LogFAQs > #926700642

Krazy_Kirby posted...

the context of someone breaking the law?

If you pass through a yellow light but it changes to red a split second before you're through, 99% of cops would waive it off, but a camera has no context and no discretion and will peg you regardless.

If you enter an intersection while the light is green, but get stuck there because you're trying to turn and have no opening until the light turns red (stopping opposing traffic), you're technically running a red light, and would potentially trigger the camera, while almost no human cop would ever ticket you for that (unless it was quota week and they were WAY behind).

It also doesn't help that most systems with automated cameras also have automated ticketing (ie, with no human oversight), and getting any ticket overturned after the fact is harder than trying to get a moderation overturned on this site. Which makes borderline cases more significant.

I don't trust ANY automated system that runs things with no oversight and no context, because I tend to have a very subjective and context-based view of reality, and I don't like objective either/or punishment systems. I dislike "If A, then B" morality, and vastly prefer "Why A? Depending on your answer, then either B, C, D, or maybe even E."

It's sort of similar (though on a much lower scale) to why we differentiate between things like murder, justifiable homicide, self-defense, or insanity pleas. WHY something happens is often as important as WHAT happens, and without context you remove that from the equation entirely.
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