A century ago, the forerunners of the American Automobile Association (AAA) provided a service that warned motorists about upcoming speed traps. AAA Carolinas turned away from this history and used its considerable influence on Monday to support a speed trap declared illegal by South Carolina’s attorney general and several of its lawmakers. Since August, the tiny town of Ridgeland has allowed a private company to operate a speed camera on Interstate 95 in direct defiance of a state law enacted in June specifically to stop the program (view law).
“All branches of government are facing constricting budgets,” a AAA Carolinas statement explained. “Law enforcement agencies will not be able to simply add staff to handle the growing traffic volume and therefore must look to creative solutions to do more with less. This photo-radar enforcement program in the Town of Ridgeland is one such example and should be replicated as opposed to rejected.”
AAA insisted Ridgeland was not a speed trap because the profit for the city was not significant for the town of 2500. A total of 8000 tickets have been mailed since August, with Ridgeland’s cut worth about $196,000. The private contractor iTraffic will pocket the same amount while the state retains the largest share. AAA based its arguments on material provided by town Mayor Gary W. Hodges who has been furiously lobbying against the legislative assault brewing in Columbia.
Hodges testified on January 26 before a state Senate Transportation subcommittee that his system did not run afoul of the law that targeted Ridgeland. He pointed out a provision that stated traffic tickets could not be “solely” based on photographic evidence.
“The primary evidence in every citation is officer observation supported by radar technology and photographic evidence,” Hodges said. “There is an officer observing every violation, if the machine clocks a violation when he is not looking, he deletes it. That is his instruction. If he needs to get up and go to the restroom, he puts the system on pause.”
Subcommittee members were not convinced, as the mayor himself described a system that operates on autopilot. One state senator sarcastically pointed out that the police officer, whose salary is covered by iTraffic, must have been “real observant” when he failed to notice one of the speed cameras was rammed by a motorist.
“We can’t put issuing any kind of tickets on autopilot,” state Senator George E. Campsen (R-Charleston) said. “There’s got to be an ability for people to give a defense.”
Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Larry Grooms grilled Hodges to determine what authority Hodges claimed to operate the program. After Hodges implied that the attorney general had backed away from the decisions that found the program in violation of the law, Grooms zeroed in and asked Hodges directly whether he had any legal opinion or notes from his meetings with the attorney general that suggested what he was doing was legal.
“No sir, not from the attorney general, no sir,” Hodges admitted.
The full South Carolina Senate is poised to consider a bill that Grooms introduced, S. 336, that bans the use of tickets based “in whole or in part” on photographic evidence whether or not the device is attended or unattended. The committee struck a provision that would have imposed a $500 penalty for each ticket the system had issued without legal authority.
AAA now derives a significant portion of its revenue from automobile insurance, an amount that increases for each photo enforcement ticket issued in states like California and Arizona where license points apply to photo tickets.
[Courtesy: Thenewspaper.com]
How far the AAA has fallen in its 100+ yrs of existence; when the AAA first formed, one of its main missions was opposing the requirement to have a drivers license. Now, they’re on the side of government taxing people for speeding. Shocking.
This is pretty appalling. And honestly, their insurance business is rather badly run outside of California. I had to switch to Progressive, of all people. Any suggestions for competitive roadside assistance?
AAA doesn’t want anyone who will actually use its services. When I had two teen drivers at home who had run their cars out of gas a total of 3 times in one year and I needed towing for one of those cars I was told ” This is it. You’ve used us too much. You’re terminated after this tow.”
I put a $2.60 per car per 6 month premium period towing/road service rider on my State Farm. I have to pay up front and send the bills back for reimbursement.
Instead of arbitrary mileage limits per tow and secret thresholds of “excessive service” my policy language says “reasonable + customary charges” will be reimbursed . To date, in 15 yrs with this rider, I have yet to have a bill thrown back to me as “unreasonable”.
Does Progressive also offer a” Towing Rider”?
If your local Pep Boys is any good they’ll tow your car for free as long as you use them for repairs. But I’m lucky to have a local Pep Boys that is good. YMMV.
@Zenith.
That sounds like a great idea, but with one potential issue for me. How do you go about calling for a non-AAA tow? Calling the 800 number on the back of the card is easy. I wouldn’t otherwise have the first idea how to find a tow service while stuck on the side of a road somewhere.
I’m also curious about the “reasonable + customary charges” threshold. I currently have a AAA “premier” membership specifically for the long-distance tow coverage. With my Dad living slightly over 100 miles away and the possibility I may need to be towed home from there, that’s a high priority for me.
We gave up AAA this year because every time I’ve needed their services, I had to wait a minimum of two hours for service. Two out the three times I called a privete tow and charged the cost back to AAA. After the last incident when my 1992 LeBaron gave up the ghost in Sept. 2007, I had had enough. That was a rather nasty set of phone exchanges I don’t want to repeat again. Almost a useless service for us.
Steve65,
You have a very valid point about trying to call a non-AAA towing service and you’re not near an open business that may have a phone book or know who to call. Of course, everybody has a smart phone with internet service these days, right?
I’ve often thought about making up my own list of tow services and their phone numbers along the routes that I typically travel, but of course that would have to be checked and updated periodically.
And one thing is, you can’t necessarily trust the online directories, as believe it or not, I’ve found the internet-based services often worse than the good-ol’ hard copy. Just recently I made up a list of furniture stores based upon an internet search and I kid you not, 50% of them were likely out of business from the out-of-service phone numbers that the search results had. Out-of-date information seems to have a long shelf life on the internet.
And conversely, there are still businesses that don’t subscribe to the yellow pages because they don’t feel that they need to, so in some cases you won’t easily be able to find them online if at all.
GEICO offers roadside assistance/lockout/towing coverage for a very small additional cost.
For what it’s worth: I switched my auto and homeowners to GEICO and saved about $1000 a year…and within months a hailstorm ruined my roof. They replaced my roof quickly ($8000+) without complaint and my premiums have not changed. Meanwhile many of my neighbors were denied coverage by their insurance companies; according to the roofers State Farm and Erie paid on less than 10% of claims. While we have not had an at fault auto claim they have been very helpful making sure we got paid by the other party, including offering to pay for the repairs and handle the claim with the other insurance company.
Thumbs up for the Gecko!
Keep in mind that Geico is still buying radar guns for local police departments. I won’t do business with them on the weight of that alone.
Ameriprise auto insurance through Costco offers lower rates than Progressive plus free roadside assistance if you are an Executive member.
https://www14.ameriprise.com/AutoQuoteWebInter/AQFrontServlet?request_type=un_auth_init&PartnerID=COSTCO&RefID=11m-c3
Dropped AAA.
@steve and redmond
The allstate motor club has an 800 number on the card. You call them, they deal with finding the tow. Easy as that.
Oh, and F’ AAA
Every year, AAA sends me a free "come-on" membership that is valid for about a month. I keep it in the car that month in case I need a tow. Used it once and saved $100.00. I’d never but a memebership, and even less so now.
AAA changed their gold card towing and I never used the discounts. Besides they don’t tow motorcycles. Glad I got rid of them now.
It wasn’t that long ago that AAA publicized the infamous speed trap in Waldo Florida, just south of Jacksonville. Now they no longer look out for drivers, just their own pockets.
I will admit that the Auto part of AAA services can be less than stellar, I keep the membership because I can get Disney tickets at a discount. Although I’m sure if I hunted around, I could find similar deals.
AAA is a company providing insurance coverage and travel services. It’s no more an advocate for motorists than State Farm or Nationwide. Our local newsmedia perplexingly rely on AAA as if it’s a membership organization of drivers.
In case anyone in South Carolina is wondering how to deal with small town speed traps, Oklahoma provides both a legal and a practical example.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=050722_Ne_A1_Speed30746
First, local businesses can put up huge signs warning about the speed trap. If motorists slow down, ticket revenue will dry up. In the case of Big Cabin, OK, Dewayne Franks, the owner of a local truck stop, used semi trailers to make enormous SPEED TRAP AHEAD signs.
Second, the state can pass a law which limits the percentage of the city budget which can come from traffic fines with steep penalties for violating the law. Oklahoma found that 72% of the Big Cabin city budget came from traffic fines, greatly exceeding the 50% limit allowed by state law. The penalty was not allowing the town to write speeding tickets on the highway for 6 months. Eliminating authority to write tickets on the highways is a huge stick to force compliance with the state speed trap law.
Well, this puts AAA in the same box as AARP. AARP was, originally, an arm of the Colonial Penn Insurance Co. (a fact not disclosed to members). The government forced a separation, but AARP still acts as an insurance agent, getting commissioned on insurance it recommends to its members. IIRC more than half of AARP’s income comes from that, not from members’ dues.
But AARP’s financial clout, gives it lobbying muscle here in Washington, DC, as it claims to represent the interests of its millions of members. It does, under some circumstances, but not always.
I have seen the trap and wondered at first what it was . It is hard to miss. The way they set up the radar is as unsophisticated as the bonehead major who is disregarding the law . No wonder somebody hit it with a car by accident. It is as pathetic as the condition of I95 in the state of South Carolina.
AAA has been sliding downward for twenty years. I let my membership lapse after they refused to send a service truck to my car, at a Park-And-Ride lot, because I could not give them a STREET ADDRESS – which of course it didn’t have, or didn’t have posted anywhere.
Since then, they’ve devolved with classes and levels of membership, and lots and lots of come-ons for worthless, valueless offers – aimed at their core membership, elderly drivers so clueless that many of them appear on the nightly news as wrong-way drivers on expressways. Meantime, for MUCH less money, I have a tow-and-rental-car rider on my auto insurance policy. What do I need AAA for, TripTiks? I can do a better job planning a trip with Google Maps and a GPS.
AAA is an organization that has outlived its usefulness; has lost sight of motorists’ needs; and now, as this proves, has taken sides with the kinds of people it’s supposed to represent its members AGAINST.
Once upon a time, AAA sanctioned automobile races for the FIA. Now, they are just a travel agency and insurance company. We gave up on them more than 30 years ago.
We have towing riders for all of our cars. I have had to use them several times. No complaints from our insurance company.
When AAA decided to get into the insurance game, it became all about profitability and posting income increases for the company, away from it’s core business of HELPING people out. When you have actuaries are running the company, always pushing for the next squeeze of the dime, a company like AAA becomes just like any other greedy insurance company: it’s about SAVING money, not spending it.
I honestly believe that the 2 hr wait times that most AAA members encounter are done so that the member just gives up and goes somewhere else to get PAID help, instead of the free one that AAA offers for it’s members.
As for the poster who said they were cut from AAA’s program from using it too much, I would have asked for a refund for the yearly membership citing that you felt baited and switched for paying for the membership if that was the case, or gotten at least a pro-rated return for the time that was left in the membership period. That’s just not right to make people feel like they have a sense of security when it’s obviously NOT that secure.
I used to be in AAA too, won’t go back to them ever again, and I wish they would stop sending me the “come back to us” mailings, they are just really annoying!