Cincinnati: Judge Ruehlman Confiscates Unconstitutional Speed Cameras
July 10th, 2013
The government of Elmwood Place, a local village near Cincinnati, recently installed speed cameras that issued $105 tickets. Motorists who were accused of speeding by the devices were required to pay a third-party contractor in Cleveland online or over-the-phone and were not allowed to come in to court to pay or contest the tickets.
Cincinnati Judge Robert Ruehlman declared the speed camera program unconstitutional and ordered that it be stopped. Local officials disabled the cameras initially and then turned them back on, claiming they were only being used to collect traffic data, despite the fact that the third-party contractor running the cameras continued issuing tickets. In response, Judge Ruehlman ordered that the cameras be taken down and held the manufacturer in contempt for continuing to issue and collect the fines.
Judge Ruehlman Called the Cameras a “Scam”
Small townships within larger cities often set up “speed traps” where changes in speed limit laws are employed to trick drivers into speeding as a form of revenue generation. Elmwood Place, however, created its own new type of speed trap through the use of the speed limit cameras. By requiring motorists to pay for the tickets through an unusual, extra-judicial procedure, the village made it nearly impossible to contest the alleged violations in court.
The speed cameras generated over $1.5 million in fines, causing enormous public uproar. Local Cincinnati politicians urged the Elmwood Place mayor to resign. This week, the Ohio legislature passed State Rep Dale Mallory’s bill banning the use of speed and red light cameras by local governments in the state.
Elmwood Place Accused Judge Ruehlman of Bias
The Ohio Supreme Court threw out Elmwood Place’s petition to disqualify Judge Ruehlman due to his alleged “bias” against speed cameras. Elmwood Place argued that Judge Ruehlman’s harsh speech in his ruling, referring to the cameras as a “scam motorists can’t win,” demonstrated bias.
However, tickets issued by a machine, run by a third-party not deputized by the people to enforce the law, and which can’t be defended against in a court of law are a scam that motorists can’t win. Of the $1.5 million collected under the program, $500,000 went to Optotraffic, the company that runs the speed cameras.
To make matters worse, Optotraffic refused to stop issuing tickets, even after Judge Ruehlman ordered an end to the program. Effectively, the company went rogue and was issuing tickets and penalizing drivers on its own authority. Optotraffic received $48,000 in fines from illegally-issued tickets after the program was canceled.
Judge Ruehlman apparently is biased. He is biased in favor of the Constitution and fundamental rights like due process. How great would it be if more judges took on the same bias? For standing up for the rights of drivers in Ohio, Judge Ruehlman is a Silver Circle Rebel of the Week winner.
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