Speeding tickets may be automated
Going too fast in construction zones could spur citation with no stop
LANSING — Michigan residents could soon receive highway speeding tickets without ever being pulled over by a police officer.
Bipartisan bills to legalize the automated issuance of speeding tickets in construction zones received approval Thursday in the state House. The bills must still pass the Senate and be signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer before they become law.
Proponents of the bills say they are needed to improve the safety of construction workers and they also contain many protections for motorists.
Michigan averages about 14 worker fatalities in work zones per year, but the annual number has been rising, records show.
Officials said Maryland saw an 80% decline in speeding in targeted areas after that state adopted a similar program.
“It’s really about changing behavior for young drivers,” state Rep. Mike Mueller, R-Linden, testified at a committee hearing in March. “It’s not a Big Brother issue, at all.”
The main bill, House Bill 4132, sponsored by state Rep. Will Snyder, D-Muskegon, passed the House in a 67-42 vote.
Under the legislation:
Signs warning of the speed-activated h cameras must be placed one mile before the construction zone in which the speed-activated camera is installed;
The license plate camera is only activated h by vehicles exceeding the posted speed limit by more than 10 miles per hour;
Written warnings will be issued for first h offenses or if there are more than three years between offenses;
Second violations bring a civil fine of not h more than $150, while third and subsequent
offenses bring civil fines of not more than $300;
The presumption that the vehicle’s registered owner is the driver can be rebutted by sworn affidavits, testimony in court or evidence the vehicle had been stolen;
The Michigan State Police must file an annual public report on the use of the cameras, including the number of citations issued; the age, ethnicity, race and sex of those who receive citations; where the cameras are installed; and how much revenue is raised and how much is spent on the program.
The data collected can’t be shared with third parties. Some of the money raised will be used to improve construction worker safety.
The Michigan American Civil Liberties Union expressed concerns about the bill at a committee hearing in April. At least some of those concerns were addressed in later versions of the bills, which added the provisions about demographic data collection and bans on sharing of collected data.
Gabrielle Dresner, an ACLU Michigan policy strategist, said that automated traffic enforcement, in theory, could lessen concerns about selective enforcement based on race. But in order to ensure that, it’s important to have data about where the cameras are installed, because it is possible they could be installed in construction zones in parts of the state where drivers of color are disproportionately represented, she said.
Also, “there are always privacy concerns with surveillance technology,” Dresner said.