A car can’t speed because a car can’t do anything except obey the law of gravity and stay on the ground. But against the Laws of Physics Philadelphia has decided to charge the owners of cars with speeding even though the City cannot prove who was driving the car. Sort of forcing snitches to work for Philadelphia and get the ticket paid by whoever was driving… But.. Yes, lots of buts here. The first one is the violation of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution… The Free Speech part. No one can be forced to speak and no one can be stopped from speaking and freedom of action has been connected to the freedom of speech right in the First Amendment. All that is necessary to do is to object when the speeding ticket is mailed to the address of the owner of the car. Then it’s up to the city to prove who was driving but it cannot do that by questioning the owner because the owner has the right to not speak. Point, set, match for the owner.
Another problem is the speed limits are set by the city and in a lot of places it’s safe to drive at higher speeds. Proof of the safe higher speeds is the great number of people who drive at the higher speeds without danger.
But the speed limits are set by the city and the enforcement is up to the city so the deck is completely stacked against the owner of a car that is going at a higher speed. Making the city prove the validity of the speed limit is not a difficult thing to do but the City will go hard to force people into simply paying the fine instead of contesting the speed limit. That’s also against the Constitution and here’s hoping some intrepid souls will work to increase the speed limits and do it in a responsible and safe manner.
Sorry Philly, but that’s how we roll here in America.
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