NY State Senate Made the Right Choice in NOT Bringing More Cameras to New York City
News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE USE
For Interviews or Additional Information Contact:
Shelia Dunn
NMA Communications Director
608/849-6000
TO: News Directors, Assignment Editors, and Radio/TV Talk Show Producers
NY State Senate Made the Right Choice in NOT Bringing More Cameras to New York City
Waunakee, WI: Â The National Motorists Association commends the foresight of the New York State Senate Leadership in not calling for a special session to vote to continue or even possibly expand the New York City speed camera program. The agenda of the Transportation Alliance and others is not to just bring speed cameras to school zones but to all NYC streets including highways. This would in essence make the entire city one large speed trap that no one could escape.
Special Interest advocates are duping neighborhood citizens into thinking that the city is safer with automated cameras. Instead, automated cameras will never stop drivers who are excessively speeding, driving while drunk or impaired. Automated speed camera enforcement creates speed traps by emphasizing ticketing activity as a false measure of safety performance.
Even though the NYC automated speed camera program has been touted for safety purposes, the cameras are indeed a money-making machine for New York City to the tune of over $122.6 million in fines between 2014 and 2016.
Motorists lose their constitutional right to confront an accuser in court. Suspected offenders rarely are positively identified by the camera. Registered owners of vehicles, whether or not they were driving at the time of the alleged incident, are not adequately notified of a ticket until weeks after the fact, making development of a defense difficult. Photo radar has also been shown to generate false readings.
The NMA encourages all motorists who drive in New York City to oppose automated cameras by contacting their state elected officials to urge them to oppose automated camera enforcement of any kind.
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About the National Motorists Association:
Founded in 1982, the National Motorists Association is a North American grassroots advocacy organization dedicated to the protection of motorists’ rights and freedoms. The membership-based organization advocates for traffic laws fairly written and reasonably enforced, full due process rights in traffic court, traffic penalties based on sensible standards and not revenue collection, reasonable highway user fees, traffic safety based on proven engineering solutions, and a focus on improved and more comprehensive early advanced driving-skill development.