More Red Light Cameras

Based on an Appellate Court decision no less:

• A federal appeals court has given the green light to red-light cameras that have pumped out more than a million Chicago tickets and generated $100 million in sorely-needed revenue since 2003.

  The ruling by the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals preserves one of the city's few revenue sources not subject to the economic downturn -- and clears the way for a major expansion that will install cameras at more than 330 accident-prone Chicago intersections by 2012.

• "A system of photographic evidence reduces the costs of law enforcement and increases the proportion of all traffic offenses detected. These benefits can be achieved only if the owner is held responsible. This need not mean that the owner bears the economic loss. An owner can insist that the driver reimburse ... if he wants to use the car again (or maintain the friendship)."

The ruling rejects the argument that the owner can't be held liable if someone else is using their car and commits a violation. The court holds that the registered owner is ultimately responsible for any and all violations, even if they aren't physically in the car. This would seem to be a slippery slope, especially once lawyers get involved. Are friends going to be suing friends over $100 when someone lends the car to a neighbor to make a grocery run? Or pick up a kid from school?

We definitely foresee an uptick in stories like these though - humorous and ingenious:

• Whenever a new, relatively unpopular technology hits the streets, you can always count on teenagers to try and exploit it for their own gain. Such is the case with speed cameras, as high school students in Maryland have begun playing the "Speed Camera Pimping Game," wherein they attempt to punk the not-so-accurate cameras by creating faux license plates that can be traced back to peers and teachers they have it out for. The trend has parents and law officials worried, and it raises even more questions about the cameras' usefulness.

  Students at Richard Montgomery High School in Maryland have discovered that they can duplicate the license plates of their archenemies by printing a Maryland plate template on a sheet of glossy photo paper and digging up a handy license plate character font, according to a parent speaking to The Sentinel. This may sound like a janky craft project at first, but these cameras are not sensitive enough to pick up the differences between these paper license plates and the real things. The students then tape the faux plate over their own and purposefully speed in order to be caught by the speed camera, causing the real owner of the license plate to receive a $40 citation in the mail.

Not that we'd ever support such shenanigans. Even if the plate said READ ME.