Why all the fuss?

When I received my RLC ticket in Oct. of 2008, I was (and remain) happily married, raising our kids, paying the mortgage and enjoying suburban anonymity.  You most likely would have never known of me had I not read the back of the RLC ticket while filling out a seventy-five dollar check for my fine.  The notice states that “it has been determined”, using the past tense, that I had broken the law.  “Failure to pay seventy-five dollars by the due date is an admission of liability” and will result in an additional twenty-five dollar fee.  Was this from our government?  Are we found guilty before a trial?  The City asks us to come prove our innocence?  Sadly the answer is: yes.

Breaking the law is wrong; obeying traffic signals is a good thing.  Despite being labeled as a law breaker (and worse) for my opposition to the RLC program, I am for all practical purposes a law abiding citizen.  I requested my complete driving history from the Texas DPS and it reveals one citation for speeding in 34 years behind the wheel.  The answers to two popular questions: 1. Yes, I have paid the seventy-five dollar fine 2. No, I was not driving the car while it was photographed by the RLC system.

The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”  I am opposed to the RLC system in Texas because it is wrong for the government to:

• Determine a citizen’s guilt prior to his or her day in court.
• Deny citizens the right to appeal.
• Deny citizens the right to a jury trial.
• Deny equal protection under the law by charging one citizen as a criminal and another under civil law for the same act.

Why should one citizen be charged a civil fine of $75 and another citizen assessed a higher criminal fine for the same red light infraction?  The RLC laws of Texas deny the rights above and a criminal violator retains his rights.

So why would a local government do this?  The cities say it is a safety program.  I have evidence that one City Council Member even expected to see rear end accidents increase and still went ahead with the program.  I, along with many others, have concluded the RLC program is more about the money than anything else.