs from Maine to Florida, along the length of most of the East Coast – states are implementing a so-called “live fine” system that uses speed cameras and automated plate readers to identify drivers who’ve violated any traffic laws (not just “speeding”) and automatically send them a ticket in the mail.
This accomplishes a number of nefarious purposes, the most obvious being to suck whatever lingering joy remains in driving out of it by eliminating the previously high chance of “getting away” with it. Meaning, not having to obey every single traffic law to the letter. Which means the end of being free to use your own judgment, based on your own estimation of your own capabilities in favor of least-common-denominator-based mindless obedience.
Of course, some equate the latter with “safety” and so are either all for it or unable to intelligently argue against it.
This is how we got to where we are, by the way. This acceptance of the assertion that every traffic law is not just necessary but sacrosanct; that it is always wrong to not obey every single one, every single time. Yet, we regularly do not obey them – which is an interesting incongruity when you take a moment to try to reconcile the two things. Most of us regularly drive at least a little faster than whatever the speed limit is – in part because almost everyone else is doing the same.
Are we all doing a bad thing?
If so, we do almost none of us ever feel the slightest twinge of guilt when we are stopped by a cop for “speeding”? We may pretend – to the cop – that we’re remorseful, in the hope that if we play along, maybe the cop will let us go with just a warning. But we’re not actually sorry. We’re angry – inside – and even more so if the cop ends up giving us that piece of payin’ paper (as the great Greaseman used to call these extortion notes) which is not just interesting but fascinating because unless we are all sociopaths, there is something telling about this absence of guilt for doing something the law insists is wrong.
To better understand what I am getting at, imagine you accidentally hit a motorcycle rider and he dies. You’d feel mortified; if the accident was your fault, you’d feel guilt and remorse for the rest of your life – assuming you’re not a sociopath. You’d accept responsibility – as well as punishment, knowing you are responsible and deserve to be punished.
Most traffic tickets issued are not like this in the sense that few if any of us feel guilty for “speeding” – or making an illegal (but competently executed and safe) U-Turn or right on red. We don’t feel like moral monsters because we did not “buckle up” – or even because we (again, competently and safely) used our phone while driving. Why would we? These are mere violations of state decrees, something like ignoring an injunction to not step on a sidewalk crack else you’ll break your momma’s back (and here’s a $150 fine for doing that).
Well, what was an occasional hazard is on the way to becoming unavoidable. Not just every “speeder” but every single instance of “speeding” – as well as every other thing that’s against the law – will be immediately identified and just as immediately punished via automatically issued fines. You can imagine the chilling effect this will have on driving.
It is the panopticon realized. The idea here being to use fear of universal monitoring and universal and unavoidable punishment to get people to self-police. As the inmates do in a prison – because they’re aware the warden is watching. The key difference being we’re not criminals – though we may be scofflaws. There is a n important difference there.
You won’t even know you got pulled over – so to speak – until you open the mailbox.
There’s no presumption of innocence either. The “live fine” system presumes the guilt of the vehicle’s owner – not the driver – who is identified via the plate reader that ties the number to the vehicle’s registered owner. You can appeal this presumption of guilt but the point is the presumption has to be overcome, rather than the Before Times other way around of the state having to at least go through the motions of finding you guilty. 
This will be goldmine for the state, of course – because there are so many traffic laws it is almost impossible not to “violate” at least a few every time you drive. A single cop can hand out only so many tickets per day. How many tickets can a camera mail in a day? At the end of the day, this will – if it becomes everywhere – render driving something unpleasant as well as boring. Everyone will have to hew to the same dumbed-down mean. It will be like “driving” a horse on the merry go ’round except the merry go ’round is designed to be fun. Perhaps the more accurate analogy is that it’ll be like a return to the stroller – with the state instead of mom or dad deciding how the stroller goes.
Inevitably, it will be the end of driving in any meaningful sense. May as well just take the bus.
That old Rush song about Motor Laws and Red Barchettas comes to mind.
. . .
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Well, of course speed cams and tickets-by-mail already exist. But they have come up with the neat trick of making it a CIVIL infraction rather than a V&T violation, which requires an actual, live, sworn cop who you can challenge in court at a trial in front of a judge.
With the CIVIL infraction you won’t get “points” on your license… they’ll just suspend your registration if you don’t pay.
So the Talmudic lawyers have cleverly figured out how to get around your protections in the Bill of Rights — the right to confront your accuser, the right to a fair trial, the right to assistance of counsel, etc.
Indeed, X –
That’s why – in the little video rant I did that accompanies this article – I recommend countermeasures. It’d be such a shame if the camera could not read your plate accurately…