Taking on the Government Toledo Residents FEED UP WITH RLC are REFUSING TO PAY!
Toledo Residents FEED UP WITH RLC are REFUSING TO PAY! (Note Toledo PREVENTED A CITIZEN VOTE ON IT A WHILE BACK).
http://www.foxtoledo.com/dpp/news/local/8.5M-uncollected-from-red-light-fines
$8.5M uncollected from red-light fines
City council questions the numbers
Updated: Sunday, 14 Aug 2011, 3:36 PM EDT
Published : Saturday, 13 Aug 2011, 10:28 PM EDT
Kevin Milliken
TOLEDO, Ohio (WUPW) - Toledo city government is on track to collect this year's share of red light camera tickets-- roughly $750,000. But drivers still owe more than ten times that amount in unpaid fines.
The total is $8.6 million that has gone uncollected from Toledo's red light cameras, which first were placed at intersections a decade ago.
"Wow!" said one man.
"That's unreal. That's crazy," said a female driver.
"I think that's going to be a problem," speculated a third person.
Toledo city council keeps questioning the growing pile of uncollected fines, but the police chief cites two problems. For one, a boot-the-cars of scofflaws blitz requires a lot of manpower, so it's been nearly a year since the last one. Second, he'd like a law requiring the payment of fines before a car registration can be renewed, but state legislators are reluctant to pass a so-called "warrant block" law..
"Believe it or not, I was sent one and I wasn't the driver,” said Wayne Gambrell. “So they caught my license plate and here it was, I didn't know my car was taken at night."
Gambrell had to take the driver to court to get his money back.
"They're making money off of it and everybody's getting mad," said his friend Shawn Gregory.
A lot of people have a lot of different reasons why they refuse to pay red light camera fines. For one, they don't like them so they won't pay on sheer principle. A second reason cited by some people is they think the cameras are inaccurate.
"Maybe they need to fix their cameras and then they wouldn't be $8 million uncollected. They'd be even," said David Harrison.
"A lot of times, they may malfunction,” claimed Jeff Lewis. “Anything man-made can break down."
Whether someone receives the $120 citation is a judgment call made by a police officer who reviews the digital photos. Whether someone pays the fine seems to be a judgment call, too.
"If I really knew I ran the red light, then I'd probably be inclined to pay,” said Lewis. “If not, then no."
“I just wouldn’t pay it, because I figure it’s unfair,” admitted Tara Krohn.
"If I knew I was in the wrong, yeah, I'd pay it,” said Harrison. “But if I wasn't, no way in heck I'd pay it."
In a recent memo to city council, the police chief also stated that it’s difficult to locate vehicles that are more than two years delinquent, because the cars have either been sold or license plates have been changed.
(Ban the Cams note: here is the link when Toledo USED A TECHNICALITY TO PREVENT A CITIZEN VOTE ON THE SCAMERA ISSUE: http://banthecams.org/Blogs/denying-the-right-to-vote-by-the-scamera-crowd.html)
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