South Carolina Bans Photo Enforcement

by The Newspaper

June 21st, 2010 10:10 AM

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford (R) last week signed a law banning the use of red light cameras and speed cameras in the state. The measure swept unanimously through the House, 106 to 0, on June 3 and in the Senate 38 to 0 on June 2. So far, fifteen states have taken legislative or judicial action to prohibit the use of automated ticketing machines. In addition, the voters in ten cities have thrown out photo enforcement by referendum ( view complete list). South Carolina’s law takes effect immediately.

Since 2006, the state had relied on an attorney general’s ruling ( view opinion) to keep cities from installing cameras. Ridgeland Mayor Gary W Hodges believed that he could ignore the ruling and install cameras on his personal authority. He signed a five-year contract with iTraffic, a private company that offered to operate a speed camera van on Interstate 95 trapping passing tourists in return for a cut of the profit generated. Bill Danzell set up iTraffic after his previous photo enforcement venture, Nestor Traffic Systems, went bankrupt. Now local sources suggest Hodges is considering running his freeway ticketing program in defiance of the new law, claiming his system will use more than just a photograph to prove a violation.

The new law states that photo tickets may not be used except during emergencies declared by the governor or president. In case of such an emergency, the camera ticket must be personally delivered by a police officer within one hour.

“A person who receives a citation for violating traffic laws relating to speeding or disregarding traffic control devices based solely on photographic evidence must be served in person with notice of the violation within one hour of the occurrence of the violation,” South Carolina Code Section 56-5-70, effective June 11, states.

This emergency allowance of cameras was included to make the camera ban amendment germane to legislation dealing with the use of golf carts during declared emergencies. Lawmakers saw no practical way that a photo enforcement system could be used under those conditions. View the new law in a 20k PDF file at the source link below.

Section 56-5-70 (South Carolina Code Of Laws, 6/11/2010)

[Courtesy: Thenewspaper.com]

#Crime&Punishment #Government #Traffic

Comments

Join the conversation

2 of 3 comments

Bnolt on Jun 21, 2010

Heh. If Boss Hogg keeps this up, they should sent the SCDOT out with cutting torches and dump them all on his front lawn.

Like Reply
Cdrmike on Jun 21, 2010

Damn, that lass in Argentina musta cleared up his thinking. Order up one for all our governors....

Like Reply

Recent Comments

SCE to AUX I'm almost 60, and have been wearing seat belts since I was a child (my father had them added to his 62 Beetle).Recently, I saw a parked car with the passenger seat belt clicked into the driver side latch - obviously to over-ride the alerts. You have to be pretty desperate (or large) to avoid using them.But this isn't the first vehicle I've seen where the latch gets caught somewhere. Is there some sort of standard for that now?
Tassos those 90s pathetic orange pixels are inexcusably lame in a 2010.The interior is filled with Grey Rubbermaid plastic and the tiny sliver of real or fake wood is an utterly pathetic attempt to pretend it's upscale (don't even THINK of "Luxury")Merc SLs with similar metal retractable roofs look so much better inside and out.Regardless of what you paid for this way undepowered near-luxury pretend-sports car, you would have done so much better with a PORSCHE BOXSTER...
Dukeisduke That's a cool picture (the one under the bridge) - where was it taken? Google Image Search doesn't turn up any matches.
Dukeisduke Okay, yeah, they should fix this, but, "URGENT: DO NOT DRIVE THIS VEHICLE"? I think we're reaching Peak Idiocracy.
MaintenanceCosts This is a great review, and very accurate from my perspective as the owner of a closely related, but longer and taller, E93 335i convertible. So much in this review is familiar. Here are the things that are a bit different about the 335i:[list][*]My car is a manual. Shifter action is good, with positive engagement, although a bit more play and rubbery feeling in the shifter than you would get with, say, a six-speed Honda. The clutch is a bit disappointing. It has a "clutch dampening valve" intended to protect against the most abusive clutch dumps. The valve throws my timing off a bit and I have had a hard time learning to drive this car with perfect smoothness, especially in the 1-2 shift. I may remove the valve at some point.[/*][*]My car has the turbo (in single-turbo N55 form). On the plus side, you get what feels like significantly more power than the rated 300 hp once on the boost, and even in fully stock form you get entertaining whooshing noises from the blowoff valve. On the minus side, there is some turbo lag, more than you get in many modern turbo cars, and fuel economy is, well, not close to what Corey is getting. The turbo car also comes with an active exhaust system that is extremely quiet when puttering while making some nice inline-six noise at wide-open throttle.[/*][*]There are back seats! I have a nine-year-old and a six-year-old. The six-year-old fits perfectly. The nine-year-old still fits, but that will likely change within the next three years. These seats are not usable for adults unless the front-seat occupants squeeze forward more than normal. E92 coupes are slightly roomier in back, and E90 sedans are substantially roomier.[/*][*]My car has the M Sport suspension, which does not have variable dampers. It's firm enough that I have to be careful to avoid even small holes on city streets if I don't want to get jarred. But if you can avoid the holes it feels good, navigating expansion joints and such without uncomfortable impact, while maintaining impressive body control for a porky 3900-pound convertible.[/*][*]My car has iDrive and a screen, as well as parking sensors. But it does not have a backup camera. Graphics on the screen are pretty good by 2011 standards, which is to say not acceptable by modern standards, but the system is easy enough to navigate and works pretty well. I prefer the rotary controller to a touch screen for fingerprint reasons.[/*][*]The parking sensors are by far the best of any car I've ever owned, and they are so accurate I really don't need a camera. The sensors go to a solid beep when the appropriate end is about 4" from an object, and I can comfortably cover about half that distance with no fear of bumping. They also project legimately useful graphics on the iDrive screen showing where the object is. I park in tight city settings enough that I really appreciate the accuracy. Also in the city parking mold, my car has power folding mirrors, which I wish every car would.[/*][*]Like you, I have the mid-level "Hi-Fi Professional" stereo setup, but in the four-seat convertible there is not a dedicated subwoofer. Bass is a bit on the weak side. Sound quality is about comparable with the JBL system in my Toyota Highlander, which is to say it's good enough for listening in the car but is not going to impress anyone.[/*][*]There are small leaks from the joints between the top and the A-pillars in my car. They won't soak the interior, but they will result in a few drops of water on the front seats after a hard rain. I'm still experimenting to see if regular applications of rubber protectant can restore the seals enough to eliminate the leaks. There are no leaks from any other part of the top mechanism.[/*][*]I've only owned the car for about eight months and 1500 miles, but so far nothing has broken and every feature on the car works correctly. A purchase-time inspection found only an incorrectly secured fan shroud and no other problems, and there is a mostly complete service history, so this was a well-maintained car to start with.[/*][/list]