NMA E-Newsletter #738: The Revenue-Hungry Rise of Automated Ticketing
By Jay Beeber, Director of Policy & Research For the past few years, we’ve been monitoring a concerning trend in traffic enforcement: a steady shift towards more and more automated ticketing. Unfortunately, this trend appears to be gaining momentum. In California, we’ve witnessed a surge of bills introduced that attempt to authorize various forms of […]
Low-Level Traffic Fines: A Slippery Slope to Civil Court: NMA E-Newsletter #730
On January 1st, Nevada became the latest state to remove the threat of a criminal charge for motorists who can’t pay fines for minor traffic violations. The new law has downgraded these minor infractions from criminal misdemeanors to civil violations with civil penalties. This change only applies to low-level traffic tickets, not to tickets like reckless […]
Civil Asset Forfeiture in Indiana Goes Beyond Policing for Profit: NMA E-Newsletter #701
Initially created to take down drug lords, civil asset forfeiture has morphed into an excuse by federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to confiscate cash and other property regardless of whether a person is charged with a crime. The Indiana Supreme Court recently ruled that the government must prove it is ‘entitled’ to keep […]
What’s Up with Philly?
By Shelia Dunn, NMA Communications Director Editor’s Note: This piece originally appeared as the cover story in the Winter 2022 Edition of the National Motorists Association’s quarterly magazine Driving Freedoms. If you would like to receive our magazine, please become a member of the NMA today! The City of Brotherly Love seems anything but when […]
Oversized Injury Verdicts may be on the Way out in Montana and Texas
Editor’s Note: This post first appeared as NMA E-Newsletter #646. If you would like to subscribe to this weekly one-topic newsletter, click HERE to subscribe. Over the past two years, insurance rates for trucking companies have increased an average of 20 to 25 percent. Umbrella or excess liability policies have increased even more—over 75 percent—which […]
Speed Camera Games Played for Profits in Ohio: NMA E-Newsletter #650
When will Ohio municipalities ever learn? The Ohio Supreme Court has been working overtime on automated enforcement cases brought by motorists against cities and townships across the state. Justice would be better served if the state prohibited ticket cameras altogether. The difficulty is that the larger cities in Ohio have home-rule authority, i.e., they set […]
How to Handle Yourself at a Checkpoint or Roadblock
By Shelia Dunn, NMA Communications Director Editor’s Note: This article first appeared in the NMA’s Driving Freedoms Magazine in the Fall of 2020. If you would like to receive the NMA’s quarterly magazine, join the NMA today! Check out the first in this series: Have Checkpoints Gone Too Far? Similar to a traffic stop, a […]
Criminal Traffic Court is the Best Option
By Gary Biller, NMA President Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared as an NMA E-Newsletter #450 in August 2017. If you would like to receive the NMA E-Newsletter every Sunday in your inbox, subscribe HERE. Whose side are we on anyway? The NMA objects when cities lower the traffic court bar, downgrading routine moving violations […]
Pay that Red-Light Camera Ticket No Matter What
Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared as an NMA Weekly E-Newsletter #605 emailed to members in August 2020. If you would like to receive the newsletter, join today the thousands of other active motorists who have made that choice! The Delaware Supreme Court ruled recently that red-light camera ticket fines under $100 cannot be appealed beyond local courts. […]
The Panopticon Expands: Distracted Driving Cams+
Precedent always becomes practice. Having established as legitimate the use of cameras to robotically ticket people for “speeding” and “running” red lights — timed to go red quickly, to ensnare as many drivers as possible — it was only a matter of time before the principle to include automatically ticketing people for using their cell […]