When Is It Okay to Break the Law?

When I lived in Virginia, I first became familiar with the cameras that record if a person has run a red light. These cameras are positioned throughout Washington, D.C. and Maryland.

The principle on how they work is simple: the camera activates if you run the red light, takes a picture of your front tag and the driver, and sends a ticket directly to your home.

Well, a 44-year-old Arizona man has allegedly tried to fool the photo radars in his state that record a car’s speed. And, it actually worked for a while—until the police caught up with him.

Timothy Welsh allegedly used a permanent marker to change both the 3 and the 9 on his license plate to an 8. So, when his vehicle was nabbed for speeding, the ticket that was intended for him was actually sent to someone else.

Fox News reported that at first, Scottsdale Sgt. Jim Butera thought it was a mistake when a Phoenix man called him complaining he had gotten two speeding tickets mailed to him, but he wasn’t the one speeding.

However, when Butera looked at the photo and saw the man making an obscene gesture at the camera he thought, “[we] need to do some more investigating.” “He didn’t think it was that big of a deal,” Butera told the station. “But he admitted to everything that we accused him of.”

Welsh allegedly was going 14 mph over the speed limit and would have had to pay a $175 fine, but now, he’s facing a $1,500 fine and up to a year in jail.

These cameras and the ones I am familiar with in the Virginia area, seem to do a good job of reducing speed or people running stop signs or red lights. I guess it was only a matter of time before someone figured out a way to buck the system, or at least buck the system for a little while.

Do you think Mr. Welsh’s sentence is too harsh? Or, it is not harsh enough? If you lived in an area that had these cameras, would you be tempted to find a way around the system?

Before you think that question to be wrong in and of itself, think for a moment. Don’t people have radar detectors in their car for the same purpose—to break the law by speeding without getting caught? What’s the difference in a radar detector and changing the numbers on your license plate? Is there really a difference?

Isn’t breaking the law breaking the law, no matter how it is done? Or, if we speed down the interstate, with or without a radar detector, aren’t we just as guilty as Mr. Welsh?

Tell me what you think.