Federal Drone-Based Speedtraps to Issue Un-Contestable Speeding Tickets Nationwide

WASHINGTON - Sept. 25, 2014 - PRLog -- If you live in the test market outside Washington DC, you’re already familiar with the new federal speeding tickets by mail.  Maybe you already received one in the mail, and chances are, you will.  But these aren’t the usual fines issued by your local municipality.  These are new fines and they come directly from your federal government.

The is one of the first areas where the federal government has moved into direct law enforcement, and now their jurisdictional authority has been brought into question by a Maryland Circuit Court Judge who is challenging the move toward nationwide enforcement since the pilot program was launched in July.

Unless blocked by the courts, the new drone-based federal speeding tickets are scheduled to begin issuance nationwide starting November 1st.

One contention put forth by opponents is the matter of evidence.  More importantly, can a robot be a witness?  The right to face your accuser in court and cross examine witnesses is guaranteed by the US Bill of Rights. Speed cameras deny you this right because the accuser is a machine.

A spokesperson for the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) (http://www.dot.gov/) answered those charges,”the program will be run similar to the local programs, whereby an officer is assigned to check each infraction and rubber-stamp it for approval, thus putting a human in the loop.”

However, speed cameras are a form of mass surveillance over ordinary drivers. The government is forbidden from engaging in sweeping surveillance systems without warrants to look for offenders of crimes, which includes speedtraps. It is possible that the cameras, or the data they collect, could one day be used for purposes other than speed enforcement, which may already be happening. (http://www.stopbigbrothermd.org/2009/11/baltimore-speed-c...)

Another issue is possibility of double jeopardy.  According to the new rules, you can receive a federal speeding fine from a drone and also receive a local fine from a ground-based camera for the same speeding event, effectively doubling your penalty. This is happening with shocking consistency since federal enforcement zones are overlapping with local zones.

The project is expected to cost $4.8 billion, and to fund this venture the US government has partnered with Lockheed Martin to split all profits from the drone speeding tickets 50/50, with a requirement that Lockheed continues building the radar drones and mailing out the fines.  Lockheed has been granted an award structure that allows them to keep up to 80% of the fine if they achieve a certain quota.  The USDOT spokesperson has not commented on the amount of the quota, or the award structure.

There have already been complaints about Obama’s new drone speeding tickets.  Some Maryland residents have levied claims that they were targeted for political reasons.  While it is true that a disproportionate number of fines were issued to cars that had conservative bumper stickers, there hasn’t been any hard evidence to prove it.  However, one telling statistic demonstrates the possibility of foul play by the Obama administration.  Not one Prius has been fined.  Nor has any car with an Obama bumper sticker.  Coincidence?