TRASH ’EM:
Longtime critic advises Tennesseans to ignore them
Tenn. lawmaker urges drivers to ignore traffic-camera citations.
NASHVILLE — State Rep. Andy Holt is urging Tennesseans to ignore traffic camera tickets, emphasizing his point by burning a citation in a video that has received more than 325,000 views on Facebook.
“What do you do if you get one? Throw it in the trash. Personally, I prefer to burn mine,” says Holt, R-Dresden, in a lengthy news release issued in conjunction with a video on his Facebook page Wednesday that shows him using a cigarette lighter to set the ticket aflame.
But Knoxville Police Chief David Raush said in an email Thursday that Holt is not offering sound advice to citizens.
“No one likes to be caught violating traffic offenses, regardless of how they are caught, but they have a legal obligation to properly address it. Burning a citation or throwing it away is an emotional response that may feel good, but it does not make the violation and accountability go away,” said Rausch.
Holt, a longtime critic of traffic camera tickets who has repeatedly called for prohibiting them outright in Tennessee, was joined by Sen. Paul Bailey, R-Sparta, this year in sponsoring a bill (HB2510) that requires all citations resulting from a traffic camera video to include this notice:
“Non-payment of this (‘notice’ or ‘citation’) cannot adversely affect your credit score or report, driver’s license, and/or automobile insurance rates.”
The bill passed unanimously in the Senate and with a 92-2 vote in the House. It took effect when signed by Gov. Bill Haslam on April 27.
Holt said in pushing the measure that the new notice simply makes those getting the tickets aware of what state law already says.
But Rausch, who is current president of the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police, voiced concern about the bill when it was still pending in the legislature earlier this year.
Legally speaking, the camera citations are treated as a civil penalty, not as a misdemeanor criminal offense as when an officer directly writes a ticket. The maximum civil penalty is $50. If the penalty goes unpaid, Rausch and Duncan said, collection efforts can be pursued, just as with any other unpaid debt.
Holt contends that the companies operating traffic cameras under contract with Tennessee cities are themselves violating a provision of state law that says only a commissioned law enforcement officer can review video photos of drivers allegedly running a red light or speeding to determine if a violation occurs.
The lawmaker says that, in fact, the two leading companies in contracting for traffic cameras in Tennessee — RedFlex Holdings, Inc., headquartered in Australia, and American Traffic Solutions Inc., based in Arizona — openly promote their practice of having company personnel review the tapes before passing on suspected violations for police review.
The legislator said that traffic camera companies and city police departments have been using “coercion and false legal threats” to prod violators into paying the $50 tickets and the bill was intended to stop such things.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety currently lists 19 Tennessee communities using traffic cameras to ticket drivers running red lights, including Memphis.
In 2015, Holt successfully sponsored legislation that bans new contracts for use of the cameras to issue speeding tickets. But that law included a provision allowing contracts in place at the time it took effect — July 1, 2015 — to continue using the cameras.