Traffic Ticket? GOP Lawmaker Says No Problem, Just Burn It

In this April 12, 2012, photo, Rep. Andy Holt, R-Dresden, speaks on the House floor in Nashville, Tenn. Holt is the main House sponsor of a bill seeking to encourage horse slaughter facilities to operate in Tennessee... In this April 12, 2012, photo, Rep. Andy Holt, R-Dresden, speaks on the House floor in Nashville, Tenn. Holt is the main House sponsor of a bill seeking to encourage horse slaughter facilities to operate in Tennessee. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig) MORE LESS

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Republican Tennessee lawmaker says getting a traffic camera ticket isn’t a problem — he just burns them.

State Rep. Andy Holt set such ticket ablaze on Wednesday and posted the video to Facebook. A news release issued in conjunction with the Facebook video urges others who are issued traffic camera tickets in Tennessee to ignore them.

Holt is a longtime critic of traffic camera tickets and has previously called for banning them.

Knoxville Police Chief David Rausch said in an email Thursday to the Knoxville News Sentinel (http://bit.ly/1TH1DkL) that Holt’sadvice is unsound.

Rausch says ignoring or burning a ticket “does not make the violation and accountability go away.”

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  1. Does this GOP lawmaker know what a bench warrant is by any chance, or does he believe that doesn’t apply to him either?

  2. Yeah, no kidding. His local police should arrange a practical demonstration for him.

  3. Avatar for jw1 jw1 says:

    Rausch says ignoring or burning a ticket “does not make the violation and accountability go away.”

    Actually, yes it does, eventually.
    Here in Houston receiving a red-light-camera ‘citation’ was a civil matter.
    There were unenforceable ‘threats’ of various types-- but a lawsuit here over the legality
    of the cameras began almost as soon as they were installed.

    It took 6yrs to get them ripped out by the roots and a freaking $10M contract payoff
    to the AZ ‘operator/collector’-- but it got done.

    I had two of these citations for over 4 years that I sat on.
    They were from legal right-turns-on-red that the f^cking cameras rang me up for–
    that I refused to take a day off from work-- to go and have arbitrated.

    Think the NSA is nefarious?
    Just let an out-of-state bottom-feeding operation like the one we had here-- start latching on to your wallet.

    jw1

  4. I’ll ask this question for the 1000th time: If these people hate government so much, why do they spend so much money trying to become a part of it?

  5. I agree they are a ripoff, and this TN lawmaker may be right, I got one and on the ticket it actually stated that it was from a private firm not the police.

    This also reminds me of an incident as a kid riding with my father and a city judge in Central PA. Don’t follow this advice as I am not sure if still the law. The State Trooper as he wrote the ticket put his foot on the bumper to make a solid surface for the pad on his thigh. When he handed the ticket to my father, the old man just ripped it up and handed back. Trooper, as I remember was upset but then my father reminded him that he was not allowed to touch the car without asking permission. By placing his foot on the bumper he was breaking the law to enforce the law. Trooper was starting to write ticket again when judge leaned over and said that my father was correct. Remember Trooper turning white and walking away.

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