- PORTLAND, OR (UPI)
-- An Oregon appeals court that views traffic tickets solely as civil matters
rather than criminal cases this week rejected a constitutional challenge
to the controversial practice of mailing tickets to unwary speeders.
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- In a decision released Wednesday, the Oregon Court of
Appeals turned down the arguments of Cheryl Dahl, a hapless motorist who
contended she was being wrongly forced to prove her innocence in order
to fight a ticket mailed to her in 2000 after a Portland police officer
tracked her car on radar and photographed it, but did not pull the vehicle
over and confirm the identity of the driver.
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- "It's great news for the city because it enables
us to go out and efficiently address problem areas with new technology,
yet not increase our personnel costs," Portland Police Cmdr. Mike
Garvey told The Oregonian.
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- The ruling, which could still be appealed, also struck
a blow to the arguments against technology that allows law enforcement
agencies to send tickets to the owners of vehicles that have been tracked
by radar and then photographed so the license number can be read.
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- Critics say the practice, which is also used to catch
motorists who run through red lights, can result in the registered owner
of a vehicle getting an expensive ticket in the mail even if someone else
was behind the wheel when the offense occurred.
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- In its ruling, the three-judge panel determined that
state law only "requires the state to prove a traffic violation 'by
a preponderance of the evidence,' the ordinary civil standard, rather than
'beyond a reasonable doubt,' the standard applied in criminal cases."
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- "The defendant remonstrates that criminal standards
are applicable because, even though a traffic violation is punishable only
by a fine (and) not by incarceration, collateral consequences attach to
a traffic violation ... increased insurance premiums and more serious penalties
for repeat offenses," the ruling said. "However, defendant offers
no support for the assertion that those risks rise to the level of criminal
punishment."
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- The judges also ruled it is reasonable for police to
assume that the driver of a speeding vehicle is likely the registered owner.
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- "Just as we might agree that vehicles are sometimes
driven by non-owners, we must also note that it is not irrational for the
legislature to presume that vehicles often are driven by owners,"
the ruling said.
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- Hawaii's use of cameras to generate speeding tickets
was halted last spring amid complaints that most of the citations were
issued to drivers going less than 10 miles over the speed limit, which
three judges decided did not adequately account for potential inaccuracies
with the radar units.
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- Copyright © 2002 United Press International
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