Jonesborough, Tenn. -- Love 'em or hate 'em, traffic cameras are popping up all over our region.
Kingsport, Mount Carmel and Johnson City all have red-light or speed cameras in place, or have plans to install them.
Jonesborough's cameras along the 11-E bypass inspired a protest Saturday, led by a senior at East Tennessee State University with a passion for the U.S. Constitution.
The cameras were erected this January, spent one month in "warning phase," and Jonesborough mailed the first citations this February.
"The town has been paid right at $10,000," said Craig Ford, director of public safety.
It's not about the money, Ford said. Jonesborough started this program to keep its residents safe -- period.
"You take that resident population of 4,500 people and we're running about 30,000 cars a day on 11-E. We're running about 12,000 cars a day on Main Street."
Matthew Jeffers, a student activist and constitutional enthusiast, viewed that kind of traffic in a positive light.
"My Aunt works up here. She owns Bloomers Florals. About a dozen customers told her {sic} they're taking the old highway to avoid having to go through these revenue traps."
Jeffers also thinks Redflex Traffic Systems, a company based in Australia that maintains Jonesborough's traffic cameras, has access to too much information.
"I hope it concerns people that Redflex has access to their license plate, their driver's license number, their social security number, their address, their telephone number. All that private information rests in the hands of a private foreign corporation. That's very disturbing."
But Ford said the town couldn't afford the lights without them. "Each on of these cameras, at least we have been told, costs approximately $100,000," he said.
The goals of Jeffers' protest: to raise awareness, generate a petition, and put pressure on the board of mayor and alderman.
"In this town we've got three, four, five, six-hundred people -- residents, registered voters -- that will vote you out of office unless you listen to them."
Jeffers said Jonesborough's cameras also violate the fourth, fifth, and eighth amendments (in order: the right to unreasonable search and seizure, due process, and protection from excessive bail).
Tennessee Attorney General Robert E. Cooper disagreed. In fact, he addressed the question in an opinion drafted on November 26th, 2008 (to read it, click the link at left).
Click the play icon above for a video version of this report.
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