A December ride

[Gone in 60]

There was a big hub-bub when red light cameras came to L.A. in the '90s. I worked downtown, and the first one was down Wilshire Blvd from our office. If the camera got you, it spit out a very grainy black and white thermal image showing your car committing the offense. Soon, it became a badge of honor to pin one of those tickets outside your cubicle wall. At lunch one day, we chatted up a Beverly Hills police officer. He told us that since the tickets were issued by a third party company, in reality, there was nothing that could really be done to enforce them. Those of us who received them got threatening letters, but that was it. Eventually, L.A. pulled the cameras, as they were losing more money in court costs than the revenue the cameras generated.