As Colorado becomes another battleground state for red-light cameras and speed cameras, lawmakers have introduced legislation to ban photo enforcement throughout the state.

Senate Bill 12-50, introduced by Sen. Scott Renfroe, “repeals the authorization for municipalities to use automated vehicle identification systems to identify violators of traffic regulations and issue citations based on photographic evidence, and creates a prohibition on such activity.”

Colorado would join fifteen other states that have banned the use of automated enforcement if the current bill is passed and signed into law.

Photo enforcement programs throughout Colorado have recently come under increasing scrutiny. Denver’s program came under fire after revelations that cameras had been recalibrated to ticket motorists who stopped beyond the white line. Nonetheless, the Denver City Council recently renewed its contract with ACS. And Colorado Springs pulled the plug on its cameras last October after concluding they were not improving safety.

Colorado Springs made the right decision. Photo enforcement programs put revenue generation before public safety, to the detriment of motorists. It’s time to take the profit motive out of traffic enforcement by banning cameras in Colorado. (Learn more about the NMA’s objections to red-light cameras and speed cameras.)

SB 12-50 has been referred to the Senate Transportation Committee. We urge you to contact committee members along with your local Senate and House members to let them know you support a ban on photo enforcement cameras in Colorado.

My name is Tom O'Halloran and I would like to introduce myself as a new NMA activist for the Colorado region. I am very passionate about the issues that the NMA stands for and look forward to tackling them head-on.

Anyone who drives a motor vehicle in the state of Colorado knows all too well that our traffic laws, as well as the manner in which they are enforced, are greatly in need of reform. For example, to cite NMA data, Denver alone ranks fifth in the nation for speed traps. Other issues include under-posted speed limits, red-light camera enforcement, and the inevitable gross inattention of our fellow motorists with regard to lane courtesy, just to name a few.

For anyone who resides within the City or County of Denver, you will probably not be surprised that the City and County issue approximately 1 million parking tickets every year. When we take into account that the population of Denver is only in the neighborhood of 600,000 (this is Denver proper, and does not include the surrounding metro area), doesn't this number seem ridiculously high? As an activist with the NMA, I look forward to lobbying for reform within our state.

As Americans our government was created of, by, and for the people. I think sometimes we forget this when we fall victim to unethical government policies time and time again. We need to remember that we can only stand up as a "people" if each individual is willing to step up to the plate and stand up as a "person."

I encourage anyone in my region who is concerned with these issues to contact me for ideas. Working together we can all make a difference. Please feel free to call, write, or email.

According to criminal defense attorney Gary Pirosko, photo radar speeding tickets in Colorado require "personal service," and can therefore be safely ignored if they are not served personally. (See the KWGN story from April 28th here.)

Pirosko cites Colorado State Statute 42-4-110.5, and the statute does in fact require personal service within 90 days of the alleged violation, in cases using an "automated vehicle identification system." Consequently, the service requirement appears to apply to red-light camera tickets as well. (See the KWGN story from May 4th here.)

"Personal service" basically means that the notice of the ticket must be physically handed to you.

According to Pirosko, then, any camera ticket that is mailed to you, however official and threatening, can be ignored because it is not a valid ticket if you don't respond to it.

Pirosko also recommends that, in order to avoid being personally served, you don’t answer your door to strangers.

Rules such as those in Colorado statute 42-4-110.5 are set up for a good reason -- to protect defendants' rights to proper notice and due process. Just as the state uses rules to control motorists, motorists should not hesitate to use the rules to control over-zealous prosecution and save themselves from onerous fines.