Privatized Speed Trap

SAN DIEGO

How would you like to be given a speeding ticket on the basis of a red-light camera system that rewards the operators each time a summons is issued? A group of motorists here didn't like it at all, so they recently sued the city and won a judgment that tossed out 290 tickets and may have a broader result: cancellation of San Diego's contract with Lockheed Martin IMS, the company that operates the camera system.

The more tickets Lockheed Martin wrote, the more money it made. That, a Superior Court judge ruled, was not what the state legislature wanted when it ap-proved the red-light system. Nor, he added, was it fair to the individual motorists.

Other cities that use the system to catch speeders indicate that they will re-evaulate it. Will San Diego and other cities, tempted by the promises of privateers, also take a more critical look at such bogus businesses?