[Albuquerque] started fining people caught by traffic enforcement cameras in May 2005, but it never developed a program to collect money from people who didn’t pay. It doesn’t even know exactly how much money is owed, or how many people owe.
According to police records obtained by the Journal, three other vehicle owners whose cars have repeatedly been caught on camera owe more than $5,000 in fines and late fees.
As many as 30 others owe about $4,000.
City officials estimate hundreds of thousands of dollars are owed by drivers caught on camera.
Under the program, drivers are fined $100 the first time they are caught running a red light, $250 for the second violation, and $500 each for third and subsequent violations. Speeders are fined based on how fast over the speed limit the vehicle is traveling.
Late fees— assessed after 30 days— are twice the original fine.
Infractions caught by the camera are civil actions, not traffic violations. They don’t count on your driving record. Until recently there was no appeal. The city’s approach to these cameras has been pretty much the same as a counterfeiter with a nice new printing press. It appears they’ve thought through none of the administrative or legal consequences and most of the process is contracted to out-of-state companies.