[...] I was pretty upset by the initial thought of invasion of privacy. If you remember, we also reported on the installation of speed cameras in Gaithersburg. [...]

[...] This is something we covered earlier in our post about speed cameras in Maryland. [...]

The speed cameras on Quince Orchard Rd are in fact operational.

if anyone is “hypothetically” thinking of spray-painting or otherwise damaging these things–just remember they are, after all, cameras! Wouldn’t want to hypothetically get caught!

Thanks for stopping in and clarifying things StopBigBrotherMD.

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Paul

Paul/Thomas, yes and no. “Passive” opposition such as signing petitions and writing letter can show state legislators that they will lose votes over an issue. And it serves as a way of reminding other people that they have a right to say NO to the government. But you are correct that if they are determined, the legislators will not be swayed, and right now they probably do have enough votes to pass the Governor’s Statewide speed camera bill.

However dc.camerafraud and StopBigBrotherMD are planning to do more than passive opposition… IF enough supporters are willing to help us become more “active”. There are things which can be done within the law.

Warren: there is a lawsuit pending right now over just that issue. The county’s contract flat-out violates the letter and spirit of the law against per-ticket payments. However the similar cases you mentioned are in other states, so their is no guarantee the deciding court in Maryland will not side with the govt since judges are appointed by govt officials who in MD support speed cameras.

It would be interesting if somebody could challenge the legality of the Mont Co speed cameras. In some other states the courts have ruled that paying the camera company based upon the number of tickets or a percentage of the “take” is illegal.

I think you are correct to some degree Thomas.

This notion that letter writing and petitioning is going to make major changes in government is an easy way to keep us busy while they carry on with whatever they had planned to begin with.

I have family out in Tulsa, OK. They claim that people will come into the streets at night and shoot down the red light cameras with shotguns. My guess is that they stopped putting them up after some point. Though I haven’t kept in touch to find out.

I nor Gaithersburg Local condone such actions of course.

The county and the state are desperate for “revenue,” and complying with the orderly political process is exactly what they count on. Letter-writing, petitioning, and complaining are polite futile gestures. Everybody knows it, but few dare to say so. The only way that this sort of activity will change is when it becomes unreasonably costly for it to continue.

The Boston Tea Party wasn’t polite. If, hypothetically of course, citizens were to damage these cameras with spray paint, the cost of constant repair and enforcement would certainly enter the equation. Hypothetically of course.

Some things I forgot to add in the original post:

There will be a new speed camera going up on Quince Orchard Rd/MD-124 on January 29th.

I haven’t seen any clues as to where it will be positioned, but the sign is placed about 1/2 a mile North of Quince Orchard Highschool.
I’m guessing it will be in this general area.