"Foolproof" traffic cams fooled

In postdemocratic America, you have to watch your own every move to stay out of trouble. But sometimes even that's not enough.

Traffic enforcement cameras - which are frequently abused to Make Money for the well-connected firms that operate them - lay this point bare.

Apologists for traffic cams say the devices are foolproof. Indeed, the cameras are considered so infallible that many motorists who have been wrongly ticketed (despite being nowhere near the camera) have never been able to clear their names.

But now a new pastime in Maryland shows just how gullible the cameras are. It seems that some local high school students have gotten the bright idea that they can make phony replicas of their teachers' license plates, paste them over the plates on their own cars, and zip through the traffic cams at law-bustin' speeds.

The camera snaps a photo of the plate - and a speeding ticket gets mailed to the teacher, even though the teacher is innocent.

Teachers aren't the only victims. Other students are too.

It's unclear how much success victims have had fighting these bogus citations. One official admitted that this hobby will damage public confidence in the traffic cams.

I never had confidence in this program to begin with. Once you've seen that there's a whole system in place to "get" you no matter how innocent you are, it's hard to see why anyone ever thought the cameras were perfect.

(Source: http://www.thesentinel.com/302730670790449.php)