Are Camera Tickets Legal In Alabama

The Alabama Supreme Courtroom on Fri upheld Montgomery'due south red light camera ordinance, ruling that it met an exception in the state's governing documents on local laws.

In a law that touched on the Alabama Constitution's restrictions on local government, the court ruled vi-to-1 in favor of the metropolis over Richard Stephen Drinking glass, who argued the city police force unconstitutionality duplicated state police force on traffic enforcement.

Justice Sarah Stewart, writing the master opinion, ruled that the city and the 2007 act assuasive the scarlet lite cameras met a "demonstrated local needs" requirement in the state constitution. Stewart likewise wrote that the city law did not try to supersede state law on the matter.

"Although the Ordinance and the Human activity practise provide that any red-light violation will be a civil violation, they do not provide that such violations volition no longer qualify as misdemeanors or otherwise purport to readapt the full general laws categorizing red-light violations as criminal misdemeanors," she wrote.

Letters seeking comment were left Friday with the city of Montgomery.

"Nosotros're looking at information technology," said Susan Copeland, an attorney who represented Glass. "We plainly disagree with the conclusion, only we're studying it a fleck more."

Only one other justice, William B. Sellers, joined Stewart's opinion; four other justices agreed with the issue but joined separate opinions. Alabama Chief Justice Tom Parker dissented. Justice Greg Shaw recused himself from the instance.

Glass got a red low-cal ticket at a Montgomery intersection on Aug. 7, 2017. In challenging the ticket, Glass did not dispute that he had run a red light merely argued in an appeal that the ordinance violated Section 105 of the Alabama Constitution, which prohibits the enactment of local laws covered by general (or land) ones.

"Yous can't laissez passer a local law if the bailiwick is already covered past state law," attorneys for Drinking glass wrote in a September 2020 brief. "The general constabulary of this state defines the misdemeanor offense of running a red low-cal and sets the punishment for this law-breaking."

Attorneys for Montgomery, citing a 2017 Alabama Supreme Court ruling from Jefferson County, argued the ordinance created civil penalties for running a red light, which state police force was silent on.

"The traffic code contains compatible criminal laws applicable throughout Alabama and imposes criminal penalties — fines and possibly jail time — where the offender is convicted through the criminal system," attorneys for the urban center wrote. "In contrast, the Blood-red Light Camera Act and the Montgomery Ordinance are civil statutes providing ceremonious penalties that are assessed wholly outside of the criminal system with no criminal-constabulary consequences."

The 2017 ruling said local laws could be justified by "demonstrated local needs" as cited in legislative acts that created the local laws.

Stewart agreed with the city, writing that the land law authorizing Montgomery'due south ruby-red-light cameras cited rubber concerns and wrote that Drinking glass had not rebutted them in courtroom. Stewart also wrote that at that place was "no constitutional provision that specifically empowers the legislature to authorize a civil traffic-light enforcement scheme in a single city."

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"The procedures set out in the general laws — although different from the procedures set out in the Deed — are capable of being practical to such scarlet-low-cal violators," she wrote.

Justice Brad Mendheim concurred with the effect but dissented from the apply of legislative findings to justify the law, writing that those findings had been vague. Parker in dissent wrote that the Legislature had not found that cerise low-cal speeding was more than dangerous in Montgomery than elsewhere.

"Common sense teaches that running a red light is dangerous everywhere, not simply in Montgomery," he wrote. "And that simple fact undercuts the City's statement that the Legislature found a local need for red-light cameras."

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Brian Lyman at 334-240-0185 or blyman@gannett.com.

Source: https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2022/02/11/alabama-supreme-court-upholds-montgomerys-red-light-camera-law/6752898001/

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