Automated ticketing systems suck.

They aren't about safety. They're about revenue, and often these systems are administered by third party, non-government companies which get a piece of every citation they issue, thus putting a profit motive to falsely ticket.

I've always hated these things, and I hate them even more after reading this story: https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/...ansom-1934227/

Basically, a Vegas-based fan of Elvis got Nevada vanity plates in 1978, just a year after Elvis died. He's had the plates on various cars over the past 42 years.

Unfortunately, Vegas souvenir shops sell fake Nevada plates reading "ELVIS", which some people put on the front of their car in states where a front plate isn't required. (Nevada does not require a front plate either, by the way.)

Unfortunately, states which DO require a front plate will often use the front plate as the identifier to ticket people via automated systems. Every time one of the people with a fake Nevada "ELVIS" plate would get ticketed, this poor dude would get the citation in the mail.

Each citation comes with a picture. Even though he could prove that he was not the driver, and even though he could prove that he didn't own the type of car in the picture, some states were difficult about dismissing the tickets.

Kentucky and Indiana, which do require a front plate and use that to ticket people, were especially difficult, and simply wouldn't dismiss them. Even worse, they threatened the poor old guy's credit. Only when he took it to the media (Vegas Channel 8 news), who got a state senator involved, did those states reluctantly dismiss the tickets.

In reality, it's unlikely they could have harmed his credit, since these states did not have his SSN to report him. However, they could have held up his registration through the Nevada DMV next time he went to register the car.

These automated systems need to be outlawed.