Speeders, Say Cheese

Can a picture tell a lie? Supporters say red-light cameras save lives. Opponents say they're a scam

Some people get angry. Some stoically accept their fate. Others try to reason with the police officer who has pulled them over for some real or imagined traffic offense. But when law enforcement is represented by a computer-driven camera that has immortalized your violation on film--as is the case at hundreds of intersections in more 60 cities around the U.S.--it's hard to talk your way out of a hefty fine. Yet that is precisely what some 300 motorists in San Diego succeeded in doing last week when a superior court judge ruled that pictures taken by so-called red-light cameras were unreliable...

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