Finally, someone’s fighting back against the fleecing of the general populace

Famous for liking things big, Texas lawmakers have laid the smackdown on red light and speed cameras in a big way!

HB.922 addresses this issue:

House Bill 922 amends the Transportation Code to prohibit a municipality from implementing an automated traffic control system to enforce compliance with speed limits and requires the attorney general to enforce the prohibition.

This means that cameras, automated radar or laser, or anything else designed to snag an image of a car, driver, or license plate and record its speed is now forbidden.

The even larger racket of red-light cameras have had the brakes applied by HB.1052, which requires warning signs, at least 100 feet out, before intersections at which a municipality uses a photographic traffic monitoring system to enforce compliance with a traffic-control signal.

These bills have passed through the legislature and are awaiting Governor Rick Perry’s inscription.

UPDATE: I found out that these bills actually have already been signed into law, June 2007.

If the measures do make it into law, we hope that other states follow suit. Ticketing egregious speeders and actual red-light scofflaws is one thing, but the systems have been calibrated in a cynical manner to generate loads of revenue (and kickbacks) for the companies that sell and administrate the systems for municipalities. Rather than keeping people safe, random ticketing amounts to a tax, and that really bites. Studies have shown that red light cameras, in many cases, actually INCREASE accidents at intersections, largely from people panicking and slammin’ on the brakes.

We’re pleased beyond words that Texas has taken up the motorists’ cause, and we hope that the new legislation can stand as a precedent.