[db48x]

Right, many other countries let you point the finger at someone else. The problem is that in the US the government is not legally allowed to even issue a ticket unless they can prove that the person they are prosecuting is the guilty party. Merely being the owner of the car is not enough.

[chupchap]

Being the registered owner makes the person responsible. The owner can state it being stolen, or driven by someone else as valid reasons

[db48x]

Right. I am completely aware that it works that way in many parts of the world, but in the United States of America it is unconstitutional _unless_ the state law makes it a completely civil infraction that is settled using a fine only. No points, no suspensions, no police interaction at all. Under Florida’s laws it is explicitly a misdemeanor for the _driver_ of a car to run a red light, so it is unconstitutional for a police officer or court to assume without proof that the _owner_ of the car was driving at the time the red–light camera took a photograph of the car.

I understand that this blows people’s mind. People in other parts of the world tend to think that they are just as protected from their government as we are in the USA, but the truth is that in practice their governments get away with a lot of crap that doesn’t fly over here. Sometimes our government gets away with some crap for a time, until the courts catch up. Sometimes the courts even make obviously wrong rulings. Judges are only human, so that is to be expected. But on the whole it’s a pretty good system.

[chupchap]

> People in other parts of the world tend to think that they are just as protected from their government as we are in the USA

No one in a modern democratic country thinks this way. US is not a benchmark in any form other than grandstanding about rights. Government snooping and overreach is as much a problem in US compared to other countries.

The difference is that something as simple as a traffic rule violation is not linked to constitutional rights because the repercussions of over speeding and jumping a signal is a catastrophic and could lead to deadly accidents. The problem that was solved with the linked verdict was that the process of proving innocence was not easy and this could have been easily solved with process change, without all the legal wrangling. It is just legalese porn and an over complication.