Why Red Light Cameras in Missouri are SO Controversial

There's a better than average chance that you're opinion about red light cameras in Missouri is not somewhere in the middle. Many hate them while others think they're a vital means of making driving safer in the Show Me State. There's a good reason why this remains a very controversial topic.

World Population Review just shared their Speed Cameras by State comparison for 2024. They note that Missouri's red light camera situation is hard to figure out. Here's the crux of the issue. Red light cameras in Missouri are technically legal and obviously used at several intersections including Hannibal and some places in St. Louis, too.

There was a bill a couple years ago in the Missouri legislature that tried to ban them, but it just kind of disappeared. So Missouri red light cameras all good now? Nope. The World Population Review article mentions that the Missouri Supreme Court has made tickets from these cameras "virtually unenforceable". The court seems to be of the opinion that a red light ticket puts the driver in the position of having to prove his or her innocence and that's not the way freedom normally works. Some potential constitutional problems with that mechanism.

This issue isn't likely to go away anytime soon as there is talk of red light cameras being brought back to Kansas City, Missouri, too. Watch out, Chiefs players in your Lamborghinis.