Ohio traffic-camera law takes enforcement to busy freeways
CLEVELAND (AP) — A state law meant to effectively ban the use of traffic enforcement cameras is proving to have unintended consequences: motorists speeding along busy Ohio freeways getting a lot more tickets.
[...] some communities have found a lucrative route around the rule by stationing officers with camera-equipped speed guns beside and above highways — rather than the local roadways where stationary cameras had been confined.
About 200 tickets have been mailed since officers in the village of about 2,100 people began using the hand-held cameras in late August, he said.
The hand-held cameras allow officers to get keep a bead on a speeding car then snap a picture of its license plate when it gets in range.
An official with Colorado-based Laser Technology said his company's enforcement cameras are now used in 18 states, including Ohio.
People flocked to social media sites to criticize Youngstown for not providing enough notice about the ticketing on the freeways.
John McConnell of Tennessee-based Applied Technology Partners said there is a growing demand for the hand-held cameras in markets all over the world as countries move toward requiring photographic evidence and the testimony of a police officer to issue traffic citations.