Andy Holt
“My suggestion is this right here.”
Then, during a Facebook Live video Wednesday afternoon, Tennessee state Rep. Andy Holt produced a cigarette lighter and burned a traffic citation produced from a traffic camera.
The Dresden Republican has long been at odds with cities that issue traffic citations from traffic cameras and also the companies that make the products.
Holt sought to ban the cameras in the 2015 legislative session, though that bill was defeated. In 2016, he passed a law that camera companies must now state on their tickets that non-payment cannot effect a driver’s credit score, insurance rates, or driver’s license.
With that, Holt took to Facebook Wednesday to give his suggestion of what Tennessee drivers should do if they get those traffic tickets — burn them (or throw them away).
“That’s kind of what I think about theses items and what I think everyone should do when you receive one,” Holt said during the video as he held a flaming traffic citation, noting that the action is “my personal opinion.”
Holt said the citations aren’t real and they aren’t enforceable. Real tickets, he said, are given “by an officer of the law” and a “criminal penalty.
In a long news release, issued Wednesday Holt said cities that issue the camera citations are violating state law. In many cases, he said, the camera companies (not police) determine if a law has been broken. He notes, though, that the companies will say they get final approval of their citations from law enforcement, “however, that’s not happening.”
With that and his new law in hand, Holt said the tickets are un-enforceable.
“The only power these camera companies have are their coercive words and things they want to intimidate you with,” Holt said.
