I went to court this week for a speeding violation in a school zone during non-school hours. As of Feb 24, they have changed the hours of operation of the cameras to operate only a half hour before the start and a half hour after school closes. My ticket in January was at 1 pm, but whoever presided announced pre-Feb 24 tickets still counted.
The first person to testify, an elderly woman, said the light was not blinking. The judge did not really care. They produced records that say it was, and the fine stood with no reductions. The second person up apologized and basically was asking for mercy. Again the judge gave no reductions.
Since my name starts with a 'V' and they were going alphabetically, I asked a county employee if I could just leave and pay the fine. I could see no reductions in my case would be coming. My guess is that there were probably 25 county employees in the room, and at the pace things were moving, they would be there for close to 3 hours. That seems like a ridiculous waste of resources.
This whole process is just a money grab because they can. Put a camera on every street corner and soon nobody will be driving. So, who gets rich - the county, state, school district, and camera company? Manatee County feels a little like Russia. This whole thing is a ridiculous money grab and should be stopped.
Kevin Valle
Wimauma
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AllForOne
Why is the concept of compliance so foreign to so many people? The solution to the problem is DON'T SPEED! In order to get a ticket, a person typically has to be at least 10 mph above the posted speed limit. Reckless and speeding driving has become an epidemic in Florida.
Sunday, March 2 Report this
sandy
There's a school near me on a street that is in a 40 mph speed zone. When letting kids off in the morning and kids leaving in the afternoon speed is 20 mph with a light flashing. The units were originally set at 1/2 hour before school start and 1/2 hour after school end. That means you could get caught at about 11:00 a.m for example with no lights flashing if you do 40 which is the posted speed with no lights. Are you supposed to do 20 mph from 7:30 a.m. til 4:00 p.m.?
Sunday, March 2 Report this