Tristram Heinz v. City of Philadelphia Bureau of Administrative Adjudication
DueProcess JusticiabilityDoctri
Whether automated speed camera enforcement programs violate constitutional rights by imposing liability on vehicle owners without identifying the actual driver
1. Whether Section 3370 of the Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Code, 75 Pa.C.S. § 3370, the Automated Speed Camera Enforcement Program, and an implementing Local Agency Law, Chapter 12-3400 of The Philadelphia Code, impose criminal or civil fines pursuant to the correct legal analysis; and thus whether these provisions (and others of their ilk), with their reliance on automated photo/video systems which do not identify the operators of the vehicles cited and instead find their owners liable for speeding offenses committed by unknown individuals driving the vehicles, violate the Constitutional rights of the owners by depriving those individuals of the protections of the Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments. i