Hundreds Flood Court to Contest Speed Camera Tickets

Rhode Island's Providence Municipal Court has the joyful task Monday of addressing more than 2,600 speeding tickets. The tickets are just a fraction of the 12,000 that were generated within the first 33 days after speed cameras were installed in the city in January, WPRI reports. Outrage over the $95-a-pop tickets has ensued, with thousands contesting them. Typically, the court has just 300 people on the docket on any given day. Not everyone who is appealing their ticket is expected to actually appear in court, though the AP reports hundreds of people did show up.

Per the AP, "many" of the tickets have been dismissed so far due to errors like signs that give conflicting information as to the actual speed limit. A state representative has introduced a bill to end the use of traffic cameras in the state, calling the system "a government cash grab," but it's not clear whether the bill will find success in the Democratic-controlled legislature. Also Monday, Providence is set to install six more speed cameras; the city currently has five. (More speeding ticket stories.)